Ducatis took “a lot of punches” in British MotoGP

After seeing its record-equalling run of 22 consecutive grand prix wins end at Le Mans, Ducati suffered a second defeat in a row in Sunday’s British MotoGP.

If Fabio Quartararo hadn't retired from the lead, there might not have even been any Ducati riders on the Silverstone podium.

But the Yamaha rider's misfortune allowed title leader Marc Marquez to finish in third, behind Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi and Honda’s Johann Zarco.

Marc was fortunate to even be part of the race after he and Sprint-winning brother Alex crashed in separate incidents during the original start.

Red flags gave them another chance, with Marc narrowly beating the GP24s of Franco Morbidelli and Alex for third place, some 5.9s from victory.

Further back, Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini) and Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46) finished ninth and tenth, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed out.

di Giannantonio admitted the Ducatis had been taking "a lot of punches" during Sunday's unpredictable race.

"I think that Aprilia here has always been super strong. They did their first podium here, then first win, so it's a really good track for them," di Giannantonio explained.

"Quartararo did an amazing start and took the gamble with the soft front tyre. For us, with the medium, the restart was quite tricky to put the front tyre in temperature."

The Italian, third in Saturday's Sprint, was frustrated after struggling with braking problems in the Grand Prix.

"I was not feeling good with the brakes, so I was not stopping the bike as I want or as yesterday," he said. "We were losing ground and also positions because a lot of riders were overtaking me in an easy way. We lost an opportunity because we had the pace to fight for the podium."

He added: "Today the Ducatis, we were a little bit [being hit by] a lot of punches from all over the place. But everybody knows Ducati will be back fighting for the next one."

di Giannantonio dismissed the idea that Ducati's advantage is fading, attributing the Silverstone struggle to a combination of conditions, tyre choices and circuit characteristics.

"I think also there was a lot of trouble today - Marc crashing, Alex crashing, Frankie too, Pecco crashed, and me with this issue," di Giannantonio said. "When it’s like this, the races are a bit mixed."

Despite Sunday's setbacks, di Giannantonio took comfort from improvements to his GP25’s setup.

"We’ve done an incredible step forward with the setup," he explained. "The feeling with the bike is much better now. What we improved here can help us in Aragon too.”