Winner in the Netherlands at the end of June and therefore Sunday at Silverstone, Grand Prix resumed after five weeks of summer break, "Pecco" Bagnaia is back in the race for the title.

"We have just lost the last two races, Pecco is now much more competitive for the title", could only see his rival Quartararo, titled last year ahead of the Italian.

On the podium, Bagnaia overtook Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Jack Miller (Ducati), far in the general classification, and carried out the excellent operation of the weekend.

#photo1

After 12 out of 20 rounds, Quartararo has 180 points, 22 more than Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), who finished just behind him in 9th place, and now 49 on Bagnaia.

Zarco, "from hero to zero"

The big loser is Johann Zarco: starting from pole position, the Frenchman was on his way to his first MotoGP victory, but on the 5th lap out of 20 he crashed and retired.

Inconsolable, it was from the garage that the Ducati-Pramac rider saw Bagnaia win the race and pass him in the championship.

The Cannois, former 3rd, even loses two places since he is also overtaken by Enea Bastianini (Ducati-Gresini).

"Bad luck for me", reacted fatally the double world champion in the Moto2 category (2015, 2016), who remains empty-handed in the queen category, at 32 years old.

"The high temperatures pushed me to take the medium tire at the front, it was a good tire since Pecco won with it, but it seems that was the reason for my crash, we have less grip with”, he justified.

#photo2

“You can go from hero to zero in no time,” he continued.

"I don't want to get upset, I still got some interesting feelings and it feels good to keep aiming high".

To win, Bagnaia was patient, sure of the strength of his Ducati.

After a good start from the second row, he waited for Zarco's misadventure to position himself behind Alex Rins (Suzuki), short-lived leader.

Penalty for Quartararo

On his first attempt, the Italian was able to overtake him.

He then took off.

Above all, unlike Zarco, he did not fall back into his ways, he who gave up four times in the first part of the season.

Even when Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) threatened him and then overtook him, just for a time, the Turinese held on and took the lead.

Full of composure, he won his 8th Grand Prix in the premier category.

The vice-world champion can believe in his star, he who has come a long way after a very complicated start to the season.

Already last year, he had finished with a bang with four victories in the last six races.

For Quartararo, defending champion, the day was made more complicated by a penalty.

Sanctioned for having hit Espargaro in the Netherlands, "Quarta" had to take a "long lap" penalty, a detour to take on the circuit at the start of the race.

#photo3

While he was in 2nd place behind Zarco, this handicap made him drop to 5th.

He then failed to hold his rank.

Without this penalty "I don't know if I could win but I could have done better," he said.

"I find myself behind several riders and I can't do anything. Having a bike in front is fine, but as soon as there are more, the rear tire overheats, you lose performance and trying to overtake is a nightmare" on his Yamaha, he elaborated.

For Bagnaia, "Fabio made a mistake in the Netherlands and there he had this penalty, but under normal circumstances he would have fought for the victory with me".

Next round in Austria on August 21.

© 2022 AFP