After being involved in an accident on the opening lap of the MotoGP British Grand Prix, which is the 10th race of the season, Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) hopes it will not hurt his season.

Oliveira began the race in fifteenth place and moved up to thirteenth, but he and his American Trackhouse teammate, the Spaniard Raul Fernandez, were engaged in a collision.

The Portuguese rider wrote on his Instagram: “On the first lap of today's race, my team-mate fell behind me and his bike hit mine, causing me to crash violently. For now, I don't seem to have any injuries, but I'll have to assess them over the next few days. Focus on the next one.”

This was the Portuguese rider's first crash-related retirement of the season; he had earlier withdrawn from the French Grand Prix because of an Aprilia technical issue.

Oliveira acknowledged that he braked a bit late and went off the track, but he was “a bit under the weather” and nothing too serious, according to the American Trackhouse team.

Italian rider Enea Bastianini (Ducati) won the MotoGP British Grand Prix. He completed 20 laps in 39 minutes, beating Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) by 1.931 seconds, and Italian rider Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in third place (5.866).

With these outcomes, Bagnaia slides to second place and Jorge Martin regains his lead in the World Championship with 241 points.

Author

A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn