The 2018 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the scheduled twelfth round of the 2018 MotoGP season. Planned to be held at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone on 26 August 2018, the race was cancelled due to heavy rain. This is the first cancelled MotoGP race since the cancellation of the MotoGP class race during the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix due to Marco Simoncelli's fatal accident, and also marks for the first time since the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix that racing for all classes was cancelled.
Qualifying Qualifying was conducted on 25 August 2018, with Jorge Lorenzo on a Ducati taking the MotoGP pole with a time of 2:10.155. Francesco Bagnaia scored the Moto2 pole at 2:08.153, and Jorge Martín in a Honda claimed the Moto3 pole at 2:13.292, all with inclement weather involved.
Track surface issues On 9 February 2018, Silverstone Circuit announced the track would be repaved in its entirety for the first time since 1996. Shortly after the track was repaved and opened for testing, Cal Crutchlow said the new surface was perfect to Dorna officials.
Five months later, during the Formula One round at Silverstone in early July, Lewis Hamilton blasted the repaving as "wasted money," calling it the "worst job ever," saying the rough surface was worse than the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Carlos Sainz, Jr. said the roughness of the surface, especially bumps, were worse after the repaving.
Shortly after the cancellation, MotoGP officials blamed the track's newly repaved surface as the problem. Media reports from various motorsport sites noted the problems since the F1 race and the new tarmac was to blame.
On 8 May 2019, Silverstone announced as part of extending its MotoGP contract to 2021 that the circuit will be repaved again in June, two months before the MotoGP race. The repaving was completed by Tarmac Ltd with the direction of Italian circuit designer Jarno Zaffelli, from Dromo.
Championship standings after the race
MotoGP Rider Points 1 Marc Márquez 201 2 Valentino Rossi 142 3 Jorge Lorenzo 130 4 Andrea Dovizioso 129 5 Maverick Viñales 113 6 Danilo Petrucci 105 7 Johann Zarco 104 8 Cal Crutchlow 103 9 Andrea Iannone 84 10 Álex Rins 66
Moto2 Rider Points 1 Francesco Bagnaia 189 2 Miguel Oliveira 186 3 Álex Márquez 113 4 Brad Binder 111 5 Lorenzo Baldassarri 106 6 Joan Mir 103 7 Marcel Schrötter 91 8 Xavi Vierge 90 9 Fabio Quartararo 84 10 Mattia Pasini 82
Moto3 Rider Points 1 Marco Bezzecchi 158 2 Jorge Martín 146 3 Fabio Di Giannantonio 121 4 Arón Canet 118 5 Enea Bastianini 117 6 Gabriel Rodrigo 84 7 Jakub Kornfeil 80 8 Marcos Ramírez 67 9 Lorenzo Dalla Porta 63 10 Andrea Migno 60
References