The title still to be decided, Miguel Oliveira needed to win and have Danny Kent finish fifteenth or lower to take the title.
Oliveira opened his campaign the right way, taking the lead ahead of Romano Fenati, Efron Vazquez and pole man John McPhee. Danny Kent was back in fifteenth on the first lap.
Jorge Navarro joined the men at the front, pushing past McPhee to take his place in the top four. The front group comprised eight riders after a few laps with Danny Kent six places back in fourteenth.
Vazquez took the lead from Oliveira for a few corners on the seventh lap then Navarro had a go on lap eight and Fenati briefly led a couple of laps later, but Oliveira kept getting back to the lead.
Eleven laps in, with Kent in twelfth place, Karel Hanika had his crash and Fabio Quartararo pitted in out of the race. Kent had a comfortable gap behind him and just maintained his position without taking risks.
Brad Binder made the front group of eight a group of nine but Hiroki Ono fell off the group, pushed back from seventh place to ninth and then off the front group where the next group of Enea Bastianini and Isaac Viñales wasted no time in throwing him to his twelfth-placed teammate Danny Kent.
As the front group split, with Oliveira, Navarro, Vazquez and Fenati trying to pass one another at the front, Niccolo Antonelli led the fight for fifth place. Kent passed Ono but instead of letting him ride around safely, Ono rode very close and even tried a few passes on his Leopard teammate, much to the consternation of Kent's pit crew who went and told Ono's team to get their man to back down.
Lap twenty started with Ono's pit board just showing his place with no instructions to behave and another tense lap ensued with Kent trying to keep out of trouble without conceding the eleventh place. A lap later, Ono's crew finally leant over the pit wall and waved at their rider to calm the beans.
Oliveira continued to lead the race as the laps ticked down with Navarro taking the slot behind him in the tight pack of four riders.
On the last lap, Oliveira took the lead back off Navarro into the first turn while Ono passed Kent and then waved him back only to pass him later, but at the front, Antonelli closed the gap to the second group but lunged too hard and took out Fenati and Vazquez, skittling the three of them into the gravel.
Miguel Oliveira won his sixth race of the year, ahead of Jorge Navarro and Jakub Kornfeil, the beneficiary of Antonelli's hot tempered move, but it was still not enough to take the title from twelfth-placed Danny Kent.
Danny Kent is the first British Motorcycle Grand Prix world champion since Barry Sheene in 1977.
Results:
Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 40'09.792 |
2 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | Honda | +0.198 |
3 | 84 | Jakub KORNFEIL | KTM | +2.090 |
4 | 41 | Brad BINDER | KTM | +2.121 |
5 | 33 | Enea BASTIANINI | Honda | +2.975 |
6 | 32 | Isaac VIÑALES | KTM | +3.343 |
7 | 17 | John MCPHEE | Honda | +4.087 |
8 | 76 | Hiroki ONO | Honda | +9.627 |
9 | 52 | Danny KENT | Honda | +9.914 |
10 | 65 | Philipp OETTL | KTM | +10.580 |
11 | 16 | Andrea MIGNO | KTM | +10.661 |
12 | 8 | Nicolò BULEGA | KTM | +11.642 |
13 | 21 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Mahindra | +16.741 |
14 | 88 | Jorge MARTIN | Mahindra | +20.196 |
15 | 10 | Alexis MASBOU | Honda | +21.531 |
16 | 95 | Jules DANILO | Honda | +21.552 |
17 | 63 | Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN | KTM | +21.868 |
18 | 40 | Darryn BINDER | Mahindra | +25.114 |
19 | 29 | Stefano MANZI | Mahindra | +25.301 |
20 | 11 | Livio LOI | Honda | +25.331 |
21 | 6 | Maria HERRERA | Husqvarna | +25.655 |
22 | 48 | Lorenzo DALLA PORTA | Husqvarna | +32.973 |
23 | 4 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | Honda | +33.019 |
24 | 22 | Ana CARRASCO | KTM | +33.549 |
25 | 96 | Manuel PAGLIANI | Mahindra | +33.953 |
Not Classified | ||||
7 | Efren VAZQUEZ | Honda | 1 Lap | |
5 | Romano FENATI | KTM | 1 Lap | |
23 | Niccolò ANTONELLI | Honda | 1 Lap | |
19 | Alessandro TONUCCI | Mahindra | 4 Laps | |
98 | Karel HANIKA | KTM | 14 Laps | |
20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Honda | 14 Laps | |
58 | Juanfran GUEVARA | Mahindra | 17 Laps | |
24 | Tatsuki SUZUKI | Mahindra | 17 Laps | |
2 | Remy GARDNER | Mahindra | 19 Laps |