[CP] First laps on KTM for Loris Baz at Silverstone

After leaving the premier category at the end of last season, Loris Baz made his return to the MotoGP field on Friday at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Substitute for Pol Espargaró in the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team, the Tricolore first had to get his bearings before making some adjustments to the set-up of his KTM RC16.

Author of a time of 2'04.773, the Haut-Savoyard was in 23rd position in the combined ranking, 3.3 seconds behind the reference established by Andrea Dovizioso. He hopes to take advantage of the third session on Saturday morning to progress further and grab a few places before qualifying.

Loris Baz (23rd – 2'04.773): “I had a smile on my face all day, even if it wasn't easy. I suspected it was going to take me some time. I had to rediscover certain automatisms that I lost when I joined World Superbike. It's also been more than a month since I last rode a racing motorcycle. I rode a lot during the first session to get my feeling back. This afternoon, I managed to put on slightly harder front tires to go faster. We managed to make some adjustments to the machine. I tried the aerodynamic fairing for the first time and I must admit that it's really not bad! The team is rather delighted with my first feedback. I'm enjoying it, but we have to continue to progress. Scoring points would be fantastic, but you have to keep your feet on the ground. A big thank you to the entire KTM team. They do everything they can to give me confidence. They know the bike by heart. I am very happy ! »

British Grand Prix, Silverstone, MotoGP J.1: times

1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	2'01.385
2	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	2'01.390	0.005	0.005
3	25	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	2'01.446	0.061	0.056
4	93	Marc Márquez	Honda	2'01.529	0.144	0.083
5	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	2'01.782	0.397	0.253
6	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	2'01.819	0.434	0.037
7	5	johann zarco	Yamaha	2'01.962	0.577	0.143
8	46	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	2'02.152	0.767	0.190
9	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	2'02.231	0.846	0.079
10	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	2'02.448	1.063	0.217
11	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	2'02.515	1.130	0.067
12	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	2'02.616	1.231	0.101
13	53	Tito RABAT	Ducati	2'02.704	1.319	0.088
14	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	Honda	2'02.759	1.374	0.055
15	26	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	2'02.864	1.479	0.105
16	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	2'02.938	1.553	0.074
17	38	Bradley SMITH	KTM	2'02.974	1.589	0.036
18	55	Hafiz Syahrin	Yamaha	2'03.293	1.908	0.319
19	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	2'03.591	2.206	0.298
20	45	Scott REDDING	Aprilia	2'03.810	2.425	0.219
21	12	Thomas LUTHI	Honda	2'04.178	2.793	0.368
22	17	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	2'04.223	2.838	0.045
23	76	Loris BAZ	KTM	2'04.773	3.388	0.550
24	10	Xavier SIMEON	Ducati	2'05.212	3.827	0.439