Quartararo dominated Friday’s MotoGP race at Silverstone, Salač took sixth position in Moto2

After a six-week break, the MotoGP series returns to action at the British circuit of Silverstone. Reigning world champion and current standings leader Fabio Quartararo set the fastest time during Friday’s free practice sessions. In Moto2, Filip Salač, the only Czech representative in the World Championship, took an encouraging sixth place. The lowest class, Moto3, was dominated by home rider John McPhee.

Moto3

Friday’s programme kicked off with the first Moto3 free practice session. In it, Sergio García was the best performer, lapping the 5.9km Silverstone circuit in 2:12.868. In the last seconds of practice, last year’s world runner-up Dennis Foggia took the pole. The four fastest drivers of the morning were separated by just one tenth of a second. Japan’s Sasaki, winner of the last race in Assen, finished eighth with a time of 2:13.246.

The afternoon was dominated by home hero John McPhee. The 28-year-old Briton showed no mercy and held off second-placed Izan Guevara by more than four tenths. His time of 2:10.919 was just over three tenths of a second behind the fastest time of all time.

Third place went to Xavier Artigas, the tenth man on the overall leaderboard. His loss, however, was more than the difference between the top thirteen riders in the morning practice session.

Combined results of the Moto3 class on Friday:

1. John McPhee (Brit., Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) – 2::10.939
2. Izan Guevara (Span., Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.433
3. Xavier Artigas (Span., CFMoto Racing PruestelGP) + 0.584
4. Tatsuki Suzuki (Jap., Leopard Racing) + 0.610
5. Lorenzo Fellon (Fra., Sic58 Squadra Corse) + 0.744

Moto2

The strength of the home riders was also on display in the intermediate Moto2 class. Jake Dixon, rider of the GASGAS team, was the fastest in the morning, his best time stopping at 2:05.409. But he wasn’t on a roll, with Augusto Fernández a modest 64 thousandths of a second slower.

Behind them a relatively large gap had opened up, with third-placed Arón Canet already exactly four tenths behind his Spanish colleague. Czech rider Filip Salač had to settle for 19th place, 1.7 seconds behind Dixon.

The second Moto2 practice session concluded Friday’s rides. In it, Salač kicked his way to a fine sixth place with a time of 2:05.414. He was 841 thousandths of a second behind the winning Fernandez. Dixon proved with his second place that he is in form and wants to fight for the best possible position at the start of Sunday’s race, even though he crashed.

Unfortunately, home rider Sam Lowes will not be taking part in the British Grand Prix. Following a nasty crash in the first practice session, news has broken that the Briton has dislocated his left shoulder, which will prevent him from taking part in the race.

Pedro Acosta, a Moto2 rookie but also last year’s Moto3 World Champion, is still recovering from a crash during a private practice session in June and so will not be involved in the points battle this weekend.

Combined results of Friday’s Moto2 class:

1. Augusto Fernández (Sp., Red Bull KTM Ajo) – 2::04.573
2. Jake Dixon (Brit., GASGAS Aspar Team) +0.187
3. Alonso López (Span., CAG Speed Up) + 0.556
4. Tony Arbolino (Ita., Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 0.576
5. Albert Arenas (Sp., GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0,785

6. Filip Salač (Ces., Gresini Racing Moto2) + 0,841

MotoGP

It’s not often that the two fastest riders crash during practice and end up in the top two places. Today it happened to Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia. The Frenchman dominated the morning practice with a time of 1:59.893, with the Italian just 27 thousandths of a second behind him. No one else has ever set a time under two minutes around Silverstone.

Even Fabio Quartararo, the World Championship leader, was struggling with problems with his Yamaha. But that didn’t stop him and he finished fourth behind Spain’s Álex Rins of Suzuki.

After the lunch break, the fastest riders on the world’s most advanced machines took to the track again. The Aprilia of Aleix Espargar and Maverick Viñales dominated the early going, but Rins and Quartara were figuratively breathing down their necks.

But as the end of the second free practice session approached, reigning world champion Quartararo took matters into his own hands. He set a very brisk time of 1:58.946 and was the only one to push his fastest lap time under 1 minute 59 seconds.

Factory Ducati riders Bagnaia and Jack Miller crashed in afternoon practice along with Darryn Binder’s Yamaha. Fortunately, no one escaped with any injuries.

Quartataro practiced riding the long corner in the third sector of the track in both Friday sessions. The twenty-three-year-old Nice native will face a long lap penalty on Sunday, so he ran the aforementioned spot several times to lose as little time as possible in the race afterwards.

Combined results of Friday’s MotoGP class:

1. Fabio Quartararo (Fra., Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) – 1::58.946
2. Joan Mir (Sp., Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.154
3. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia Racing) + 0.177
4. Johann Zarco (Fra., Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.188
5. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia Racing) + 0.207

Source: MotoGP