MotoGP: Marc Marquez secures win No 11 at Silverstone

Marc Marquez collected his 11th MotoGP victory of the season after seeing off the challenge of fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo in the British round at Silverstone.

In an exciting finale to the race in sunny Northamptonshire, the lead changed hands twice during the closing seven laps to allow Marquez to move 89 points clear at the top of the world standings with just six races to go.

However, it was anything but straightforward for polesetter Marquez who was powerless to prevent Lorenzo from grabbing the lead on lap one and remaining there until well into the second half of the 20-lap race.

Marquez moved in front for the first time on lap 14 but lost it again shortly afterwards before moving past Lorenzo for a second and final time three circuits from the end.

The 21-year-old reigning world champion then held on despite the close attention of his compatriot to win by 0.732 seconds.

Lorenzo, 27, a two-time world champion in MotoGP, remains winless since the final race of last season in Valencia and has now finished second in his last three outings.

Third spot went to Valentino Rossi who was more than eight seconds off the pace, as the Italian edged a three-way battle with Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso.

Rossi has now collected eight podium finishes during 2014 but has gone over 14 months since standing on the top step.

Pedrosa – the only other rider to win a MotoGP race this year – remains second in the standings.

But the day belonged, once again, to Marquez who collected an 11th victory in 12 races this season and could even secure the title in two races time on home soil.

Winner Marquez admitted: "Jorge was much stronger than I expected. When I passed him the first time I made a small mistake and he got the lead back.     

"However, I recalled what happened last year and I didn't want a repeat of that so I ensured once I got back in front again I wouldn't let it slip."

Runner-up Lorenzo added: "Marc has the power but as I have said in racing sometimes you have surprises.

"Once I hit the front I rode like a demon. However, once Marc passed me towards the end of the race I was too tired to react."                  

Elsewhere, another Spanish rider Esteve Rabat extended his lead in Moto2 with a victory to move 17 points clear of Finland’s Mikka Kallio.

Kallio finished second in the race, a mere 0.006s behind Rabat.

And Alex Rins made it a Spanish hat-trick in Moto3 with a narrow victory over compatriot Alex Marquez, winning by 0.011s.

Aussie Jack Miller finished sixth – over four seconds adrift – but still leads the championship standings by 13 points from Marquez. Rins is third in the table, a further 16 points off the pace.