Silverstone MotoGP: Lorenzo tops Marquez, Rossi struggles again

Yamaha’s Lorenzo set a storming pace right from the start, setting an early P1 time of 2m02.525s on his opening lap, almost beating it with a 2m02.635s on his next flyer, then doing so with a 2m02.338s on his third tour. That would stand as the fastest time of the day.

Honda’s Marquez’s best effort at that point was a 2m02.517s, but his sector times suggested he had the potential to go quicker. His Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was right behind on 2m02.573s.

Marquez improved to 2m02.371s on his second run, just 0.033s off Lorenzo, but stayed in second place. His mechanics were seen working hard on the front-end of the bike between runs.

Local hero Bradley Smith grabbed third with five minutes to go on his Tech 3 Yamaha, laying down a 2m02.531s – and looked like he might even grab the top time with his final lap, but just lost vital hundredths over the final corners.

Rossi struggles again

Lorenzo’s title rival, Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi, again struggled to match the frontrunning pace at a track that’s not one of his favourites. Just as in the first session, he was almost a second off Lorenzo’s time with a 2m03.327s.

They are currently locked together on 211 points at the top of the championship, but Lorenzo is the de facto leader by dint of scoring more race wins.

Behind Pedrosa in fourth, Andrea Dovizioso used the soft tyre that Ducati are allowed to use over the leading marques, but could only manage a 2m02.761s for fifth.

Aleix Espargaro did likewise to improve to sixth on his Suzuki with a 2m02.872s, ahead of brother Pol on his Tech 3 Yamaha.

Andrea Iannone took the session’s only tumble, dropping his Ducati at high speed at Stowe, but apparently without injury to add to his existing ones. He was up to fourth fastest just before he did so, but dropped back to eighth.

Scott Redding also gave the home crowd something to cheer about with the ninth-fastest time, although Cal Crutchlow was a disappointing 15th.