MotoGP: British GP Preview: Maybe this time, it WILL come home

It’s coming home! The British MotoGP is year in, year out, one of the best Grand Prix and 2018 promises to be just as scintillating as ever. With British hopes firmly resting on Cal Crutchlow, an expectant tide of beer-full, not very “beach-body ready” Brits will be out in force to cheer on the LCR Honda rider. However, the championship is also a very interesting topic of discussion, with Marc Marquez over 50 points in front. Marquez hasn’t won in the UK since 2014 and Valentino Rossi – 2nd in the title – hasn’t been off the podium since the 2014 race, with a win in 2015. With the championship battle raging on, a British hopeful looking for home success and an interesting mix of those behind the leading two in the title, Silverstone awaits to host another spectacular Grand Prix.

Marc Marquez was the winner of the British GP in 2014 after a head-to-head scrap with Jorge Lorenzo. Marquez crashed out of the race in 2015 and hasn’t been on the podium since. In 2008, he joined Scott Redding on the podium at Donington Park in the 125cc class so Britain holds some happy memories for him too. With a 59 point lead, you get the feeling that a win for Marquez would all but end the hopes of title number 10 for Valentino Rossi. However, another DNF or non-podium finish and a Rossi win would almost certainly reignite the fire and burning desire of the Rossi faithful in time for Misano. There’s a lot at stake in an underlying tone at Silverstone, even if it hasn’t come to the surface just yet.

Valentino Rossi’s love affair with the United Kingdom will hope to continue this weekend as he returns to Silverstone, home to his most recent British GP win, back in 2015. Yet to win a race in 2018, Valentino led for 17 laps in 2017 and finished just 0.7s behind the eventual winner, Andrea Dovizioso. Recently off the back of a private Misano test and said to be “in great shape” the veteran Italian will be desperate to take the fight to Marquez on British soil. With eight wins across all classes – six in the premier class – you can never write-off Rossi, come rain or shine, I predict the Italian to be right in the mix.

Jorge Lorenzo lies 3rd in the MotoGP championship – no, that is not a misprint. A sensational victory at the Red Bull Ring in Austria has brought the Spaniard right into the battle for 2nd place in the championship. Currently 12 points adrift of Rossi and thus 71 behind Marquez, it’d take something pretty sensational for him to become champion. The Ducati is a winner at Silverstone, just one year ago with Dovi and given the rivalry between the two Ducati riders at the moment, I wouldn’t put it past Jorge Lorenzo to want to take victory. With 3 wins at Silverstone, Lorenzo is no stranger to success at the venue.

Now number two in the camp at Ducati, Andrea Dovizioso lies 4th in the championship, just a point behind teammate Lorenzo. With Dovizioso on the podium in the last two races, he will be right up there for another good result at Silverstone in 2018. The winner of the British Grand Prix in 2017 is hoping to tackle the three ahead of him in the championship, having stepped foot on the podium at Silverstone a total of four times. To add to the positivity surrounding Dovi, he took his first premier class win in Great Britain, back at Donington Park in 2009. Never rule of the wily old fox, he always brings his A-game to his Sunday performance.

Maverick Vinales hasn’t had a top ten since he was 3rd in Germany, a distant 12th at the Austrian Grand Prix being his latest disaster. With 2018 already slipping from his grasp, Vinales has two more seasons to endure at Yamaha, unless of course the Japanese manufacturer steps up their effort into sorting their M1 out. One positive for Vinales at Silverstone is that he was the winner of the race two seasons ago and was a close 2nd place to Dovizioso last year. In the cooler climate of the UK, maybe the Yamaha will work a bit better. Vinales has the pace at Silverstone and will be looking to end this torrid, winless run for Yamaha.

Back in 2015, Danilo Petrucci jumped to his first podium of his career, in a wet, drizzly day. Now, with many podiums since that achievement, he will be hoping for a win. It sounds crazy, given the fact he’s not been on the podium since Le Mans, but with the exception of COTA and Assen, he’s been inside the top ten at every race this season. The Pramac Ducati team will be eager to push Petrux to the front too, despite not scoring points with him last year. Petrucci has only ever had four top-tens on the bounce once before, at Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello and Catalunya earlier this season. Can he repeat his 2015 achievement at Silverstone, or maybe even go one better?

