KTM Ajo’s Raul Fernandez returned to the top of the Friday standings after two Silverstone sessions with home hero Sam Lowes sitting third ahead of the BritishGP.
Jorge Navarro split the pair in second with the usual suspects of Augusto Fernandez and Remy Gardner completing the dominant top-five.
Lowes cut a solitary home figure as Moto2 practice began at the 6km British track. Adam Norrodin replacing Jake Dixon in the Petronas team for the UK outing with recent CEV Champion, Fermín Aldeguer replacing Yari Montella at Lightech Speed Up.
Navarro led the way as the first times registered, Raul Fernandez heading Lowes in the top-three, with Xavi Vierge and Fabio Di Giannantonio rounding out the fastest five. Controversy surrounded Marcel Schrotter as his Intact machine looked to leak fluid across the track with the German taking his time to return to the pits before the issue was found to be water.
Fernandez advanced the times after 12-minutes gone, 2’06.131 the pace to beat so far with Bo Bendsneyder making his way into the top-three with his fifth lap.
The Marc VDS pair were on a charge as the session continued, Augusto Fernandez leading Lowes in third and fourth as his namesake suffered a moment, before the Brit rose to second next time around. The position was short-lived as Gardner arrived to claim second at the half-way stage, his team-mate recovering to fifth, with the Marc VDS machines slotting neatly in between.
Joe Roberts was up to sixth as he looked to put his Austria experience behind him, Bendsneyder, Di Giannantonio, Vierge and Marco Bezzecchi completing the top-10 with fellow American Cameron Beaubier circulating in 13th.
The closing third saw improvements for Roberts as he leapfrogged Lowes to fourth, Navarro retaining control from 2019 winner Fernandez and Gardner, with the second KTM sitting sixth.
A late crash found Lowes down at turn 16 with eight minutes remaining, the Brit still struggling to make his way back to the pits from the vast layout four minutes later.
Navarro reaffirmed his command as the clock counted down, setting a 2’04.896 on his 12th lap, the Marc VDS of Fernandez maintaining its second spot with KTM’s duo sitting third and fourth. Tom Luthi showed the only improvement to the top-times, as the soon to be retired Swiss rider claimed eighth.
FP2 fired up as the opening practice had concluded, Navarro leading the way from Fernandez with Lowes narrowly behind before the Marc VDS duo bettered the Boscoscuro. Bezzecchi was up to fourth after the first 10-minutes with KTM’s Gardner and Fernandez in hot pursuit while Somkiat Chantra became the first victim of the afternoon action as the Honda Asia rider crashed out at turn 12.
Lowes was on form as he continued to circulate his home track in second, the Brit setting impressive consistency as he honed his times, just a tenth behind his teammate.
It was a Fernandez/Fernandez one-two as the session wound down with the KTM taking charge thanks to a 2’04.818. Navarro the only top-five rider not to have improved on his morning time remained third overall thanks to his earlier effort, but with seven to go the Lightech rider was on a charge. His 2’04.459, however, was not to be as the lap was deleted due to track limits but the Spaniard was in the groove, replacing it with a 2’04.518 to stay top, next time around.
An on-track-spat saw Elf’s Fernandez bicker with Marcos Ramirez with two-minutes to go, his namesake pushing the KTM to the top with his 15th lap seconds later, 0.017s ahead of Navarro, as Bezzecchi’s day ended early at Farm.
Friday’s action concluded with Raul Fernandez heading the standings from Navarro, Lowes and the second Marc VDS. Gardner completing the top-five with Di Giannantonio for company as Bezzecchi, Roberts, Nicolò Bulega and Aron Canet rounded out the top-10.