1988 British motorcycle Grand Prix

  1988 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 12 of 15 races in the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	7 August 1988
Official name	Shell Oils British Motorcycle Grand Prix [1] [2] [3]
Location	Donington Park
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.020 km (2.498 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Gardner Honda Time 1:35.090 Fastest lap Rider Christian Sarron Yamaha Time 1:36.210 Podium First Wayne Rainey Yamaha Second Wayne Gardner Honda Third Christian Sarron Yamaha
250 cc
Pole position Rider Juan Garriga Yamaha Fastest lap Rider Juan Garriga Yamaha Time 1:38.870 Podium First Luca Cadalora Yamaha Second Dominique Sarron Honda Third Juan Garriga Yamaha
125 cc
Pole position Rider Ezio Gianola Honda Fastest lap Rider Ezio Gianola Honda Podium First Ezio Gianola Honda Second Jorge Martínez Derbi Third Domenico Brigaglia Gazzaniga-Rotax
Sidecar (B2A)
Pole position Rider Rolf Biland LCR-Krauser Fastest lap Rider Rolf Biland LCR-Krauser Podium First Steve Webster LCR-Krauser Second Rolf Biland LCR-Krauser Third Alain Michel LCR-Krauser

The 1988 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 5–7 August 1988 at Donington Park. ^[4]

500 cc race report

The front row: Wayne Gardner, Eddie Lawson, Christian Sarron, Niall Mackenzie and Wayne Rainey.

Rainey and Mackenzie get a good launch, and through the first turn it's Rainey and he's opening a gap the field. Rainey is using carbon fiber brakes for the first time, which had only been tested and not raced on.

Kevin Schwantz is in around 8th place and tries to pass two or three riders simultaneously at the chicane, but crashes into Ron Haslam and causes a bottleneck. Haslam struggles to get out of the gravel and back into the race, and Schwantz is out with a broken kneecap. Marco Papa highsides out of the race.

Finishing the first lap it's Rainey, then a gap to Gardner, Sarron, and Mackenzie. Randy Mamola and Norihiko Fujiwara come together at the hairpin, but stay up.

Rainey is maintaining a gap, and Gardner makes a mistake at the chicane and lets Sarron and Mackenzie through, but he's soon back to 2nd. Mamola is sliding the rear and waving to the crowd.

On the last lap, McElnea highsides coming out of the chicane.

Rainey wins his first premier-class GP.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	49:33.670	20
2	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+6.970	17
3	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+8.780	15
4	Niall Mackenzie	Team HRC	Honda	+11.840	13
5	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+36.750	11
6	Eddie Lawson	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+40.970	10
7	Didier de Radiguès	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+51.360	9
8	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	+51.810	8
9	Roger Burnett	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+52.390	7
10	Tadahiko Taira	Tech 21	Yamaha	+1:21.840	6
11	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	+1:32.450	5
12	Norihiko Fujiwara	Lucky Strike Yamaha	Yamaha	+1 Lap	4
13	Mike Baldwin	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+1 Lap	3
14	Ron Haslam	Team ROC Elf Honda	Elf Honda	+1 Lap	2
15	Fabio Biliotti	Team Amoranto	Honda	+1 Lap	1
16	Patrick Igoa	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+1 Lap
17	Eddie Laycock	Millar Racing	Honda	+1 Lap
18	Fabio Barchitta	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+1 Lap
19	Daniel Amatriain	Ducados Lotus Guarz	Honda	+1 Lap
20	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	+1 Lap
21	Dave Leach		Suzuki	+1 Lap
22	Maarten Duyzers	HDJ International	Honda	+1 Lap
23	Simon Buckmaster		Honda	+1 Lap
24	Kees van der Endt	Autobedrijf Koens	Honda	+1 Lap
25	Nicholas Schmassman	FMS	Honda	+1 Lap
Ret	Andreas Leuthe		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Rachel Nicotte	PVI Racing	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Darren Dixon		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Bruno Kneubühler	Romer Racing Suisse	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Rob McElnea	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Wolfgang von Muralt		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Raymond Roche	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Steve Spray		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
DNS	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Honda	Did not start
DNS	Marco Papa	Team Greco	Honda	Did not start
DNQ	Steve Manley	Gateford Motors	Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Ian Pratt		Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Johan Ten Napel		Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Claus Wulff		Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Rene Zanatta		Paton	Did not qualify
Sources: [5] [6]

References

1. "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1988". Archive.today. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015.
2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "1988 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
3. Mitchell, Malcolm. "Donington Park - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com.
4. "Moto GP statistics". Moto GP . Retrieved 19 February 2018.
5. "1988 British MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motorsportmagazine.com. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
6. "BRITISH GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1988". Motogp.com. Retrieved 17 September 2018.

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