FIM MotoGP World Championship
Silverstone Circuit, England
August 28, 2015
Free Practice Two Results (all on Bridgestone tires):
1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 2:02.338
2. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (HONDA), 2:02.371
3. Bradley SMITH, UK (YAMAHA), 2:02.531
4. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 2:02.573
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (DUCATI), 2:02.761
6. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (SUZUKI), 2:02.872
7. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (YAMAHA), 2:02.972
8. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (DUCATI), 2:03.219
9. Scott REDDING, UK (HONDA), 2:03.284
10. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 2:03.327
11. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (DUCATI), 2:03.339
12. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (SUZUKI), 2:03.3911
13. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 2:03.618
14. Jack MILLER, Australia (HONDA), 2:03.656
15. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (HONDA), 2:03.748
16. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (HONDA), 2:03.877
17. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (DUCATI), 2:03.878
18. Loris BAZ, France (FORWARD YAMAHA), 2:03.977
19. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (DUCATI), 2:04.216
20. Stefan BRADL, Germany (APRILIA), 2:04.416
21. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (APRILIA), 2:04.885
22. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (HONDA), 2:05.295
23. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (HONDA), 2:05.396
24. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (ART-APRILIA), 2:05.820
25. Claudio CORTI, Italy (FORWARD YAMAHA), 2:06.275
More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Set the Pace at Silverstone
Silverstone (UK), 28th August 2015
Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo made a strong start to this weekend‘s British Grand Prix in today‘s free practice sessions at Silverstone. He wrapped up day one as the fastest rider overall, 0.033 seconds clear of his closest rival. Valentino Rossi also needed little time to adjust in the morning, but faced a lack of rear grip in the afternoon. His fastest time of the day took him up to tenth in the combined practice times, 0,989 seconds off his teammate.
True to his usual form, Lorenzo‘s name could be found at the top of the standings early on in the first 45 minutes free practice session with a 2‘04.817 lap. He put in some great effort in the British sunshine to improve his time by more than a second throughout the morning practice, taking second place with a best lap of 2‘03.499s.
The afternoon saw more of the same from the Majorcan. He was quick to top the timesheets, dropping the first 2‘02 lap of the weekend on his first lap. His fastest time of 2‘02.338 followed soon after and remained unchallenged for the remainder of the session, allowing him to take the lead in the combined practice times.
Determined to position himself as a key protagonist early on in the weekend, teammate Rossi was also on the pace right from the start of FP1. He took the top spot with his first flying lap and continued to progress. He was one of just three riders who dipped under the 2‘04 mark in the morning practice, posting a 2‘03.967, finishing in third place.
The Doctor worked hard to make another step forward in the afternoon. He shaved 0.640 seconds off his fastest lap in the morning session, but was unable to gain in terms of ranking and finished tenth in today‘s combined timesheets.
JORGE LORENZO
The feeling has been good from the beginning. I didn‘t expect to improve so much in the afternoon session on my first run, but my lap time was suddenly a second quicker and was fast enough for me to stay in first position. We still need to improve our pace a little bit, because the track is very cold and this made the tyre go down a little bit after every run. We need to work on the bike to make it easier on tyre-life to be able to keep up a higher pace. The car racing at Silverstone is making the asphalt very bumpy, especially on braking, and I think it‘s a bit slower compared to last year, but the bikes seem to be faster, making the lap times similar.
VALENTINO ROSSI
This morning wasn‘t so bad, but we had some more problems this afternoon because we tried to modify the bike to improve the tyre-life but I wasn‘t fast and strong enough. I didn‘t feel very well on the bike and lost some positions. The practice in the afternoon was a bit difficult, but we were able to try some different things and now we will check the data and try to put it all together to be stronger tomorrow. Here in Silverstone the weather is always a big question mark and just like everybody else we would prefer all practice sessions to be dry, but that might not be possible because the weather is becoming worse. Fortunately I‘m in the top ten, so it‘s not a big problem if we have a wet practice tomorrow, but we all hope for a dry session so we can improve the setting.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR
It was a much better start compared to last year, especially for Jorge, who has been the fastest and delivered very consistent times since the beginning of the weekend. After a good outing in FP1, Valentino had a more challenging FP2 session. He had problems stopping the bike in the beginning and suffered a lack of rear grip towards the end, but was still able to better his time. We have some ideas for further improvements for both riders that we would like to try tomorrow. The weather conditions for this weekend remain a bit of a question mark, but we are fully focused on the task ahead of getting another good result and are looking forward to qualifying tomorrow.
More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team:
Top ten start at home weekend for Redding
Silverstone, Great Britain – 28 August 2015: The British Grand Prix has always been a happy hunting ground for Scott Redding and his home race started strongly with top ten pace on the opening day of practice. The Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider, who has won the British Grand Prix in both the 125cc and Moto2 classes, was within one second of Jorge Lorenzo at the close of the day.
Redding completed 33 laps of the Silverstone circuit and set his fastest time early in FP2 and thereafter focussed his efforts on finding a better balance on the bike. Despite his strong start Redding has some issues with the bumpy Silverstone track surface, leaving him looking for improvements from the bike to offer more rear grip in these sections.
The 22 year old Briton has had a difficult first season aboard the Honda RC213V but having had such a strong start to the weekend there are plenty of positives to build on ahead of tomorrow’s all important FP3 session.
Scott Redding: 9th – 2’03.284
“I said before the weekend that I’d wait and see how the bike felt here at Silverstone, but it felt pretty good this morning. It wasn’t great initially but it got better and I got into a good rhythm. It feels quite different here compared to the Open bike from last year and it’s surprising how much faster it is. We’re struggling a little over the bumps because the tyre absorbs the bump but it doesn’t grip. We need to work in that area for tomorrow. The wind was playing a big role at the end of the day, it’s a crosswind coming out of Turn 15 and when the bike is trying to pull a bit of a wheelie the wind gets underneath, so it’s important to keep the front on the ground.”
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“This morning was good and we were in the top ten. In the afternoon we running in the top six but the Open riders used their soft tyre and moved in front of us. We were 0.9s from the front so I must say this was one of our best starts to the weekend and I’m hoping that we can finally continue on this form and make the top ten in FP3 tomorrow morning.”
More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:
Lorenzo sets the benchmark in British Grand Prix Free Practice
Round 12: British MotoGP™ – Free Practice 1&2
Silverstone, Friday August 28 2015
Bridgestone slick options: Front: Extra-soft, Soft & Medium; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre options: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)
Weather: FP1 – Dry. Ambient 15-16°C; Track 22-22°C (Bridgestone measurement)
FP2 – Dry. Ambient 19-19°C; Track 29-30°C (Bridgestone measurement)
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo was the benchmark on the opening day of action at the British Grand Prix, the current championship leader setting a time of 2’02.338 in this afternoon’s Free Practice 2 session.
Lorenzo’s record at Silverstone is imperious, with the Spaniard winning three of the five races held at this venue since 2010 and he continued his affinity for the British circuit by ending the day 0.033 seconds ahead of his closest rival, Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez. Impressing at his home Grand Prix was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith who finished third quickest overall with a personal best lap time of 2’02.531 which was just 0.193 off Lorenzo’s top time. All of the top three riders used the combination of the soft compound front and medium compound rear slick to set their quickest times.
Conditions in both of today’s sessions were fine and sunny although the presence of a cool breeze kept ambient and track temperatures to a moderate level. The peak track temperature of 30° Celsius. For the first session, the extra-soft front slick – identified with a green stripe – was by far the most popular option as it provides the best warm-up performance and cornering grip on Silverstone’s tarmac which features a lot of undulation in the braking zone. As track temperatures increased in the afternoon sessions, the riders migrated to the soft compound front slick which closely matches the extra-soft front slick in terms of warm-up performance but with better braking stability. Rear tyre choice throughout the day saw the riders focus on the softer rear option; medium compound for the factory Honda and Yamaha riders and soft compound for the rest of the field, although both Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders tested the hard compound rear slick in FP2 with favourable results.
Tomorrow’s forecast indicates weather conditions will be similar to today with almost no chance of rain. The next MotoGP™ session is Free Practice 3 at 0955 local time (GMT +1).
Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
“The weather conditions today were quite good but the presence of bumps in many corners meant that the riders need to proceed with caution in the first session of the day. After a steady start, the riders were able to push for a lap time in the afternoon once they became familiar with the track conditions and the pace in FP2 was close to race record pace. All three rear slick options were evaluated today but I expect there will be further testing in tomorrow’s practice sessions so riders can confirm which rear tyre is best for them over race distance. Front tyre choice at this moment shows a unanimous preference for the soft compound option, but some riders will try the medium compound in FP4 tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what benefit this option provides at this bumpy circuit.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Dovizioso fifth and Iannone eighth after first free practice for British GP at Silverstone
Andrea Dovizioso, after ending FP1 in fifth place, notched up exactly the same place in the second FP2 session, setting his quickest time at the end of the 45-minute run with a soft rear tyre.
