Moto3: British GP Preview: Silverstone set to be slipstreaming battle in Britain

In 2018, Jorge Martin was expected to walk away with the Moto3 championship; nothing could have been further than the truth. Marco Bezzecchi heads into the British Moto3 Grand Prix in the lead of the championship to the tune of 12 points from title rival Jorge Martin, whilst Fabio Di Giannantonio is a further 25 points back in 3rd. Silverstone promises to serve up a golden lightweight class race, come rain or come shine.

Marco Bezzecchi was an unknown quantity little over six months ago but here we are, witnessing the young teenager lead the championship as the season comes into it’s final third. The Italian, from Rimini on the Adriatic Coast, has finished all but two races this season, whilst only two other occasions saw him off the podium. 7 podiums and his first ever career pole last time out have put Bezzecchi in the driving seat in this championship and he is looking to take his first ever back-to-back wins in the class before moving up to Tech 3 in Moto2. Can ‘Big Bez’ deliver in the land of ‘Big Ben’?

Jorge Martin has been on the receiving end of endless bad luck in 2018 but the stats still show that he hasn’t featured inside the top ten in five of the 11 races this year. However, Martin likes Silverstone and was 3rd in 2017 with the fastest lap of the race too. The Spaniard has seven poles to his name this year but has only converted four of them to race wins whilst two of them resulted in him being caught up in other riders’ accidents. The 20-year-old will not want to hand more points to Bezzecchi as we near the Italian’s home round at Misano in two weeks.

Fabio Di Giannantonio had his first finish outside of the top ten at the Red Bull Ring last time out, his first since Brno last year (excluding DNFs). Di Giannantonio needs a return to the podium and quickly, he is still in with a shout of the championship but he needs to be taking points out of the two riders above him in the championship. Two top tens at Silverstone make Diggia a firm favourite for a top result again, something he needs to pull off if he is to stay in touch with the leaders in the championship.

Aron Canet only has four podiums to his name and is a somewhat distant 4th in the championship, 40 points behind Bezzecchi. The Spanish rider took a win at Silverstone last season – his third of his career – and will be looking to notch up his first race win of the season at the venue come race day. With 40 points to make up, Canet needs some bad luck to go the way of the leading two riders if he is to have a chance of championship victory. Can Canet start his title fight back on British soil?

Enea Bastianini – or Casper as we should call him – has been ghosting into some incredible results on race day from pretty much nowhere. 4th at Brno and 2nd at the Red Bull Ring, Bastianini, whilst being 5th overall in the title – is in good form. Not outside the top six since Mugello (besides a DNF at the Sachsenring), who’d bet against Bastianini for a win at Silverstone. He was 3rd in his debut season in Moto3 at Silverstone, whilst a 2nd last year may have him down as little bit of an outsider. Bastianini starts 8th on Sunday.

Gabriel Rodrigo has been somewhat of a star in 2018, losing his notorious crashing reputation and has had some great results, with all but three races seeing the Argentine rider place in the top ten. Having achieved his first podium at Catalunya, the 21-year-old scored a 4th place at Silverstone last season in the red-flagged Moto3 race – a best finish ever at the time. Can Rodrigo get on the podium this year, or maybe even win?

Keep your eyes on other riders springing through, with Jakub Kornfeil, Marcos Ramirez and Lorenzo Dalla Porta all in the mix. You can never discount home-hero John McPhee either, whilst Niccolo Antonelli was 3rd at Silverstone back in 2015. Jaume Masia was close to his first podium in Austria and will be in the UK to mount the box for the first time in his career.