Marquez sails on serenely

Silverstone – Marc Marquez goes into the British MotGP this weekend on a two-race blip, but so dominant is the Spanish world champion that he still increased his lead without winning.

The Honda star had won five of the previous nine races before starting August by finishing third in the Czech Republic and second in Austria.

With eight races to go, Marquez is 59 points ahead of Rossi. Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, who took the other podium places in the last two races, are 12 and 13 points further back.

Italian Dovizioso won at Silverstone last year but Spaniard Lorenzo looks in stronger form.

Since the British circuit returned to the MotoGP calendar in 2010, the Spaniard has won three times and he also won this season in Austria, “which was surely the most difficult race of the season,” he told the Ducati website.

Rain played havoc with free practice and qualifying in Austria and there was more yesterday, which was free practice, and tomorrow, the day of the race.

Dovizioso was also preparing to race in the wet.

“The circuit is challenging for lots of reasons: tyre wear, energy required, the changeable weather conditions,” he said.

Yamaha’s Rossi, who won in a downpour at Silverstone in 2015, has other things on his mind.

“I think Yamaha at this moment is not as competitive as Honda and Ducati,” Rossi said.

Meanwhile Honda, who have already signed Lorenzo to their main team for next season, announced this week they had extended the contract of 32-year-old Briton Cal Crutchlow who is in eighth place in the standings riding for Honda LCR until 2020.

The Moto2 season is a thrilling two-horse race with the leaders Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) winning in Austria to overtake Portuguese Miguel Oiveira (KTM) by three points. –