Dani Pedrosa continues his slump in the 2018 MotoGP championship, having only finished 7th last time out. The Repsol Honda rider is 11th in the championship and arguably way behind where he should be. His last season in the MotoGP paddock, Pedrosa has his last chance to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, having done the business at Donington Park back in 2006. Just two podiums at the circuit and the last of which came in 2013, Pedrosa is hardly a favourite to win this weekend but who knows what might happen.

The Suzuki pairing of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins will be somewhat desperate to return to the top ten, after neither bike really shone bright at the Austrian GP. Iannone’s best result at the British GP is 8th and he hasn’t finished the last two races at the circuit. Alex Rins won the 2014 Moto3 race at the circuit and was a hard-fought 9th in MotoGP last year – his joint best result at the time. Suzuki won two years ago, so can they do the same again?

Aprilia’s season will look to come to some sort of improvement for Silverstone, with Aleix Espargaro finishing a disastrous 17th in Austria whilst Scott Redding was a lowly 20th. With the exception of 2012 and 2017, Aleix Espargaro has managed a top ten result in every premier class race at Silverstone since 2010. Scott Redding won his home Moto2 race at the circuit in 2013 and was a solid 8th last year at the track. A solid 10th in 2014 and stunning 6th in 2015, Redding will be hoping for his first top ten finish since Misano last year, almost a year ago.

KTM will have two bikes out on the grid at Silverstone, with Althea BMW World Superbike rider Loris Baz returning to a paddock that many feel he belongs in. Bradley Smith will be preparing for what looks like might be his last British GP in the premier class and comes off the back of a decent Austrian Grand Prix. Loris Baz had a colossal accident at the circuit two years ago but will be hopeful of scoring points at the circuit at which he was 15th last season and scored both of his two WSBK wins at in 2012 and 2013.

Jack Miller returns to Silverstone, the circuit at which he wiped out then-teammate Cal Crutchlow in 2015 on the LCR Honda. Now at Ducati and at a circuit that Ducati may well be winners on, Miller will be hoping to bounce back from a disastrous Austrian GP, which saw the Aussie collect no points. He is also yet to score points at Silverstone.

The Tech 3 Yamaha team have had mixed fortunes in the premier class at Silverstone. Johann Zarco was 6th at the circuit last year and won the event in Moto2 back in 2015. The Frenchman is looking to become the first premier class French rider to win a GP since Regis Laconi in Valencia, back in 1999. Teammate Hafizh Syahrin makes his premier class Silverstone debut and will be in the hunt for points. The Malaysian sensation was 4th at the circuit in 2016 and 8th in 2014; if even number years are anything to go by, could he be on for a decent result on Sunday?

LCR Honda home favourite Cal Crutchlow will be searching for home glory at the British Grand Prix. The 2016 pole-sitter and Argentine GP winner will look to step back on the podium in 2018 and hopefully (for us Brits) step high onto the top step. Teammate Takaaki Nakagami won the 2017 Moto2 race at the track and was 3rd the year before. A 2nd and pole in 2013 means we may see the Japanese achieve his first top ten in the premier class.

The Angel Nieto team are back at Silverstone with Alvaro Bautista and Karel Abraham. Bautista has confirmed his departure to World Superbikes and whilst he will be missed in the Grand Prix paddock, the Spaniard becomes the latest MotoGP refugee. He was a pole-sitter in 2012 at Silverstone, whilst Karel Abraham achieved his best qualifying in his premier class career at Silverstone in 2011, going on to finish a career best 7th – which still has not been bettered to this day.

Avintia Racing Ducati had Tito Rabat back in the points at the Red Bull Ring with a stunning 11th, despite running comfortably inside the top ten for the majority of the race. Rabat has been in the points on both British GP occasions since joining the premier class, with a best of 12th – also a winner in Moto2 in 2014. Teammate Xavier Simeon continues his search for his first points of the year at a track he hasn’t scored points on since 2010, when he was 8th.

Finally, the Marc VDS outfit which sees Franco Morbidelli and Tom Luthi take the line up for the Silverstone event. The Italian has been 3rd and 2nd in the last two Moto2 races held at Silverstone and will look to return to the points, having finished just 19th in Austria. Luthi, like Simeon, also has no points but has the joy of coming to a circuit at which he won at in 2016, with two other podiums coming in 2013 and 2010. Maybe the Swiss may shine at Silverstone.