British MotoGP winner Jorge Lorenzo hailed his exceptional triumph at Silverstone as one of his ‘greatest races’ as the reigning world champion and Marc Marquez were involved in a modern-era classic.

Marquez admitted his spill in morning warm-up had a detrimental impact on his physical condition at the end of the British MotoGP, even though the Repsol Honda star pushed Yamaha’s Lorenzo all the way to the line.

Marquez sustained a dislocated shoulder in the spill at Silverstone but against the odds the championship leader went close to sealing a fifth successive MotoGP win on the trot, exchanging places with Lorenzo on the final lap before losing out by only 0.08 seconds.

The 20-year-old later learned he had been handed two penalty points following his crash in the morning, when he was deemed to have ignored waved yellow flags at the scene of Cal Crutchlow’s spill.

Lorenzo had dictated matters for much of the race until Marquez made his first move with three laps to go, but the factory Yamaha rider was prepared for a battle and moved back to the front on lap 18.

The pair slogged it out on the final lap of the race and when Marquez made a decisive move at Brooklands it seemed for a moment that the young rookie was on course for his fifth consecutive premier class win, but the Repsol Honda rider ran slightly wide at Luffield and Lorenzo pounced to snatch an important triumph.

Lorenzo, celebrating his fourth victory of the season, said: “This was one of the best races I’ve ever had. I’m really happy and really pleased. It’s a very important win.

“I pushed from the beginning to try and open a gap, even more than in recent races but it was impossible. Marc never gives up, even if he’s a little bit injured after the warm-up.

“He overtook me three laps from the end so I studied him a little for one lap and I saw he was struggling in some braking so I overtook him on the corner where he crashed.

“I pushed in the last lap to the maximum, I opened a little gap but I made a mistake in braking and almost crashed.”

Lorenzo thought his chance was gone when Marquez squeezed through on the last lap but the defending world champion resorted to a ‘now or never’ strategy to seize a dramatic victory.

“When he overtook me three corners from the end I thought it was over again and second place but then he opened a little gap in the last corner so I thought ‘now or never’ and I tried and got it,” he said.

“To be honest I’m not thinking about the championship, I’m thinking just to enjoy this victory which was very special to get the focus on Misano.”

Lorenzo has closed the gap to Marquez’ Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa in second position to nine points and is now 39 points behind Marquez.

Results from Silverstone, round 12 of 18:

1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 40m 52.515s
2. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 40m 52.596s
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 40m 54.066s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 41m 5.748s
5. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 41m 5.813s
6. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 41m 12.742s
7. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 41m 18.814s
8. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 41m 28.508s
9. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 41m 28.634s
10. Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 41m 45.711s
11. Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) 41m 51.573s
12. Michele Pirro ITA Ignite Pramac Racing (GP13) 41m 53.225s
13. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 41m 54.205s
14. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 41m 54.358s
15. Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* 42m 1.348s
16. Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 42m 1.578s
17. Claudio Corti ITA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 42m 8.989s
18. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 42m 9.050s
19. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART CRT)* 42m 24.572s
20. Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 42m 28.739s
21. Bryan Staring AUS Go&Fun Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) 42m 53.150s
22. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) DNF
23. Lukas Pesek CZE Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* DNF

World championships standings after 12 of 18 rounds: