Will Silverstone glory tempt a MotoGP team to sign Jake Dixon?

A British Grand Prix was won by a British rider for the first time since 2015 when Jake Dixon took victory in the British Moto2 GP, something he says isn’t “meant” to happen.

Dixon took the lead from Aron Canet on the final lap after tailing him for much of the second half of the race. 

Canet was unable to respond to Dixon due to a mis-shift immediately after Dixon passed him between turns one and two, and then thanks to some defensive late-braking from the #96 in the final sector.

Staying behind Canet had, somewhat, been a part of Dixon’s plan, he said: “Canet was so fast and I was just trying to not spin my tyre because the team were telling me all morning ‘Jake, just preserve the tyre, preserve the tyre’, don’t try to do too much with it’.

“And then I got back to him and passed him straight away, and I was like ‘what are you doing, just keep calm in this moment, don’t try to do too much’.

“So then I just sat there, tried to conserve my tyre, picked the bike up quite a lot, tried to be smooth on the gas.”

Dixon said that, while following Canet, he was able to understand how he stacked up against his rival. 

“There was some real key areas that I knew I was strong,” Dixon said, explaining that he felt better in braking.

“I always knew that my braking would be there until the end, it was just a matter of where was I going to pass him, and when was I going to pass him.

The passing opportunity presented itself to Dixon after Canet made a mistake in the final corner. 

“I just had a feeling," he said. "And I had something telling me that the time [to overtake] is going to present itself, so then he came into the last corner, the long right, and he made a massive mistake coming onto the start-finish, and I just said ‘it’s now or never’.

“So I just kept him on the outside, pushed him wide because I went wide, and I just thought ‘I need to be clean’. 

"We got to the second-to-last corner and I thought ‘he’s never ever beating me now, there’s no chance I’m holding it this long and then he’s coming back past me.’”

Will Jake Dixon get MotoGP chance?

Dixon, though, doesn’t feel like his Silverstone success has increased his chances of moving to MotoGP.

“I don’t think it’s changed to be fair,” Dixon said when asked about his future MotoGP prospects. 

“Last year there was a lot of talk about me going to [MotoGP with] Gresini, and I was in the fight with Marc [Marquez] to go there, and obviously it’s great to fight against Marc Marquez but I’m never going to win against Marc Marquez, am I?

“He’s an eight-times World Champion, they’re not going to take a Brit to go there.”

Dixon also said that his nationality has had other impacts on his career since he came to the Grand Prix paddock. “I started racing when I was 14-years-old and how many other people in the Grand Prix paddock started when they were 14? 

"So, I’m naturally going to be a little bit older when I come to Grand Prix — I was 23 already, never did Moto3, only ever rode Superbikes, and to come here it’s taken a little bit longer than where I needed to be because when you come in as a Brit to start off with you don’t necessarily have the best package, the best team, the best bike.

“When I went to Petronas (in 2020), I thought it was all good, and it wasn’t all good. Then I came back to this team (Aspar, in 2022) and that’s when it really started to propel me to be at the front and to be where I needed to be.

“But I wouldn’t change my journey from what it is, I’m at the top of my game right now, and yeah I wish I could be going to MotoGP, but everything happens for a reason: if I’m meant to go, I’m meant to go one day, if not, so be it, I’m here to try to win a world title, I’ve always dreamt of being a world champion and I’ll always try to do that.

“And that’s why it means so much to me when I win: Brits aren’t meant to be winning, and I’m able to go out and win. So it’s just an amazing feeling.”