Jorge Martin extended his lead in the MotoGP championship standings with a convincing start-to-finish victory in the British Grand Prix sprint race at Silverstone, the 12th of the 22 races of the season. The Spaniard celebrated his first victory since Le Mans, successfully fending off attacks from his Aprilia teammate and closest title rival, Ai Ogura, over the course of the ten laps of the circuit.
The Aprilia team had a day to remember as Marco Bezzecchi, who returned to the track after undergoing collarbone and knee surgery during the summer break, outmaneuvered Ducati riders Marc Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio to complete a full podium finish for the RS-GP machines. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez struggled with pace in the final stages, falling behind future teammate Pedro Acosta, former teammate Joan Mir and ultimately GP25 rider Franco Morbidelli. Meanwhile, Alex Marquez managed to pull away to fourth ahead of Di Giannantonio.
Aprilia dominated qualifying
The weekend at Silverstone started with a great qualifying session for Aprilia, with their bikes occupying the first three grid positions. Jorge Martin took pole position in the dying moments, beating Raul Fernandez by just 0,021 seconds, while Ai Ogura completed the front row. Fabio di Gianantonio was the fastest of the non-Aprilia riders, starting from fourth position ahead of Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez.
Development of the sprint race
At the start, Martin took advantage of pole position and the latest aerodynamic enhancements to his bike to take the lead ahead of Ogura and Di Giannantonio. Behind him, Bezzecchi put in an aggressive first lap, moving ahead of Marc Márquez. Raúl Fernández, who had started from the front row, dropped to sixth on the first lap before crashing out midway through the race. Iker Lecuona, who was changing positions in the top ten at the end of the first lap, had an incident with Franco Morbidelli, which was investigated by the FIM stewards, but no further action was taken. Home rider Cal Crutchlow crashed in the opening corners, rejoined the track, but then pitted.
Changes in composition and technical details
The weekend at Silverstone was marked by several injury changes. Maverick Viñales missed the race with a shoulder injury, and his place at Tech3 was taken by KTM test rider Pol Espargaro. Fermín Aldeguer is still out with a fractured vertebra, so his place at Gresini has been filled by Iker Lecuona, who rode a GP25-spec bike instead of the factory GP26. Lecuona had previously beaten Nicolo Bulega in WorldSBK at Donington Park. Johann Zarco is out with a knee ligament injury, and Cal Crutchlow returned to his home circuit for the first time since 2021. Augusto Fernández entered as a wildcard rider.
In terms of technical setup, all riders opted for the hard front tyre, while the majority used the soft rear tyre. Marco Bezzecchi set a new track record in qualifying with a time of 1:56.280, while the fastest lap in race history remains Aleix Espargaro's 1:58.895 from 2024. In the final practice session, Di Gianantonio was the only rider to break 1:57, ahead of Raul Fernández and Bezzecchi.
| Sprint race results | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Land | Tim | Time difference |
| 1 | George Martin | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP26) | 10 circles |
| 2 | Ai Ogura | JPN | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26) | + 1.53s |
| 3 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP26) | + 3.974s |
| 4 | Alex Marquez | SPA | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP26) | + 6.956s |
| 5 | Fabio DiGiannantonio | ITA | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP26) | + 8.651s |
| 6 | Peter Acosta | SPA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | + 10.745s |
| 7 | Joan mir | SPA | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) | + 10.826s |
| 8 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25) | + 12.539s |
| 9 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Ducati (GP26) | + 13.965s |
| 10 | Diogo Moreira | BRA | Pro Honda LCR (RC213V)* | + 13.992s |
| 11 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | + 14.142s |
| 12 | Luca marini | ITA | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) | + 14.344s |
| 13 | Jack Miller | AUS | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) | + 14.54s |
| 14 | fabio quartararo | From | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | + 15.213s |
| 15 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) | + 16.892s |
| 16 | alex rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | + 20.194s |
| 17 | Francis Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati (GP26) | + 23.722s |
| 18 | Espargaro Pol | SPA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) | + 24.38s |
| 19 | Augusto Fernandez | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) | + 27.593s |
| 20 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)* | + 34.332s |
| Raul fernandez | SPA | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26) | ||
| Cal Crutchlow | GBR | Castrol Honda LCR (RC213V) | ||
| Iker Lecuona | SPA | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP26) | ||