Team-mate Andrea Iannone, who was fourth quickest in the morning’s free practice run, then had a harmless crash half-way through the afternoon’s FP2 session. After stepping onto his second bike, the Italian fitted a soft rear tyre in the last few minutes to make a slight improvement to the time he had previously set on race tyres. He concluded the day in eighth place in the combined free practice standings.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’02.761 (5th)
“It wasn’t an easy day, but I think it was more or less the same for everyone, especially because the track conditions were difficult because of the presence of numerous bumps. Silverstone is quite complicated to interpret because it is wider than the other tracks and it allows more lines, but what is positive is that we have more margin for improvement. During my numerous runs, I approached the track in several different ways and for tomorrow we will try and be as smooth as possible. We are still a bit far away from the leaders but all things considered today didn’t go bad.”
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 2’03.219 (8th)
“It was a bit of a strange day, above all because of the crash that slowed down the work of my team, but in any case I managed to set a good time on a used race tyre and I was improving on it before the crash. Now we have to analyze things to see if the modifications we made created a few problems, or if the crash was caused by a dip. Today however was positive and we will try and make a further improvement tomorrow ”
More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda:
CRUTCHLOW LOOKING FOR IMPROVEMENT AT SILVERSTONE
Cal Crutchlow endured a difficult start to the British Grand Prix weekend as he finished down in 15th spot after Friday’s free practice. Once again, the 29-year-old’s home circuit of Silverstone proved a less than welcoming venue as he struggled to find his best form.
However, the LCR Honda rider refused to be too downbeat despite it proving tough for him to find too much improvement between the morning and afternoon sessions. Crutchlow remains hopeful that he can make substantial strides forward in Saturday’s qualifying as he looks to put in a big performance in front of his own fans.
Cal Crutchlow #35 (15th – 2’03.748)
“Today was an average day. We were 15th, but we were 15th for a reason I feel. At Silverstone over the last five years of racing here the first day hasn’t gone well, and neither has the second so in the morning I need to work on the setting of the bike.
“You can see today that we had some problems. However, we were pleased with the end of the session as we managed to go faster, but we didn’t use the tyre that everybody else seemed to use around us. I look forward to progressing tomorrow and getting the bike as far up the grid as possible for Sunday’s race.”
More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:
Marquez and Pedrosa start with good pace at cold Silverstone
Reigning World Champion, Marc Marquez, sets second fastest time of the day, with Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa in fourth.
Just 0.033s separated Marc from being the fastest rider of the day at Silverstone on Friday. After setting the best lap in the morning free practice session at the British GP venue -where ambient temperatures only reached a chilly 16ºC- in the afternoon he was bested by Jorge Lorenzo and was forced to settle for the second best time of the opening day.
Dani made solid improvements over the course of the two free practice sessions. after finishing eighth in the first practice session, 1.236s off Marquez’ timesheet topping lap of 2:03.111. Despite a mechanical problem with his rear brake in the afternoon, the Spaniard took almost 2 seconds off his time. He cut the gap to eventual fastest man on Friday, Jorge Lorenzo, to just over 2 tenths, placing fourth.
Tomorrow sees the second day of action at Silverstone, with the headline attraction of qualifying for the British GP -round twelve of the season.
Marc Marquez
2ND 2’02.371
“I’m happy with today, as things have gone quite well. It was a good day and we have made continuous positive development, improving our top lap time considerably from the first session to the second. The important thing is that I felt very comfortable and we are up at the top, competing at the same level as Jorge, who is very strong and riding with a lot of confidence. Our goal tomorrow will be to keep up the same way of working that we saw today and to further improve in any aspect where there is still room to do so. We will focus especially on setting up the bike for the race, because it will be a long one.”
Dani Pedrosa
4TH 2’02.573
“I am satisfied with the work we have done today, as this afternoon we took a good step forward and I lowered my times considerably, but I would like to improve even more. We had a small problem with the rear brake; it broke and the rear wheel was slowing us down. Luckily it was only that small issue, and we will fix it. There are a couple of things we have to work on with the bike, especially corner entry and the fact that we are losing rear grip as the laps go by. We need to fix this to get closer to Jorge and Marc, who are very strong at this circuit . The goal is to qualify high up and be as close as possible to them. My foot is much better, there are a couple of corners where I still feel some pain, but on the rest of the track I can concentrate on my riding.”
More, from a press release issued by OCTO Pramac Racing:
Petrux very close to the Top 10. Yonny to find a better feeling for tomorrow
Danilo Petrucci confirmed to be at ease on the Silverstone circuit where he got his first international success in his career with Ducati in the Superstock series. Yonny Hernandez struggled with grip issues, however he remains optimistic that these can be resolved before tomorrow morning, in order to make progress for FP3 and Qualifying. This opens the British Grand Prix for Octo Pramac Racing, completing the Friday free practice sessions with Danilo Pertrucci in 11th and Yonny Hernandez in 17th.
The rider from Terni, who will have the Ducati Desmosedici GP 14.2 from the Grand Prix of San Marino, showed great pace throughout FP1, and continued to do so throughout FP2, remaining in the Top 10 consistently. However, a mistake at turn 6 prevented him from securing his Top 10 position in FP2, having finished the session in 11th just 12 milliseconds from the time set by Valentino Rossi ( 2’03.339).
Yonny Hernandez had a more difficult day. The Columbian struggled for feeling and grip with his Desmosedici throughout todays sessions. Hernandez struggled particularly in T1, and he therefore managed to recover this time over the rest of the circuit. At the end of todays practise sessions his best lap time 2’03.878 provisionally earned him 17th.
11° – Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing # 9 – 2’03.339
It was a good day. I have been in the top 10 costantly in both the morning and the afternoon sessions. However during the time attack in FP2 I made a mistake in turn 6 by opening to throttle too early before the long straight, causing my bike to high side. This prevented me from getting back into the top 10, but only by a few thousandths. I’m sorry, because here the weather conditions can vary a lot, and if it rains tomorrow, I might have to go through Q1. My goal instead is to go straight to Q2. I have good feeling and I am confident for the weekend.
17° – Yonny Hernandez – OCTO Pramac Racing #68 – 2’03.878
I’m not pleased with how things went today. I was lacking feeling especially on the front. I hope tomorrow to be able to take steps forward trying other solutions that we already planned. The goal is to make a big step forward to get closer to the Top 10, even if my aim, obviously, is to get straight to Q2
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
MOTOGP – FIRST DAY AT SILVERSTONE
BAUTISTA AND BRADL ARE HARD AT WORK ON NEW MATERIALS FOR THEIR APRILIA RS-GP MACHINES
Silverstone (UK), 28 August 2015 – On the first day of practice at Silverstone in preparation for the MotoGP race on Sunday, Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl divided up the work testing the new materials on their Aprilia RS-GP machines.
Bautista used the new frame that had already been used at Brno and which is now available on both bikes, whereas Bradl, in his third round of the season with Aprilia, took a new swingarm onto the track. With this Aprilia Racing Team Gresini moves forward in their MotoGP project with the goal of confirming the good result from the last race in Brno where, for the first time this season, both riders finished the race in the points. An electrical problem at the beginning of FP2 forced Bautista to change bikes, hindering work and leaving him a bit behind in the final times. Stefan finished the first day of the English weekend with the 20th best time (2’04,416) ahead of Alvaro, 21st with 2’04,885.
ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)
“We struggled a bit. Alvaro had a problem with the bike he prefers and on the second one, with different adjustments, he didn’t feel comfortable. Unfortunately we couldn’t turn back during the session. This certainly penalised him. With Stefan, on the other hand, we continued with our tests, focusing on the new swingarm, trying to figure out the actual advantages of it. Now we are hard at work trying to take an important step forward to improve for tomorrow.”
FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)
“Today Alvaro struggled to stop the bike, which is sliding a lot, so tomorrow we’ll try to make some changes in the hopes of improving balance. Bradl tried a different swingarm and tomorrow he’ll continue testing to get to know it better. In any case Stefan put some good times on the sheets both in the morning and afternoon sessions, so we hope to continue along these lines tomorrow.”
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“Unfortunately changing the bike kept me from working on what we had planned for the afternoon. It’s a shame because I could have done better. The second bike had a different setting and I didn’t feel comfortable on it, especially in the braking sections. The morning session went better. I rode carefully at the beginning but then I found my pace. Now I have two bikes with the frame that was introduced at Brno and that should allow me, even tomorrow, to compare the various settings more quickly.”
STEFAN BRADL
“In both sessions we tried a new swingarm that seems to provide some advantages. But in order to take full advantage of it first we’ll need to solve the problems we had today coming out of turns. We need to make the bike a bit less twitchy. Tomorrow I’d like to continue using the new swingarm and if we can solve these problems I think we’ll be able to make some more good improvements.”
More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda:
SUPERB START FOR MILLER AT SILVERSTONE
Jack Miller enjoyed a very encouraging start to the British Grand Prix weekend as he went 14th fastest in free practice on Friday. On a largely sunny day at Silverstone, the LCR Honda rider improved markedly in the afternoon session to give himself a big boost heading into qualifying on Saturday.
Miller was down in 22nd place after the morning session, but then went almost three seconds quicker in the afternoon. Indeed, he finished the day one spot above team-mate Cal Crutchlow on the timesheets and is now looking to maintain his early momentum throughout the weekend.
Jack Miller #43 (14th – 2’03.656)
“I’m really happy with how things went today, especially this afternoon. This morning we struggled a lot, but we seemed to find something between myself and the bike this afternoon and we had a big change in results.
“I really feel comfortable and look forward to going over today’s data and finding something that can help us go even better tomorrow in qualifying so that we can do a really good job.”
More, from a press release issued by Avintia Racing:
Strong start for Avintia Racing at Silvestone
28/08/15 Avintia Racing MotoGP – British Grand Prix – FP1 – FP2
The British Grand Prix has started in a positive way for the Avintia Racing team. Both riders used the morning session to test different settings on their bikes, but none of them worked as expected and they finished the 45 minutes session quite far from the top. The team worked really hard in between sessions to solve the problems and in the afternoon the riders improved from the first exit, although the strong wind in some areas of the Silverstone track. Hector Barbera was 13th only 1.2s from the fastest pace and Mike Di Meglio finished the day 19th. The most important thing is that both Hector and Mike feeling with the bike has improved and they are looking forward to make more steps on tomorrow’s qualifying session.
HECTOR BARBERA #8 / 13th (P1 Open) 2’03.618 @HectorBarbera
I think it was a good day. In the morning we have been testing a shorter swingarm in one bike and a different steering angle in the other bike. I felt not good on the first bike, and either with the second… But this was just a test, and it could be better or not. In the afternoon we went back to our normal bike and I was fast from the first exit. We are also working in some electronic changes to try to get more consistency during the race, so I think we have made a good job today. We are 13th, in front of some factory bikes and leading the Open Class, so, overall, it was a positive day.
MIKE DI MEGLIO #63 / 19th (P5 Open) 2’04.216 @Mikejpp63
This morning we have some issues that made us loose a lot of time, but in the afternoon we changed many things on the bike and my feeling came back. But we need to keep working hard because the bike doesn’t turn on the corners and, in a very fast track like Sliverstone, you need a bike that also reacts fast. We have some ideas to apply and try to improve tomorrow in that area, but for sure we’ll have some more ideas during the night.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Advantage Lorenzo at cool and cloudy Silverstone
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo put in a faultless performance on an action-packed first day of Free Practice at the Octo British Grand Prix to head the timesheets at a dry but chilly Silverstone.
The Spaniard finished just 0.033s ahead of Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez in a thrilling end to the day’s action. The man tied with Lorenzo on points at the top of the standings, Valentino Rossi, ended the day 0.989s behind his teammate in tenth. Local hero Bradley Smith impressed to finish in third and complete the provisional front row.
Conditions at the legendary 5.9km Silverstone Circuit had improved from FP1 and bright sunshine saw track temperatures rise to 27°C in the afternoon. This meant that most riders drastically improved their times in FP2 as they took advantage of better grip levels. With the potential for rain on Saturday morning, today’s practice sessions took on an extra emphasis as riders tried to guarantee themselves a spot in Q2.
Therefore with ten minutes left most riders pitted to swap to the softer option tyre available to them and a dramatic shootout ensued. Lorenzo chose to remain on old tyres, and his 2’02.338 from earlier in the session was good enough to secure top spot, despite being almost two seconds slower than Marquez’s pole record (2’00.691) from 2013.
Marquez (+0.033s) had earlier topped FP1 but had no answer to the pace of Lorenzo in the afternoon, despite swapping for fresh rubber at the end of the session. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Smith (+0.193s) delighted the passionate home fans to set the third fastest time overall and complete the provisional front row. Smith was by far and away the fastest Satellite rider and will be hoping that he can continue this form in an effort to secure his first podium of the season.
Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa (+0.235s) was fourth, ahead of the Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.423s) in fifth. Dovizioso was using an updated version of his GP15 that debuted at Brno side by side by with the old version to allow him to compare the benefits.
Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro (+0.534s) made use of the extra-soft tyre available to him to claim sixth spot. He finished exactly one-tenth of a second ahead of his brother Pol on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 in seventh.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) had two updated GP15’s at his disposal, and despite crashing at Stowe Corner half way through the session, recovered to finish in eighth.
Scott Redding on the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Factory spec Honda showed good pace to finish in ninth, ahead of the nine-time World Champion Rossi who completed the top ten. Rossi found himself almost a second down on his teammate’s time and will need to improve tomorrow if he has any hopes of re-taking his championship lead.
Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera was the top Open class rider in 13th, ahead of the leading Open Honda of Jack Miller (LCR Honda) in 14th. Surprisingly Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) found himself behind his Australian teammate, despite riding a Factory spec RC213V, 1.410s off the pace of Lorenzo.
Aspar MotoGP Team’s Irish rider Eugene Laverty finished 16th fastest on the combined timesheets, with his American teammate Nicky Hayden down in 22nd.
Check out the combined MotoGP™ FP1 & FP2 results, FP3 kicks off at 9:55am local time on Saturday.
Home hero Lowes on top in Moto2™
Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes delighted the home fans, as he finished on top of Friday’s combined timesheets at the Octo British Grand Prix.
Lowes finished 0.089s ahead of Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Alex Rins, while championship leader Johann Zarco crashed out of the session and was taken to the Medical Centre. Moto2™ FP2 saw grey clouds appear and temperatures start to drop (Track temp. 23°C) at Silverstone. Despite this most riders still managed to improve on their times from the morning session.
Lowes set a 2’08.004 on his final lap of FP2 to seal top spot on a day that saw the top fifteen riders separated by less than eight-tenths of a second. Indianapolis race winner Rins completed another good day in second overall, with Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Takaaki Nakagami (+0.112s) in third. The Japanese rider clearly likes the Silverstone Circuit having equalled his career best result (2nd) back in 2013 and he still holds the Moto2™ pole record (2’07.039) from the same year.
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Tito Rabat (+0.228s) was in fourth, just 0.015s ahead of his teammate Alex Marquez (+0.243s) in fifth. Jonas Folger on the AGR Team Kalex completed the provisional second row, with just 0.256s separating the top six riders.
Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) was seventh fastest ahead of the Petronas Raceline Malaysia Kalex oh Hafizh Syahrin in eighth.
Runaway Moto2™ championship leader Johann Zarco could only manage the ninth fastest time of the day. The Ajo Motorsport rider had earlier topped FP1, but crashed out of the afternoon session at the fast Chapel Curve with 30 minutes remaining and was taken to the Medical Centre for checks.
Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten) completed the top ten while British wildcard Bradley Ray (FAB-Racing) ended the day in 28th overall.
Fenati fastest on Friday in Moto3™
Sky Racing Team VR46’s Romano Fenati ended Friday on top of the combined timesheets while championship leader Danny Kent on the Leopard Racing Honda had to settle for sixth after missing out on FP1 with technical problems.
The weather at Silverstone had improved in the afternoon with track temperatures rising to 28°C in the sunshine. The last five minutes of the session saw riders improve their times dramatically from FP1, although strong winds meant conditions were not perfect. A number of riders had their lap times cancelled as they exceeded the track limits at Club and Woodcote Corner.
Riders pitted for fresh rubber in the last ten minutes of the session and it was Fenati who would go fastest by setting a 2’14.459, still some way short of Alex Rins’ pole record (2’13.112) from last year. Ongetta-Rivacold’s Niccolo Antonelli made it an Italian 1-2 as he finished just 0.110s behind his compatriot. Alexis Masbou (+0.431s) on the SAXOPRINT RTG Honda completed the provisional front row.
Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Jorge Navarro (+0.436s) had earlier topped FP1 but had to settle for fourth with Isaac Viñales (+0.630s), who has permanently replaced Niklas Ajo in the RBA Racing team, in fifth. Danny Kent was forced to miss the whole of FP1 after a technical issue that saw his Honda leaking oil on track. The British rider recovered brilliantly though to set the sixth fastest time overall in FP2 and end the day just 0.740s behind Fenati.
Andrea Migno (Sky Racing Team VR46), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Francesco Bagnaia (Mapfre Team Mahindra) completed the top ten.
Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Team Moto3), who is currently second in the standings 47 points behind Kent, crashed out of FP at turn 16 and ended the day down in 18th. British wildcards Taz Taylor (RS Racing) and Luke Hedger (FPW Racing) finished in 30th and 36th respectively.
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
POSITIVE FEELINGS AT BUMPY SILVERSTONE MotoGP
The wide and fast Silverstone circuit has proved tricky to work out for the GSX-RR which has never been around this track before. The bumpy Tarmac has been especially hard to master, making it difficult for the riders to choose the perfect line through the corners.
But Team SUZUKI ECSTAR ended the first day of practice with positive positions in the overall classification and – most importantly – good feelings with their bikes. Aleix Espargarò is in sixth place with 2’02.872 and Maverick Viñales 12th with a 2’03.391s lap-time.
Espargaro’s day started with an immediate improvement in the feeling with his machine, a positivity that he had missed in the last few races. The modifications applied to the geometry and set-up gave positive feedback, allowing the Spaniard to find a more comfortable overall feeling so he was able to work hard to consistently improve his lap times. In the afternoon the fresh soft tyre used in different runs allowed him to find a renewed effectiveness over the single lap, finally finding his own fastest lap only around half a second from the provisional pole position.
Viñales on his side focused on finding an effective set-up to feel confident with the pace, intensively working with the hard tyre making further steps forward with geometry and set-up. In the afternoon he could make some attempts with the soft tyre as well, but he couldn’t find a proper feeling to be fast over the single lap, therefore needing some more work before tomorrow’s qualifying session.
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“It was a positive Friday for Aleix, who could finally get back some of the feeling he was missing for the last races. He got into the top-10 and this is good also for his morale. We will try to further improve things for him, so he can approach the race in the best way possible. Maverick continued his work of preparation; then he couldn’t best exploit the soft tyres when he was to do the fast lap-attack. We will have to investigate further what happened, but we hope that tomorrow it will not rain in order to get another chance to enter the top-10.”
Aleix Espargaro:
“Well I’m happy enough for today, at least I reclaimed some of the confidence I lost in the last races. With my crew we did many changes in the bike set-up and finally I found the positive feeling I had with the front-end in the first half of the season. At Indy and Brno I didn’t feel comfortable with the cornering speed and now we have made some progress, although we still have room for improvement. I tried both hard and soft tyres, my feeling is that with the latter we can improve even more, although already being only half-a-second from the top is positive, assuming that this on paper is not one of our favourite circuits. Tomorrow we will try to find even more pace and improvements, we have some ideas to work on; and I believe we can do more.”
Maverick Viñales:
“We did a very good job today and the result at the end was positive enough. I tried to tackle our race-pace at first, working on the set-up with the hard tyre in order to set the pace and we could improve our times run-after-run, being not so far from the top. Then when I tried with the soft tyre something went wrong, I couldn’t find the proper confidence and this prevented me finishing in a higher place in the classification. It’s something strange we need to further investigate. Here also the track is difficult because it has a lot of bumps and the line you chose can make a huge difference on pace, therefore tomorrow I will focus a lot on my riding style in order to find the best lines and be consistent.”
More, from a press release issued by Aspar Team:
Eugene Laverty enjoys first outing in home Grand Prix
POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider happy with first day at Silverstone, finishing 1.5 seconds off the top in sixteenth place
The MotoGP riders tackled the longest circuit on the calendar today as the opening free practice sessions for the British Grand Prix took place at Silverstone. The timesheets were dominated by Lorenzo and Márquez, who were the fastest and most consistent two men on track throughout both sessions. After Márquez set the pace this morning, Lorenzo struck back in the afternoon to hold off his Spanish compatriot by just 0.033 seconds. The lap times in general dropped dramatically from the first session to the second, with home favourites Smith, Redding and Laverty all impressing in front of their home crowd.
POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider Eugene Laverty has enjoyed one of his best starts to a Grand Prix weekend so far this season. The Irishman lapped fifteenth fastest this morning and finished sixteenth this afternoon, just 1.5 seconds off Lorenzo, as he backed up his comments earlier in the week that Silverstone is one of his favourite circuits and that he’s determined to follow up his recent positive progress. His team-mate Nicky Hayden had a less fruitful day today, the American struggling to find a suspension set-up that allowed him to ride comfortably and finishing the day in 22nd place.
