The reigning MotoGP World Champion was the fastest rider of the day

Silverstone, Friday Aug 29th 2014 – Repsol Honda Team rider comfortably leads two practice sessions on Friday and Dani Pedrosa concludes first day at Silverstone with ninth best time of the day.

The first day of the British Grand Prix saw Marc Marquez at his best at Silverstone. The reigning MotoGP World Champion was the fastest rider of the day, heading a timesheet in which Dani Pedrosa was ninth overall.

True to tradition, the English weather provided a grey, cold and windy day with a spot of rain too. However, that did not stop Marquez from again setting the pace in the premier class. First in the first free practice session, he lowered his times further in the second session to stop the clock at 2:02.126. Dani Pedrosa, tenth in the first runout, improved his morning time by a second to finish the day in ninth place –with a time of 2:03.410.

With weather forecasts predicting improved conditions for tomorrow, Marquez and Pedrosa will have two further morning practice sessions before seeking a good spot on for the grid on Sunday’s race.

Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) showed his FP2 pace with a 2’02.635, whilst Dovizioso (Ducati Team) put in a late best time for third – lapping 0.885s behind Marquez.

Local rider Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) looked good in fourth and Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) impressed by making it into the top five. Likewise Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) was well up the timesheet in sixth place, striving to please the crowd at his home GP.

Italian Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Spanish trio Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) rounded out the top ten.

Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) will aim to improve on Saturday after lapping 11th and 13th respectively, whilst Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) was down in 14th. Lorenzo (+1.374s) and Rossi (+1.826s) were well off the pace of Marquez.

Leon Camier (Drive M7 Aspar) had a crash with five minutes to go in FP2 and ended up 17th overall.

Marc Marquez Repsol Honda – “Today I felt good from the beginning. Silverstone is bit of a special track; there are many bumps and the temperatures are low, but we found a good base from the start and this helped us for the entire day. It is only Friday, but it is always important to start the weekend like this. For tomorrow we will try above all to improve how the bike absorbs the bumps, to go faster and take a small step forward”.

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 14th (2’04.057)
“It wasn’t a very good day for us, we tried a few settings with the bike but they were not all working for me. We tried something in the end that I believe can decide the direction to go in for tomorrow, but we need to improve a lot in the corners to be able to turn the bike and have more feeling with the tyres. I look forward to tomorrow and hopefully improving for the rest of the weekend.”
Bradley Smith- Tech 3 4th – It was a positive first day and I’m very happy to kick off my home Grand Prix in this manner. I feel happier and more confident than I did twelve months ago and here the bike is working great and the grip is good with the tyres. We haven’t changed too many settings since Brno, just a few minor alterations to compensate for this track as well as the wind here which is particularly strong at the rear of the circuit. There is still a degree to improve, namely in the fast corners where there a few more bumps this year, so we will work on trying to find the setting to run smoothly over these. Of course, we need to carry on this forward momentum, therefore the next step is to get a good rhythm and then run 2’02 lap times. So all in all I am very happy, but I must say that it is fantastic to see so many fans here especially as it was a Friday so the support I received has been great and really helps me!”
Scott Redding Gresini Honda  (6th – 2’03″333)
“This morning I was struggling a little bit, but then this afternoon I felt really comfortable with the bike and with the circuit, I got a good rhythm and I started to enjoy riding. I didn’t expect to be so fast today, so I’m happy wth the job we made so far. I made a really good result today, so the target for tomorrow is to get into the Qualifying 2 session, but I’m not sure if we can make it, if the temperature is coming up. Anyway, I will keep pushing and pushing!”.
British MotoGP™: Top ten combined Free Practice 1 & 2 times
Pos
Rider
Team
Combined FP1&2 Time
Gap
1
Marc MARQUEZ
Repsol Honda Team
2’02.126 (FP2)
2
Stefan BRADL
LCR Honda MotoGP
2’02.635 (FP2)
0.509
3
Andrea DOVIZIOSO
Ducati Team
2’03.011 (FP2)
0.885
4
Bradley SMITH
Monster Yamaha Tech 3
2’03.070 (FP2)
0.944
5
Yonny HERNANDEZ
Energy T.I. Pramac Racing
2’03.327 (FP2)
1.201
6
Scott REDDING
GO&FUN Honda Gresini
2’03.333 (FP2)
1.207
7
Andrea IANNONE
Pramac Racing
2’03.353 (FP2)
1.227
8
Alvaro BAUTISTA
GO&FUN Honda Gresini
2’03.391 (FP2)
1.265
9
Dani PEDROSA
Repsol Honda Team
2’03.410 (FP2)
1.284
10
Aleix ESPARGARO
NGM Forward Racing
2’03.468 (FP2)
1.342