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Marco Bezzecchi crashed, but still earned pole position in the heavy rain of Silverstone, as the riders set the grid for today’s Sprint, as well as tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
Friday practice wrap-up
Contents
On Friday afternoon, all riders took to the track and tried to place inside the top ten, in order to earn automatic promotion to Q2 for Saturday and a starting spot inside the top twelve for both races.
In dry conditions, there were some fallers, including Maverick Vinales, Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi. All three were able to make it to the top ten though and escaped any further trouble.
The fastest rider – somewhat surprisingly – was Aleix Espargaro, who beat second-placed Jorge Martin by almost seven tenths of a second. Brad Binder, Maverick Vinales and Johann Zarco rounded up the top five. The championship leader and defending winner of the race, Francesco Bagnaia was sixth.
The most notable names to miss the top ten were Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez, as both Yamaha and Honda continue to struggle in 2023, as well as Enea Bastianini, who was unable to find time onboard his factory Ducati.
MotoGP Silverstone 2023 Qualifying: Qualifying 1
In torrential rain, twelve riders took to the track to try with a goal of placing inside the top two to earn promotion to the next qualifying session. Franco Morbidelli showed great pace throughout the fifteen-minute session and he was a full second ahead of the chasing pack at the end.
The second rider to progress was a big surprise, as Augusto Fernandez of GasGas pipped Bastianini by nine hundredths of a second and eliminate the Italian. Marc Marquez looked set to overhaul the rookie on his last lap, but lost heaps of time in the final sector and will start fourteenth.
There were a couple of fallers in the session, the first being Fabio di Giannantonio, who was able to remount and continue. Fabio Quartararo was the big disappointment, as a fall cost him time and he was unable to record any sort of competitive lap time, so he will start both races from last position.
MotoGP Silverstone 2023 Qualifying: Qualifying 2
Francesco Bagnaia was the first victim of the condition of the second qualifying session, as he fell under braking for Brooklands and was unable to return. Seconds later, Alex Marquez was also down, at the first corner, with Luca Marini following suit.
Marco Bezzecchi set the fastest time with around four minutes remaining. He kept pushing and also fell down on his very next lap, at Vale. The yellow flags brought out by the crashes of the two VR46 riders meant no one could improve their lap times, thus the session ended with Bezzecchi on pole.
No warning at all for Bez! 😮
It looks like he’ll still take pole position regardless! 👀#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/e7HRsV2ffe
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 5, 2023
Jack Miller was second thanks to his first flying lap of the session, while Alex Marquez and Bagnaia followed, despite both crashing. Augusto Fernandez had a brilliant day and will qualified fifth, ahead of Marini, Jorge Martin and Maverick Vinales.
Johann Zarco and Brad Binder usually excel in wet conditions, but not today, as they only qualified ninth and tenth, with Franco Morbidelli and Aleix Espargaro behind them.
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