MARC MARQUEZ endured a race-long battle with Jorge Lorenzo from start to finish before claiming victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

The Spaniard, 21, on his Repsol Honda, who started the race from pole position, dropped into second on the opening lap as his compatriot took charge.

But the lead changed hands between the duo a number of times after championship leader Marquez went in front with seven laps to go.

Marquez was pushed back to second but fought back hard and after shoulder- barging and a touch with Movistar Yamaha’s Lorenzo, he came out on top to pick up an impressive 11th win of this season’s MotoGP World Championship in 40 minutes 51.835 seconds, with Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi third.

After Lorenzo took the early lead, Marquez put him under increasing pressure as the race moved on and the front-running two were being tracked by Andrea Dovizioso on his Ducati, Rossi, Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Britain’s Bradley Smith in sixth on his Yamaha.

Rossi began to make inroads and moved into third five laps in, with Pedrosa also overtaking Dovizioso.

Rossi was put under pressure four laps later by Pedrosa, who took third back.

Marquez now leads the riders’ standings with 288 points, 89 more than nearest rival Pedrosa with Rossi ten further back with six races of the season to go.

The race winner was delighted with his victory and admitted the victory here at Silverstone was sweet revenge after he came home second to Lorenzo in last year’s race, where he was just 0.081secs off the pace.

He told BT Sport 2: “Jorge was much as strong as what I expected before the race because I did the same time in the practice but it looked like today that he was stronger and it was a great battle in the end.

“When I got past him for the first time I expected to open up a small gap but I made a small mistake and then he came by....but the battle was nice and to win the race – I was remembering and thinking about last year and this time I was a bit better and I beat him.”