Jorge Lorenzo has returned to winning ways in a dramatic Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone, beating championship leader Marc Marquez by less than one tenth of a second. Dani Pedrosa completed the podium as home favourite Cal Crutchlow struggled to seventh place.

On Saturday, Marquez had clinched his third pole position in five race meetings but further participation was put in doubt when he dislocated his left shoulder by crashing in Sunday morning Warm-Up. After being given the green light in the circuit Medical Centre, the 20-year-old Repsol Honda Team rider headed up the front row from Yamaha Factory Racings Lorenzo and Monster Yamaha Tech3s Crutchlow.Critically for Lorenzo, the Mallorcan made another strong start and dived into the lead at Copse corner. In a near repeat performance to Brno last weekend, he would proceed to resolutely defend from both Repsol Honda Team riders. Marquez then seized the advantage at Brooklands just over two laps from home, only for Lorenzo to retake the lead as he confidently out-braked his opponent at Vale. On the final lap, Marquez again grabbed the advantage at Brooklands, before Lorenzo re-passed in a confident move at Luffield which featured slight contract between the two bikes.The leading duo crossed the finish line separated by just 81 thousandths of a second, meaning Silverstone continues a pattern from Brno of witnessing the closest finish of the season so far. The triumph also marks Lorenzos first win since Catalunya in mid-June. Struggling for rear grip, Pedrosa was a further one and a half seconds behind, having been unable to take advantage of the battling pair in front of him. In fourth spot was Rossi who, having dropped back after his strong start, had become involved in yet another entertaining battle with GO&FUN Honda Gresinis Alvaro Bautista, while LCR Honda MotoGPs Stefan Bradl finished in sixth place.Having missed his home race in 2011 before starting at the back in 2012, Cal Crutchlow had hoped for a much stronger Silverstone weekend in 2013. He crashed twice on Saturday and again in Sundays Warm-Up, then paid the price for a poor getaway as the Tech3 rider plummeted from third to sixth at the start. He would fall back to his eventual finishing position of seventh when the charging Bautistawho had lined up eighth on the gridovertook at the end of Lap 1.Crutchlows teammate Bradley Smith again found himself dicing with the pair of Ducati Team riders, but was ultimately taken advantage of by Nicky Hayden for eighth place. Smith would end the day ninth, while Andrea Dovizioso crashed out on the penultimate tour. The Italian joined second-lap faller Lukas Pesek (Came IodaRacing Project) on the sidelines, promoting Power Electronics Aspars Aleix Espargaro into the top ten despite a broken finger and injured neck after a Saturday crash; he therefore led home the CRT riders as PBMs Michael Laverty ended his maiden home race in 19th position, ahead of Colombian teammate Yonny Hernandez.With the triple-header of Indianapolis, Brno and Silverstone now over, MotoGP returns in two weekends time with the GP Aperol di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini from Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. With six events remaining in 2013, debutant Marquez carries an advantage of 30 points over Pedrosa, with Sundays winner Lorenzo now trailing the championship leader by 39 points. After the race, it was announced that Marquez had received two penalty points for his part in the Crutchlow Warm-Up incident, having not slowed sufficiently under yellow flags.

Results

1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha               2.  Marc Marquez      Honda                    +0.081s3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                    +1.551s4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                  +13.233s5.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda           +13.298s6.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda               +20.227s7.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha           +26.299s8.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                  +35.993s9.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha           +36.119s10  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia           +53.196s11  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati           +59.058s12  Michele Pirro     Pramac Ducati         +1m00.710s13  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  +1m01.690s14  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  +1m01.843s15  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW        +1m08.833s16  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         +1m09.063s17  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  +1m16.474s18  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  +1m16.535s19  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           +1m32.057s20  Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia           +1m36.224s21  Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda     +2m00.635s

DNF

Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                   18 lapsLukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW             1 lap