MotoGP Silverstone FP2 LIVE: Jorge Martin persists and signs…

For his back-to-school day on the Silverstone circuit for the British Grand Prix, the championship World MotoGP gave us a great show, Ducati and Aprilia being separated by only 0.045s, while the main title contenders all placed themselves in the top 10.

George Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) set the tone at the start of the weekend at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix, with the #89 ahead Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) by 90 thousandths in the morning then Alex Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), winner of the 2023 edition at Silverstone, by 45 thousandths in the afternoon, setting a provisional benchmark after a time of 1'57.911. The leader of the world championship, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), took third place, while the number #1 is only 0,119 seconds behind its main challenger for the title.

The start of the afternoon was not ideal for two of the eight Ducatis since Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) were forced to stop due to a problem with their respective machines.

Meanwhile, Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) was the fastest, but as we expected, it was in the last 15 minutes that most of the action took place during this practice. There was a lot of movement when the other official Aprilia, that ofAlex Espargaro, rose to the top while time was running out, but she is the specialist in attacking the clock, George Martin, who managed to win Friday honors with this late time.

Pecco Bagnaia also progressed towards the end of the session, while his teammate Enea Bastianini waited until his final lap to set a personal best, with the 'Beast' finishing the day in P4 despite initial problems with his bike. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) finished the first free practice session in P4 and followed up with a P5 in the afternoon to remind everyone what he is capable of, while Fabio DiGiannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) led the GP23 charge in P6.

Miller's teammate, Brad Binder, made sure that the two official KTMs were automatically in Q2 this Saturday. Maverick Vinales has slipped down the rankings to P8 but will be looking for more.

Marco Bezzecchi et Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) were the last two riders to slip their GP 23 into the top 10, with the eight-time World Champion, victim of a crash in FP1, only 0,057s away from finding himself in Q1 .

In the end, if Jorge Martin, Aleix Espargaro, Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Jack Miller, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Brad Binder, Maverick Vinales, Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Márquez access directly to Qualification 2, this is not the case for our two French people, fabio quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) admitting to being disappointed with the performance of his M1 after obtaining the 16th time, just like, for the same reasons, Johann zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) of its RC 213 V.

While waiting to discover more, when the 23 pilots (Remy gardner is Wildcard for Yamaha instead of Cal Crutchlow) are preparing for this second 30-minute free practice session, under a rather overcast sky and temperatures of 19° in the air and 24° on the ground, let's take advantage of these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

MotoGP™ Great Britain, Silverstone	2023	2024
FP1	2'00.295 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'59.383 Jorge Martin (See here)
Practice	1'58.183 Aleix Espargaro (See here)	1'57.911 Jorge Martin (See here)
FP2	2'18.076 Fabio Di Giannantonio (See here)	1'59.039 Jorge Martin (See here)
Q1	2'15.884 Franco Morbidelli (See here)	(See here)
Q2	2'15.359 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	(See here)
Sprint	Alex Marquez Bezzecchi Vinales (See here)	(See here)
Warm Up	2'10.207 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	(See here)
Course	Espargaro, Bagnaia, Binder (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	1'57.767 Johann Zarco 2022 (See here)

When the red lights go out... Marc Márquez rushes first in front Franco Morbidelli, while conversely fabio quartararo continues the tradition by hitting the track last.

The majority of drivers are on soft tires at the front and rear, but we note that Johann zarco uses a rear midrange, Francesco Bagnai, Jorge Martin, Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez a medium before.

From his exit turn, Peter Acosta will visit the gravel, without falling.

At the end of the first round, Francesco Bagnaia displays 2'00.444 in front Jack Miller and Brad Binder.

On the next pass, it is still the reigning world champion who leads the way, this time in 1'59.352 ahead of the two official Aprilias and George Martin.

Number 1 persists and signs in his third flying lap but after three sectors lit in red, the fourth seems to pose more problems, a phenomenon which will be repeated in the following laps.

Midway through the session, Alex Espargaro takes the best in 1'59.108 in front Francesco Bagnaia, Maverick Vinales, Franco Morbidelli, Jorge Martin, Miguel Oliveira, Enea Bastianini, Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Alex Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Johann Zarco, Takaaki Nakagami, Augusto Fernandez, Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez who, immobilized for a long time in his box, has still not recorded any time.

In the wake, George Martin rises to second position, at 68/1000Alex Espargaro, then took command in 1'59.039.

Raul fernandez seems to have solved its problems and jumped to 9th position.

There are seven minutes left and the standings now seem to have stabilized.

However, the official Ducatis seem to still have a little under their belt, Francis Bagnaia climbing one position and Enea Bastianini improving his own time.

Less than two minutes before the flag is lowered, a few sectors occasionally light up red again, but things will stay there.

FP2 MotoGP standings for the 2024 British Grand Prix at Silverstone:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com

MotoGP Silverstone FP2