Marco Bezzecchi smashes Silverstone lap record in MotoGP Practice
Marco Bezzecchi topped Practice with a new all-time lap record
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi smashed the Silverstone lap record on his return from injury to lead Practice at the MotoGP British Grand Prix.
Before the hour-long Practice session on Friday afternoon, no rider had ever set a sub-1m57s lap at Silverstone.
Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura became the first with just over 10 minutes to go, as he produced a 1m56.810s to take over top spot.
But that would not be enough to keep him there, as Aprilia counterpart Marco Bezzecchi produced a 1m56.280s at the end of the session to move 0.335s clear of the field.
It was a statement lap from a rider who spent the summer break recovering from a collarbone injury, following a crash in qualifying at the German Grand Prix.
Aprilia looked strong throughout the session, with both Trackhouse riders leading the way at various points, before Bezzecchi took over at the death.
Raul Fernandez made an early leap on fresh soft rubber with a 1m57.779s with just over half an hour remaining.
But at the chequered flag, Bezzecchi was well over a second quicker than that benchmark.
He led Fernandez, who took over top spot in the closing stages with a 1m56.615s, by 0.335s, while Fabio Di Giannantonio was third on the VR46 Ducati.
Jorge Martin was another to breach the 1m56s barrier with a late 1m56.780s on his factory team Aprilia, though the championship leader was 0.5s from team-mate Bezzecchi.
Ogura was the final rider inside the 1m56s in fifth, with Marc Marquez underneath the old lap record in sixth on the factory team Ducati with a 1m57.013s.
Alex Marquez was seventh on the Gresini Ducati with a 1m57.030s, while Joan Mir found a 1m57.111s late on to snatch a Q2 spot for Honda.
Jack Miller got his Pramac Yamaha into the top 10 in ninth, while KTM’s Pedro Acosta held onto the final Q2 spot despite a late crash at Turn 4.
Pecco Bagnaia was not so fortunate, after a fall at Stowe with five minutes to go brought his session to an early end.
The Ducati rider was13th in the end and will go through Q1 with the likes of Honda’s Luca Marini, Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini, and KTM’s Brad Binder, who also crashed in Practice.
