The Prague Post - Fernandez's 'perfect' race earns him British MotoGP Grand Prix win

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 think it was a perfect race," Fernandez said.

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

"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 focused, 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.

"It's been a tough weekend, a tough period in general," Bezzecchi said.

Bezzecchi had also been disqualified from the Czech Grand Prix in June for slapping a track steward in a fit of anger following a crash.

"We worked hard through the whole summer break," he added.

"Obviously I didn't expect such a great (comeback)... I couldn't have given anything more because I am destroyed now. It was good..."

The Grand Prix, which Fernandez completed in under 40 minutes with top speeds of 330 km/h on the straights, saw several riders crash out, notably Ogura and former Italian world champion Francesco Bagnaia, who endured a very poor weekend.

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.

K.Pokorny--TPP