Enea Bastianini produced an impressive performance to take his first MotoGP Sprint race win of the season at Silverstone, while factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia’s race ended in the gravel trap.
Bagnaia made a deep lunge on the pole-sitting Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro into Turn 1, but Pramac’s Jorge Martin was able to make the most of the exit to take the lead into the sweeping Turn 2.
Bagnaia and his factory Ducati dropped down to fourth as Bastianini elevated himself up to second, with Espargaro sandwiched in between.
VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi and Martin’s Pramac team-mate Franco Morbidelli crashed out in the fast Turn 1 on the opening lap, putting both riders out of the running just as the race got started. Morbidelli made contact with Bezzecchi to put both out but the collision was ruled as a racing incident.
Future 2025 factory KTM team-mates Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder tussled for sixth position on Lap 2 in the first sector, with the pair making contact and allowing Gresini’s Marc Marquez to squeeze through in Turn 4.
Acosta flung his GasGas bike up on Marquez’s inside before the Gresini bike re-passed his younger Spanish counterpart, with Binder following suit later in the lap.
Bagnaia received a track limits warning on Lap 3 in his bid to re-overtake Espargaro, with the Italian trying to seize the perfect opportunity to get past.
But the Italian pushed too hard on the brakes on Lap 4 at Turn 4, losing control of his Ducati and tumbling out of the race.
The front three of Martin, Bastianini and Espargaro formulated a 2.5s second gap over the GP23 Ducati rider Marquez, with the lead ever increasing as the 10-lap Sprint went on.
Bastianini made a diving lunge on Martin at Copse corner on Lap 5 but went in too hot, relinquishing his brief lead to the championship contender.
However, down the Hangar straight Bastianini was able to make the move stick to take the lead properly.
The Italian’s rapid pace was evident as he established an advantage over Martin, gaining half a second in only two laps following his overtaking manoeuvre.
Marquez had been enduring a quiet race aboard his Gresini Ducati and ran as high as fourth before a crash at Turn 16 ended his late podium charge abruptly, with the eight-time champion retiring with three laps to go.
This relaxed any scarps of pressure upon the top three, who finished in a calm procession, led by Bastianini, taking his first victory of the campaign and bettering Martin by a second.
Espargaro brought home the final podium place from pole, unable to keep up with the straight-line speed advantage exhibited by the Ducatis, with KTM’s Binder and GasGas’ Acosta occupying fourth and fifth spot.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez avoided danger from his rivals around him to bring home points for the team in sixth, with Jack Miller pipping Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales on the line to take seventh.
Di Giannantonio earned the final point-scoring position in ninth spot, recovering from a long-lap penalty punishment due to track limits violations.
Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira cruised to 10th spot, with Fabio Quartararo pushing his Yamaha to take 11th.
Oliveira’s Trackhouse team-mate Raul Fernandez displayed rapid pace to finish 12th amid being caught up in the Lap 1 collision between Bezzecchi and Morbidelli, with Augusto Fernandez finishing only a tenth behind on the second Tech3 GasGas machine.
LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco was one lap too late in his bid to claim 12th but mustered a respectable 14th following a strong qualification.
Repsol Honda duo Luca Marini and Joan Mir followed within close proximity, whereas LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami finished ten seconds adrift.
Yamaha wildcard rider Remy Gardner finished his race last but was only two seconds adrift of full-time rider Nakagami to round off classification.
