Marc Marquez had a rollercoaster start to his Silverstone MotoGP weekend with the Repsol Honda fastest in FP1 before suffering a dramatic crash in the dying minutes.
A 2’00.941 captured the BritishGP standings as the weekend began, 2.5 seconds clear of Aleix Espargaro and Fabio Quartararo, before his morning practice came to an abrupt end with a +250kph crash. Cal Crutchlow sat 12th on his return to a 2021 M1 with Monster Energy Yamaha while Jake Dixon completed his debut session in 21st.
Nerves, excitement and trepidation saw Dixon head out for his first experience on MotoGP machinery in front of his home fans as FP1 fired up at the historic English circuit. The Brit beginning his ‘too good to pass up’ experience as Valentino Rossi’s teammate at Petronas Yamaha while a number of the paddock enjoyed their own first look at the UK track from the premier class after last year’s cancellation.
Marc Marquez, refreshed from his Manchester City visit, topped the standings with his opening laps, Pol Espargaro following suit for a Repsol Honda one-two, 2’02.281 the benchmark time after 10-minutes on track.
Jack Miller split the teammates with his fifth attempt of the morning, Rossi swiftly joining the fun, in third, as Fabio Quartararo launched an attack from fifth - the Frenchman capturing the times with a 2’01.887 next time around.
Jorge Martin sat sixth with 32-minutes on the clock before his Pramac partner Johann Zarco took over at the top. The times began to tumble as the session found its rhythm, Aleix Espargaro the next to strike as he found third, with Quartararo swapping places with his countryman out front.
Marquez was back in charge moments later, with the second Repsol in hot pursuit. Espargaro demoting his brother and Zarco as he moved up to fourth, with Miller now ahead in third.
Alex Marquez became the first victim of turn 12 in the premier class, as the front washed out at Farm at the halfway stage.
The closing 15-minutes found Alex Rins up to sixth from Zarco, LCR’s Marquez, Pecco Bagnaia and Takaaki Nakagami. Dixon circulating in 20th, half-a-second back on Miguel Oliveira and 2.9s off the fastest pace with a 2’03.939, ahead of Cal Crutchlow and the returning Lorenzo Savadori.
Danilo Petrucci was up in eighth as the final 10-minutes approached, Marquez consolidating his dominance with a 2’00.941, three-tenths clear of the leading Yamaha, as he looked to put Enea Bastianini in his place out on track.
Espargaro continued to showcase an improved confidence on his Repsol as he moved to within 0.035s of Quartararo in second, Miller and his elder brother locking out the top-five as the clock counted down until Nakagami demoted the Aprilia with three-to-go. The number 41 was on a charge, however, finding second with a 2’01.191 as Martin went down out at turn 12. A high speed crash for Marquez on the approach to turn three moments later saw his Honda in the middle of the circuit with the red flags dispatched, the Catalan fortunately up and walking away.
The session wound up with a rather subdued conclusion with just over a minute remaining as the green lights returned, a raft of practice starts completing the action ahead of the afternoon’s second effort.
