Fabio Di Giannantonio secured the top spot in the last practice session of the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Great Britain. The #49 rider was the only one to set a lap time in the 1:57s, with Aprilia not far behind. Catch up on all the action of the 30-minute MotoGP FP2 session of the British GP.
Clearing Out Early Chattering and Crashes
Engines revved shortly before the session began, with Marc Márquez following Raúl Fernández around the Silverstone circuit on the green light. The goal of the session under the British summer sun? To figure out any final quirks in the bikes before the all-important qualifying to follow.
Just as the first time attacks came up on the board, one name did not. Jack Miller crashed his Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP machine underbraking in Turn 16. The Australian kept the motor running and returned to the circuit safely.
Final Practice Times Bring Session to a Close
After Álex Márquez topped FP1, the #73 rider set a lap in the 1:58s to come up ahead of Bezzecchi and Jorge Martín. Bezzecchi was quick to take back the top spot, while M.Márquez started his charge. However, the reigning champion lost some time managing the soft front and soft rear tyre combination.
Meanwhile, his Ducati Lenovo teammate, Francesco Bagnaia, was nowhere by the halfway point. The #63 was nearly three seconds off the pace and returned to the Silverstone circuit as everyone else came into the box.
Based on Bezzecchi’s body language as he returned to the pit lane, he was in some discomfort and pain. The Aprilia Racing rider took his time coming back out for the second run, leaving his teammate Martín to push the limits. But it was Di Giannantonio who was the first to clock a lap in the 1:57s for Saturday.
Fernández also appeared to be making headway in terms of pace, slotting into the top three. With less than a minute to go, the session came to a quiet close as riders took a scenic approach to times and with nothing further to do before qualifying. Although Di Giannantonio called it early, his Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team pushed the #49 back out for the practice start.
Your Top 10 of the Session
P1: Fabio Di Giannantonio 1:57.885
P2: Raúl Fernández +0.117
P3: Marco Bezzecchi +0.184
P4: Marc Márquez +0.258
P5: Jorge Martín +0.446
P6: Ai Ogura +0.502
P7: Álex Márquez +0.540
P8: Pedro Acosta +0.616
P9: Fabio Quartararo +0.827
P10: Brad Binder +1.056
Half the Weekend Complete, Another Half to Go
With practices out of the way, now come the laps that count. As mentioned before, both qualifying sessions will commence shortly. Once we have a grid set, there’s the Tissot Sprint later in the afternoon and then the feature race on Sunday.
While Bezzecchi has returned to Silverstone with a point to prove, the #72 is feeling the strain from his injuries. If the rest of the Saturday proves too much, there’s every chance the Italian may choose to withdraw from the weekend. It would give his body another few weeks of recovery before taking another chance of a comeback at Aragón.
All will become known as the MotoGP weekend coverage at Silverstone continues.