Jorge Lorenzo in action at Silverstone
Silverstone – Fri, Aug 30th 2013 – Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo was fastest as the Hertz British Grand Prix weekend began at Silverstone on Friday. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider and last year’s winner led championship leader Marc Marquez and his Repsol Honda Team companion Dani Pedrosa.
Lorenzo led the way with his best effort of 2’02.734, two tenths up on Marquez whose last Silverstone victory came in the 125 class three years ago. Behind Pedrosa, the top five was rounded out by GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista – the 2012 pole-sitter – and Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi. Many of the riders, despite favourable weather conditions, said they needed to get used to the track’s occasionally bumpy nature, and adjust the bike’s mechanical set-up to cope better with it.
Home favourite Cal Crutchlow was sixth, two places ahead of teammate Bradley Smith as the pair of Monster Yamaha Tech3 riders sandwiched Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso into seventh place, with his own teammate Nicky Hayden completing the top ten behind LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl. Aleix Espargaro was 11th for Power Electronics Aspar, leading the way in the CRT ranks from the ART machine of PBM’s Yonny Hernandez.
“I'm happy, because right from the start I felt pretty good. I was feeling a little uneasy about this circuit when I arrived, because last year I struggled a bit here and didn't know what was in store for me on the MotoGP bike. I tried to stay calm and take it slowly and, in the end, I felt very comfortable on the bike. "
Some of the riders managed to try most of the tyre combinations, with the majority already favouring the harder option front, bar Hayden, whilst the harder option rear seems like a viable option should temperatures stay the same, or rise. Dovizioso in particular said this was the first track this year where the difference between the two rear compounds was less, and could give teams two viable options.
Away from the track, the Power Electronics Aspar team confirmed that it would be staying with Aprilia in MotoGP™ for the following year, with the Italian manufacturer set to bring a much-enhanced package to the plate. Whilst no decision has yet been made on which riders the team will have or what electronics package it will field, pneumatic valves, upgraded frame and a new gearbox are just some of the improvements fans will see next year.
Moto2
France’s Johann Zarco went quickest as Moto2™ free practice continued at Silverstone on Friday afternoon. The Came IodaRacing Project rider set the leading pace from Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami and Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing’s Tom Luthi, with championship leader Scott Redding fifth.
Bringing the day’s best lap time down to 2’08.209, Zarco was just 31 thousandths of a second quicker than Nakagami, with Luthi a further tenth in arrears. Tuenti HP 40 pairing Tito Rabat and title contender Pol Espargaro were fourth and sixth, sandwiching local favourite Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) into fifth place.
There was trouble for Redding’s teammate and Brno winner Mika Kallio, however, as the Finn made a mistake into Village corner and slid into QMMF Racing Team’s Rafid Topan Sucipto; both riders went down but were equally both able to walk away. This marked Sucipto’s second incident of the day, as in Free Practice 1 he had collided with Tech3’s Louis Rossi and Technomag carXpert’s Randy Krummenacher in a three-way collision at Vale. Australian debutant Jason O’Halloran was 26th quickest for JiR Moto2, covering for Mike di Meglio who was injured last weekend.
