As the premier class riders enjoyed their second Friday practice session at the Hertz British Grand Prix, Marc Marquez was the top man, followed by Stefan Bradl and Andrea Dovizioso.
Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was fastest in the morning session too with a 2:03.208 to lead by 0.661s and he improved in the afternoon to 2:02.126, again leading the practice by more than half a second. The World Champion has a point to prove this weekend at Silverstone having not won at Brno, his first race of the year which has not resulted in victory.
“Today I felt good from the beginning,” Marquez said. “Silverstone is bit of a special track; there are many bumps and the temperatures are low, but we found a good base from the start and this helped us for the entire day. It is only Friday, but it is always important to start the weekend like this. For tomorrow we will try above all to improve how the bike absorbs the bumps, to go faster and take a small step forward.”
Free Practice 1 saw Bradl in sixth, ahead of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP pair Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. The German rider was within half a second of Marquez in Free Practice 2, a session that saw many of the Factory riders struggle to put in a quick time. Bradl halved the gap to Marquez at the front and was 0.3s ahead of Dovizioso (Ducati Team).
“Today was a good day for us,” said the LCR Honda rider. “We kept some tires for the weekend and this afternoon I made a good lap time. I’m happy but for sure we have to improve on used tires, we have to work as the traction is lacking and we are struggling a little on them.”
Dovizioso put in a late best time for third – lapping 0.885s behind Marquez.
“I am pleased with the time that I set and also with my pace on the medium tire,” Dovizioso said. “For sure we have to improve even more because it’s difficult to obtain a good set-up due to the track surface, which is very bumpy. However we have been constantly quick since the start of the morning session and this means that we have started the weekend well. My third place is of course a good result, but I think I could have done even better with the soft tire, which in my opinion is potentially better than the medium one I used to set my time.”
Local rider Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) looked good in fourth and Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) impressed by making it into the top five. Likewise Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) was well up the timesheet in sixth place, striving to please the crowd at his home GP.
Italian Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Spanish trio Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) rounded out the top 10.
Lorenzo and Rossi will aim to improve on Saturday after lapping 11th and 13th respectively, while Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) was down in 14th. Lorenzo (+1.374s) and Rossi (+1.826s) were well off the pace of Marquez.
Leon Camier (Drive M7 Aspar) had a crash with five minutes to go in FP2 and ended up 17th overall.
The final practice of Friday at Silverstone saw the Moto2™ FP2 workout led by Tito Rabat, with Simone Corsi and Jonas Folger also at the business end of the timesheet.
Standings leader Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) topped the afternoon practice with a 2:08.652, highlighting his determination to maintain his good form, following his win last time out in the Czech Republic.
Experienced Italian Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) and young German Folger (AGR Team) were the two riders to get closest to Rabat’s pace, respectively 0.087s and 0.174s behind the Spaniard in second and third.
Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing) and Maverick Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) were fourth and fifth.
Danny Kent was the quickest rider on track in the Moto3™ FP2 outing at the Hertz British Grand Prix, with Niccolo Antonelli and Alex Rins also occupying top three spots.
Englishman Kent (Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo) ended Friday as the fastest Moto3 rider at his home Grand Prix, registering a 2:15.572 lap at the end of the afternoon session to lead the way by 0.058s from Italian rider Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN).
–From motogp.com
MotoGP Practice Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)
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