Lorenzo tops Friday practice at Silverstone

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was the quickest rider in today’s practice sessions at Silverstone as the reigning MotoGP champion sets out to score a second consecutive victory at the British Grand Prix.

Lorenzo’s set his benchmark lap time of 2'02.734 on this third lap in Free Practice 2, with the Spaniard clocking a total of ten laps under the current race lap record of 2’03.526. The Repsol Honda duo of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa were second and third quickest today, setting times of 2'02.958 and 2'03.192. Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro was the quickest CRT rider on the first day of action at Silverstone, his best lap time of 2'04.145 placing him in eleventh place on the timesheets.

Conditions this morning for FP1 were changeable, with alternating sunny and cloudy conditions resulting in the riders mainly using the softer slick options while getting to terms with the grip level of the circuit. The sunshine in the afternoon was more persistent, resulting in warmer track temperatures up to a top of 36°C in FP2. The warmer afternoon temperatures brought with it greater variation in tyre choice with all specification of slick tyre being used in FP2. Most riders were able to set their personal best lap times using the softer rear slick in conjunction with the harder front slick, though the more consistent performance and durability of the harder rear slick resulted in approximately half the riders evaluating this option in FP2.

Weather conditions for tomorrow are predicted to be dry, yet slightly cooler than today with the next MotoGP session being FP3 at 955 local time (GMT +1).

Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department

“Today was a positive day with dry weather in all the sessions, although the presence of cloud in the morning meant that riders preferred the softer slicks in FP1 in order to evaluate the grip level of the circuit. With the race being held later in the year, we decided for this year at Silverstone that we would change our front tyre allocation, offering front slick options one step harder than last year, changing to the soft and medium compounds. This change has worked very well as the harder front slick was a good option when track temperatures were warmer, while the softer option gave good warm-up performance in the morning. All rear slick options were tested today and we got positive feedback on them all and if we have dry weather tomorrow and for the race. It is possible that we will see a real mix of tyre combinations being used. Lap times for this stage of the weekend are quite quick and I anticipate that the existing pole position record could be broken if we have fine weather tomorrow.”

British MotoGP: Top ten combined Free Practice 1 & 2 times