MotoGP Race And Practice Results

After the rain comes the... slowly drying track. Despite the Moto3 session showing that slick tyres were an option on the damp British circuit, the premier class was cautious in the tricky conditions, both slicks and wets getting trialled for an outlap or so, while even more riders decided to just sit it out until the track improved further.

Valentino Rossi, Johann Zarco and Jack Miller decided to be the test dummies on slick tyres in the first ten minutes, with the rest of the grid deciding there was more to lose than win in the given conditions. Just as they pitted, the factory Honda duo picked up the task of entertaining the spectators by doing a run of their own.

Things livened up in the final twenty minutes, most bikes lapping around, and riders got even braver in the final ten minutes, several attempts at a soft slick rear suggesting overly optimistic thoughts of changing the Q2 order. Conditions were definitely improving towards the end of the session, Johann Zarco sneaking in some red sectors on his very last lap to get within a second of Friday’s best time.

Zarco was unconcerned with the conditions – to Herve Poncharal’s discomfort - and put in the most laps in the session to lead FP3. The Frenchman and his teammate, Jonas Folger, where amongst the only three riders (together with Bradley Smith) to improve on their Friday times, although it made no difference to the cast of the upcoming Q2 production.

Maverick Viñales finished second, ahead of Folger – who looked to have recovered from the stomach bug that hindered him on Friday. Andrea Dovizioso only graced us with his presence in the final twenty minutes but showed good speed to go fourth in the session.

Danilo Petrucci got over some of the issues that caused him to have a rather anonymous Friday and ended the session fifth, ahead of still the fastest man of the weekend, Cal Crutchlow. Marc Marquez was another early leader of FP3 but the Spaniard and his medium tyre combination dropped back to seventh position.

Pol Espargaro finished eighth, only two hundredths of a second behind Marquez, with Dani Pedrosa a further tenth behind. Much like on the combined standings, Scott Redding completed the top ten, the British rider followed closely by Rossi. The Italian won’t have to worry about Q1 either, still placing second on the combined standings.

Aleix Espargaro’s karting injury meant that the Spaniard opted to sit out the session in the confidence that his FP2 time was enough to ensure his Q2 spot. And so it was, the Aprilia rider fourth overall, behind Crutchlow, Rossi and Viñales. Behind him in the combined standings were Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo, Zarco, brother Pol, Dovizioso and Redding.

The likes of Andrea Iannone, Alex Rins, Petrucci and Pedrosa were probably most unhappy with the weather, all of them having to go through Q1.

Results:

After leading almost the entirety of FP1 only to see his headline stolen by Dominique Aegerter, Alex Marquez looked determined to pick up where he left off, at the top of the timesheets. Mission accomplished early on and the Spaniard’s early time went unchallenged until the checkered flag came out.  In a deja-vu from this morning, Miguel Oliveira followed him closely to finish second, two tenths down on his rival.

Mattia Pasini was probably keen on the eventfulness of premier class practice and had a little moment of his own behind Takaaki Nakagami, the Italian keeping it upright to go third on the timesheets.

Aegerter left it late once again to post his fastest lap of the day but his timing wasn’t as good as this morning, the Swiss rider only jumping into fourth this time. Behind him, Nakagami scored a fifth position, the Japanese rider seeming to finally be where we expected him at the start of the season.

Tom Luthi made a small step from first practice and climbed into sixth, ahead of his future teammate and present rival, Franco Morbidelli. The Italian also chipped away at his best time while working on race pace and posting the biggest number of laps in the session.

Lorenzo Baldassarri found some consistency and finished eighth on the timesheets, eight tenths down on Marquez. Luca Marini accepted his teammate’s FP1 challenge and improved greatly on his morning performance to go tenth, Simone Corsi sneaking between the Forward Racing riders after Marini finished his afternoon with a harmless crash.

Pecco Bagnaia continued to struggle down in eighteenth position, behind Isaac Viñales and ahead of fellow rookie Jorge Navarro.

Results:

If sun spoiling us in the morning wasn’t enough, Silverstone turned up the heat even further, the lightweight class not taking long to reach the benchmark from FP1. Romano Fenati did not seem to be particularly affected by missing much of the morning session, the Italian being the first rider to beat the time and he seemed set for top honours until Jorge Martin limped his way to his bike, picked up the pace and went over half a second faster than his rivals. But the winner at the flag was Aron Canet, the FP1 leader snatching another session after barging his way into the fastest lap of the day in the final five minutes.

Fenati fought back but unhelpful traffic meant he had to settle for second, a tenth down on his Spanish rival. Bo Bendsneyder made a late jump into the top three to push Martin down to fourth place, the Gresini rider followed by a much improved performance from his teammate, Fabio di Giannantonio in fifth spot.

Philipp Oettl picked up the pace in sixth place, looking to build up on his podium last time around at the Red Bull Ring. Joan Mir did not seem to enjoy his time in Great Britain as much as Austrian pastures, the Spaniard keeping a low profile outside the top ten for most of the session before popping in softer rubber and jumping into seventh position.

The top ten was completed by Ayumu Sasaki in eighth place, Juanfran Guevara in ninth and Enea Bastianini in tenth, the trio being the last men within a second of the leader.

Gabriel Rodrigo found some three seconds from his time in FP1 and briefly graced the top ten before dropping back to eleventh position, while Nicolo Bulega seemed to have found some speed at the beginning of the session before also heading backwards and into thirteenth spot. Marcos Ramirez and John McPhee completed the top fifteen, with Andrea Migno only twentieth.

Results:

As soon as the sun was out in Silverstone, Marc Marquez was out to make a statement on the soft option rear tyre, while his rivals preferred to have a look at the circuit on the medium rear. The world championship leader installed himself at the top of the timesheets right away and waited for his challengers to cut the three tenths of a second gap.

The gorgeous Castrol livery gave Cal Crutchlow a boost, the British rider briefly stealing the lead in the early part of the session. Marquez promptly and unkindly removed him on his next lap, the Spaniard staying out to put in a good 10-lap run on the tyre while his rivals returned to the garages for the usual mid-session lull.

Last year’s victor at the British track, Maverick Viñales, was the next rider to dethrone Marquez with fourteen minutes to go, beating his time by less than a tenth of a second. Both Yamahas seemed to rejoice in the cooler conditions, Valentino Rossi joining his teammate in the top two with ten minute left. The domination did not last long, Crutchlow popping up again to steal some late home glory.

Jorge Lorenzo was one of the few to attempt a last-minute shootout on new soft rear rubber, the Spaniard putting a Ducati in top position for the first time this weekend. Viñales also followed his lead but the Spaniard only left himself one lap to make a difference – and so he did, finding five tenths of a second on the brand new tyre to finally settle the score and top FP1. Lorenzo remained second, with Crutchlow completing the top three.

Honda fiddled with Marquez’s bike after the long first run but eventually let him out on the same set of tyres - he wasn’t to challenge for top honours but the Spaniard climbed into fourth position while posting some decent consistent laps on the used rubber.

Rossi saw several of his laps cancelled but still enjoyed a good morning in fifth spot, ahead of Alvaro Bautista in sixth. Soft-tyre enthusiast Johann Zarco preferred to ride on the medium rear option this morning and finished seventh, the last man within a second of the leader.

Aleix Espargaro, Scott Redding and Spielberg victor Andrea Dovizioso completed the top ten, with Jack Miller performing well close behind, in eleventh place. Suzuki's Alex Rins and KTM's Pol Espargaro also managed to position themselves ahead of Dani Pedrosa, the factory Honda only fourteenth.

Results: