Marc Marquez made the most of a newly resurfaced Silverstone to go under the old lap record while Jorge Lorenzo returned to riding the Repsol Honda Team RC213V for the first time since Assen.

2018’s torrential rain was nowhere to be seen as the opening day of practice began at Silverstone for round 12 of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship. The round marked a return to action for Jorge Lorenzo while Marc Marquez continued 2019’s theme of working towards race day during Friday sessions. Track temperature increased to 40°C as the day went on and fans were treated to a classic British summer’s day.

The newly resurfaced Silverstone circuit was immediately fast, Marquez able to consistently lap in the mid-2’00s throughout Free Practice 1. A harmless crash at Turn 8 during FP2 saw the championship leader miss just a few minutes of the session as he quickly returned to work. Taking advantage of the super-smooth Silverstone circuit and the hot afternoon conditions, Marquez improved on his own lap record to set a lap of 1’59.476 to end Friday practice second overall and put the crash behind him.

A recovering Jorge Lorenzo took a cautious approach to the opening day of practice but was still able to improve his lap times by close to one and a half seconds between FP1 and FP2. Ending the day 21st in FP2 and 22nd overall, Jorge Lorenzo is looking to make the most of his British GP weekend but knows it will be a balancing act between maintaining his physical condition and pushing to be closer to the front.

Home hero Cal Crutchlow posted the fifth fastest time aboard his LCR Honda machine.

A positive weekend forecast means riders should be greeted with sunshine when they head out for FP3 at 09:55 local time tomorrow, Saturday August 24. Qualifying begins later in the day at 14:10 for the MotoGP class.

Marc Marquez

2nd 1'59.476

"As soon as I went out this morning I felt like it was another track! I enjoyed riding it a lot more and I think so did everyone else. Last year we complained, but this year we have to say congratulations to the circuit because they did a great job. The lap times are coming, we are working in a good way and did one very good lap. But as always the most important thing is that we keep trying everything we need to. I had a small crash in my first run in FP2 because I am pushing and I couldn’t quite save this one! Aside from this it was a very good day."

Jorge Lorenzo

22nd 2'02.907

"Today it has been a hard day, but I guess that little by little I will get my pace back and I will feel better on the bike. It's been very tough, because I still feel a lot of pain in my back and I’m missing a lot of the habits of riding. I lost a lot of muscle mass and being on the bike is very physically demanding, so it makes it difficult to be competitive. Regarding the new surface, I'm very happy."

MotoGP 2019
Practice Round 12   Great Britain

British GP Combined Free Practice Classification

Sunny
Humidity
55%
Track Temp
44°C
Air Temp
25°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
Location Information

The Silverstone Circuit is long, fast and flowing, with a lot of fast changes of direction and a mixture of corners: the stadium section from Abbey through the Loop to Aintree is tight and technical, Woodcote and Copse are long and fast, the Maggotts/Becketts complex a bit of both. It… read more.

Length 5.900 kilometres / 3.666 miles
Width 17 metres
Left corners 8
Right corners 10
Longest straight 0.770 kilometres / 0.478 miles
Constructed 1948
Modified 2011

Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, United Kingdom - View in Google Maps

www.silverstone.co.uk

Records

Pole Position 1m 57.767s (180.3 km/h) Johann Zarco (Ducati, 2022)
Race Lap 1m 59.346s (177.9 km/h) Alex Rins (Suzuki, 2022)
Race Time 40m 10.260s (176.2 km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2022)
2023 Race Winner Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia)
2023 Sprint Winner Alex Marquez (Ducati)