Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo proved how good the new Silverstone surface is this morning by grazing Marc Marquez’ pole record at the end of free practice one.
Quartararo topped the session with a 1’59.952 on medium Michelins which was just a hundredth slower than the 1’59.941 pole record set by Marquez in 2017 even though he is 10km/h down on top speed.
Marquez himself was half a second off the rookie with a 2’00.538 set on a medium Michelin that had already completed 15 laps of the 3.3-mile circuit.
Petronas Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales bounced back from at early crash at Stowe to finish on a 2’00.692 which was good enough for third place despite being third from bottom on the top speed sheet (see below).
Ecstar Suzuki’s Alex Rins claimed fourth place late on but was a second away from Quartararo’s best while Franco Morbidelli, on the second Petronas M1, was only 0.023s further back.
Andrea Dovizioso showed pace early on but slipped back to sixth place. The Ducati man set his best time on lap nine of 15, using mediums Michelins all round for a 2’01’005 and sixth.
Valentino Rossi, who is hopeful of a result this weekend given the history Yamaha has at Silverstone and a grippy surface, ended in seventh place and a massive 1.3s away from Quartararo.
Britain’s Cal Crutchlow ended a tenth behind The Doctor with Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller completing the top ten.
Tito Rabat didn’t let the ghost of last year’s horrendous crash spook him, going 11th quickest on a 2’01.589 while Aleix Espargaro set a fast early lap and then better it by a tenth to finish in 12th with a 2’01.658.
Aprilia team-mate Andrea Iannone finished in 13th with Pecco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco rounding out the top 15. Miguel Oliveira’s Tech3 KTM went pop in pitlane at session start and he used his second bike to claim 16th place, one ahead of factory team-mate Pol Espargaro.
Sylvain Guintoli, who is deputising for the still-ill Joan Mir, crashed unhurt with a few minutes left to run. He finished in 20th while the returning Jorge Lorenzo was dead last and 4.4s off the pace.
Top speeds
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 325.3
9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 325.3
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda CASTROL HONDA 325.3
43 Jack MILLER AUS Pramac Racing DUCATI 325.3
93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 325.3
41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 322.3
42 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 322.3
44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 321.4
53 Tito RABAT SPA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 321.4
99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 321.4
29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 320.4
63 Francesco BAGNAIA ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI 320.4
5 Johann ZARCO FRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 319.5
17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 319.5
30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN LCR Honda IDEMITSU HONDA 319.5
46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 319.5
55 Hafizh SYAHRIN MAL Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 319.5
50 Sylvain GUINTOLI FRA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 318.5
88 Miguel OLIVEIRA POR Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM 318.5
12 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 317.6
20 Fabio QUARTARARO FRA Petronas Yamaha SRT YAMAHA 315.7
21 Franco MORBIDELLI ITA Petronas Yamaha SRT YAMAHA 314.8
