Photo: motogp.com
Marc Marquez returned in the leading position of the MotoGP in the debut Free Practice session ahead of the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The young Spaniard recorded his best time of 2’03.208 in the very last lap of the outing, after leading a good part of the first session. However, while seeing the Repsol Honda rider in this position has become a rather common sight during the last season and a half, FP1 ending with two Ducati machines in top three is definitely one nice surprise.
An increasingly common presence closer to the top riders, Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone was the second-fastest rider in FP1, though with a .661s gap from Marquez. His future team mate and actual factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso came in third, .183s slower than Iannone. As a special note, Iannone appears to have been out on the track with the old fairing, with Borgo Panigale definitely seeking to measure performance fdifferences between the current and the previous bodywork designs.
Passing through a rougher period and most likely envisaging a move to Aprilia, Alvaro Bautista was fourth, followed by Aleix Espargaro, consistent with his leading Open class position he got us used to in the last couple of seasons.
Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa were more preoccupied to find better setups for their bikes, as their times were rather modest. Lorenzo was 6th, behind Stefan Bradl, followed by Rossi, while Pedrosa was 1-th fastest, with Hernandez between him and the Doctor.
Cal Crutchlow was confirmed to keep riding an unmodified machine until the end of the season, as Ducati’s Paolo Ciabatti said it was only natural to withhold certain new “secrets” from a rider which will switch over to a competing team. After the recent new tests with Ducati Crutchlow admitted he was slow, but could not indicate where the main problem was.
The FP1 at Silverstone took place in fairly cold weather, and some specks of rain also affected the session, though the track did not become wet. The next Free Practice will begin at 14:05 local time (GMT+1).
Passing through a rougher period and most likely envisaging a move to Aprilia, Alvaro Bautista was fourth, followed by Aleix Espargaro, consistent with his leading Open class position he got us used to in the last couple of seasons.
Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa were more preoccupied to find better setups for their bikes, as their times were rather modest. Lorenzo was 6th, behind Stefan Bradl, followed by Rossi, while Pedrosa was 1-th fastest, with Hernandez between him and the Doctor.
Cal Crutchlow was confirmed to keep riding an unmodified machine until the end of the season, as Ducati’s Paolo Ciabatti said it was only natural to withhold certain new “secrets” from a rider which will switch over to a competing team. After the recent new tests with Ducati Crutchlow admitted he was slow, but could not indicate where the main problem was.
The FP1 at Silverstone took place in fairly cold weather, and some specks of rain also affected the session, though the track did not become wet. The next Free Practice will begin at 14:05 local time (GMT+1).
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