16th Eugene Laverty 2.03.877 (33 laps): “We know how important it is to get a slipstream around this track so I tried following a couple of other riders down the straights but in the end I actually set my fastest lap on my own. I was able to set a consistent pace in both sessions so we have to be happy with the way we have started the weekend. There are bumps here, like Brno, but in different places. At Brno they are in the braking zones but that’s not the case here. We still had to adapt the setting to deal with the bumps and we found something this afternoon. This is our best Friday since Jerez, we are starting to see where we can be and that is pushing us on. This is a very technical circuit, where the rider can make a difference so I will be pushing hard to keep up this positive start. Today the feeling with the bike was good over one lap but tomorrow we need to find a little more consistency.”
22nd Nicky Hayden 2.05.295 (30 laps): “It hasn’t been a positive first day. I love Silverstone and I have been fast here in the past but I couldn’t find a good feeling today. We were lacking rear grip, especially in corner entry and in the middle of the corner. I don’t know why but I just can’t attack the corners like I want. I have to take responsibility too for what’s happened today because to be three seconds off the best lap of the day is too far. We have to try and work out how we are going to be better tomorrow. We have tried a variety of different configurations with the suspension to try and find a better balance for the bike but the feeling didn’t improve. We need to have a good look at the data and try to turn the situation around.”
More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3:
Thrilling third position for Smith on day one at Silverstone
Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Bradley Smith produced a superb start at his home Grand Prix weekend by storming to 3rd place overall at the end of the first day of action. The British rider, who is looking to conquer the 12th round challenge with a top point scoring result, kicked off proceedings at Silverstone by finishing the opening practice in 7th position aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1. This left him optimistic for the afternoon session where he sought to continue making adjustments to the setup of his MotoGP bike. When FP2 began, Smith determinedly pulled out of the pit lane and got straight to work in front of his fans. In the final third of the practice, the young Briton delivered a superb time of 2’02.531 on his 13th lap which saw him end the day in the top three and merely 0.193 back from the leading time. His confident run today leaves him fully charged for a strong performance in qualifying tomorrow.
On the opposite side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team pit box, Pol Espargaro concluded the opening shake down of the British Grand Prix with a positive run to 7th position overall. The 24 year old Spaniard took to the track this morning and embarked on making steps forward with the setup of his Yamaha YZR-M1 in order to battle the fast flowing circuit. At the end of the practice, Espargaro produced his best time on his last lap, which left him in 9th position and ready for the action in the afternoon. Here, he continued getting up to speed at the Northamptonshire track and tirelessly completed a total of 17 laps which marked his determination as he sped to a solid time of 2.02’972 on his final run. This result saw him finish just four tenths behind his teammate and now the 2013 Moto2 World Champion optimistically looks on to the all-important qualifying session tomorrow at the 5.9 kilometre circuit.
Bradley Smith
Position : 3rdTime : 2’02.531Laps : 28
“It was a great start to my home GP and it’s clear to see that the Yamaha is working really well here for me. I always have good confidence when I compete at Silverstone, especially with my riding style, and I’m not afraid of high speed circuits as we saw at Phillip Island last year. Initially we struggled a bit in FP1 as the track conditions were not fantastic, but in the afternoon the grip levels increased and we were then able to analyse both compounds of front and rear tyres which was positive. We are unsure of what the temperature will be on Sunday, so we need to be ready for anything. Yet, it’s fantastic to start the British GP in this manner and after signing my contract, there is no stress and I can completely focus on my job. The team made a fantastic effort today but of course, we expect the other guys to catch up tomorrow. Nevertheless, our performance here means that we can start FP3 with confidence as we aim to continue improving whilst working on the base setup for the race. Also, I must give a big thanks to everyone for coming out today and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
Pol Espargaro
Position : 7thTime : 2’02.972Laps : 34
“It has been a solid start to the weekend as we finished seventh overall which could turn out to be quite important if the weather conditions are going to change tomorrow. However, this morning we had to face a few issues due to the track conditions and the grip level was very low, so my confidence on the bike was not at its highest. But the team did a good job and the surface also became cleaner this afternoon, so we managed to find some setup solutions which made me feel much more comfortable on the bike. Therefore, this is of course, really positive for tomorrow. In addition, we have been able to evaluate both rear tyre options which gives us a clear direction for the rest of weekend. It goes without saying that there is still a big margin of improvement which can be made, so we will use this afternoon to have a deep look into the data in order to be prepared for all circumstances tomorrow.”