The legendary circuit was blessed with sunny skies and temperatures of 27 degrees. As Saturday’s Sprint showed, managing the right side of the rear tyre was paramount to a good result.

Deputising for the injured Maverick Viñales, Espargaró was keen to refamiliarise himself aboard the KTM RC16 after months of testing KTM’s 850cc machine. The 35-year-old started well, gained two places on the first lap to sit 19th, and was soon scrapping with Augusto Fernández just outside the points.

The former Moto2 World Champion maintained a solid pace in the 2’00s and gradually reeled in Toprak Razgatlioglu ahead as a result. A pass on the Turkish rider two laps from the chequered flag secured 14th, and a post-race penalty for Fabio Quartararo promoted the Spaniard to 13th for three championship points in his first Silverstone race since 2023.

Like his teammate, Bastianini started well and jumped three places on lap one to sit 16th. With eyes firmly set on a top ten position, ‘La Bestia’ was keen to move further up the order. He soon latched on to the back of two riders but crashed out at Turn 17, just after he had passed Iker Lecuona.

Red Bull KTM Tech3 now has two weekends to recharge before resuming for the final part of the season at the Grand Prix of Aragon from 28-30 August.

Pol Espargaró: “It was not easy to stay on the bike today! There were a lot of crashes and seeing one guy on the ground each lap wasn’t great for my confidence. Honestly, I felt quite slow. It’s been so long since I last rode here and since I rode the 1000cc bike. I didn’t want to make a mistake this weekend. I managed not to do that, which was good, but I was too slow. I was fighting with Toprak in the last laps. At least both of us had a bit of fun. Overall, it was a tough weekend, but it was an experience and that’s what I’ll take for the future.”

Enea Bastianini: “I tried to overtake Lecuona but lost the front in the change of direction at Turn 17. After that I crashed. It was too early as I just did five laps. I tried to make some passes earlier in the race to get into the top ten, but I was too aggressive at the start. To be honest, it would’ve been better to wait and stay patient like I did yesterday. The track was quite slippery today, and the left side felt different to warm-up – like it was difficult to put temperature into the tyre. In the race I was suffering with movement from the front like yesterday. It’s difficult to ride like this so we need to find a solution to this problem at Aragon.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “It’s been a disappointing weekend here in Silverstone for Red Bull KTM Tech3 and it was damaged by a poor Qualifying. We had some hope with a P11 on Friday from Enea, but he couldn’t qualify well. In both starts he was stuck behind bikes, and it was difficult to overtake. Today he tried to overtake Lecuona and made a mistake and crashed. On the other side of the garage, I’d like to thank Pol Espargaró for his weekend. It wasn’t easy to jump from the 850 project to this 1000cc bike, but Pol did a good job. He stayed focussed and didn’t make any mistakes. Finally, he gathered two points which was good for the team. Thank you Pol and we all hope to see Maverick back in Aragon in three weeks’ time.”