Raul Fernandez wins British MotoGP Grand Prix

Silverstone: Aprilia-Trackhouse's Spanish rider Raul Fernandez won the British MotoGP Grand Prix on Sunday, claiming just the second race victory of his career.

Championship leader Jorge Martin started on pole but was outpaced from the flag by his 25-year-old compatriot. Martin finished second with Italian Marco Bezzecchi rounding off the podium.

"I'm happy and this win is special because we got three consecutive podiums and this one was a victory," Fernandez said.

"Now we want more."

After crashing out of contention in the sprint on Saturday, Fernandez said he was "an idiot".

But on Sunday, he led all 20 laps of the Silverstone circuit from start to finish after Martin got off to a poor start, possibly due to a mechanical problem following a shower of sparks from the rear.

Fernandez is the 12th different winner at Silverstone in 12 Grand Prix races on the legendary course, which also hosts Formula One Grands Prix.

It was nonetheless a fine weekend for 2024 world champion and Silverstone sprint winner Martin as he grew his lead in the overall standings to 31 points.

"This result gave us a big, big boost for our motivation," Martin said. 

"Today I wanted that victory so badly. I was really focussed, but I did a small mistake in the first corner and I lost a lot of places."

Japan's Ai Ogura, who had started second on the grid and was sitting second overall, slid off midway through the race and now trails Martin by 37 points.

Instead Martin's Aprilia teammate Bezzecchi is now his principal challenger for the title following a heroic weekend after he had spent the summer break recovering from a collarbone fracture suffered in qualifying at the Germany MotoGP last month.

Spain's Alex Marquez of Ducati-Gresini finished fourth, ahead of KTM's Spaniard Pedro Acosta and Italy's Fabio Di Giannantonio of Ducati satellite team VR46.

Reigning world champion Marc Marquez of Spain, on his factory Ducati, finished only seventh.