Six Ducati riders have success in the battle for direct Q2 entry at Silverstone – Aprilia and KTM also in the top 10 with both factory riders
Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati) set the fastest time in MotoGP practice for the 2024 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Friday. In the 60-minute session in the afternoon, the top 10 result of which determines direct entry into the Q2 segment of qualifying (Saturday), Martin set a lap time of 1:57.911 minutes in the final minutes.
This meant that the existing MotoGP track record at Silverstone – 1:57.767 minutes set by Johann Zarco in the 2022 season – was only narrowly missed on Friday. After Martin had already won the first free practice session (FP1) in the morning, he narrowly kept the competition at bay during the final attacks with soft rear tires.
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) finished second fastest, 0.045 seconds behind Martin. World championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) finished the session third fastest. He was also less than a tenth of a second behind Martin (0.074 seconds)
A very early mechanical issue for @Bestia23
He pulls off the circuit immediately! BritishGP pic.twitter.com/FKytm4WxFV
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 2, 2024
There was a lot of smoke on Enea Bastianini’s factory Ducati right at the start of the session. And Marco Bezzecchi’s VR46 Ducati, which unlike Bastianini’s GP24 is a GP23, produced very similar images in the first few minutes of the session.
And the first crash was not long in coming either. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda; 22nd) went down in Copse Corner and, like Bastianini and Bezzecchi, lost a lot of practice time. In the final minute, Alex Rins (Yamaha; 18th) crashed at Brooklands Corner.
In the end, however, Bastianini, who had temporarily set the fastest time, finished the session in P4 directly behind team-mate Bagnaia. Bezzecchi also made it directly into Q2 in P9.
Apart from the top four – Martin, Espargaro, Bagnaia, Bastianini and Bezzecchi – the two KTM factory riders Jack Miller and Brad Binder as well as Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and, in tenth and last place, Marc Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) also qualified directly for the second qualifying segment on Saturday
By the skin of his teeth, @marcmarquez93 secures the last Q2 spot! ⚔️
He had a big scare on his last flying lap too! BritishGP pic.twitter.com/GNGrrJ3gCu
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 2, 2024
Franco Morbidelli (Pramac-Ducati), Raul Fernandez, who will be riding an RS-GP24 for Trackhouse-Aprilia starting this weekend, and MotoGP rookie Pedro Acosta (Tech3-GasGas) narrowly missed out on a direct Q2 entry.
Qualifying for the MotoGP class starts on Saturday at 11:50 CEST (10:50 local time). The sprint (ten laps) will start at 16:00 CEST (15:00 local time). The spectacular retro designs of all MotoGP teams for the 75th anniversary of the Motorcycle World Championship will be ridden as announced in the Grand Prix (20 laps) on Sunday
Directly qualified for Q2 are:
Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati)
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia)
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)
Enea Bastianini (Ducati)
Jack Miller (KTM)
Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati)
Brad Binder (KTM)
Maverick Vinales (Aprilia)
Marco Bezzecchi (VR46-Ducati)
Marc Marquez (Gresini-Ducati)
