MotoGP Riders Positive About Silverstone Layout

With MotoGP returning to Silverstone after a 24-year hiatus, and the layout modified to make the track faster and more flowing than the configuration used by the World Superbike series previously, the general consensus after day 1 is positive. All of the riders had already been round the track on the scooter, and all were convinced it would be a fast and challenging circuit.

"It's beautiful," Jorge Lorenzo said of the Silverstone track. "The measures of the track are good, it is a very long track, very wide, a lot of changes of tarmac. It is very similar to the new tracks like Turkey and China. The other top riders concurred, praising the width of the track and especially it's high speed nature. "The track is fast, it has very long straights, the new part has some very fast and slow corners, but in general, I think it is a fast track," Dani Pedrosa said.

Marlboro Ducati's Nicky Hayden concurred. "It looks fast," the Kentuckian said. But like Dovizioso and Lorenzo before him, Hayden warned that impressions gained from a scooter are often deceptive once you climb aboard a 230hp MotoGP bike and take to the track. "It's one thing to go round on scooter, bicycle, feet," Hayden said, "But till you go round it behind that bubble, everything changes at speed."

The high speed nature of the track will certainly reward the brave, but perhaps the most interesting aspect is the fact that the track is completely new for everyone. The phrase being bandied about by everyone in the paddock, from riders to team managers to journalists, was "level playing field". Riders in all classes who have had to spend the first sesson learning tracks that the GP regulars are intimately familiar with, are looking forward to starting the weekend in the same situation as their rivals, instead of having to play catch-up from the off. Both Italtrans Moto2 rider Robertino Pietri and Kenny Noyes of the Jack&Jones Moto2 team both expressed their gladness at not starting on the back foot. British wildcard Kev Coghlan, riding the Joe Darcy FTR Moto2 bike at Silverstone, and taking a break from the Spanish championship he normally races in, also felt he had a great chance to compete with the front of the field, now that he was starting in the same place as the rest of the Moto2 riders. "Nobody has an advantage here," the Scot said, "we're all starting from scratch, so I think I can be competitive."

One man who is not starting from scratch was Casey Stoner, the Australian having raced here during his years racing in the UK in the Aprilia Cup. But Stoner pointed out that his advantage should not be exaggerated: "It was 9 years ago, and I think I only raced on 4 of the corners of the current track," he pointed out.

The track is expected to have the highest average speed of the season, faster even than the high-speed thrills of Phillip Island. By Friday afternoon, we will know just how much of its potential will be realized.