MotoGP Silverstone FP3 LIVE: Aleix Espargaró raises the level!

After the resumption day of the small world of MotoGP at Silverstone, the two championship leaders, fabio quartararo et Aleix Espargaró, separated by only 21 points, continue to fuel the news.

The duel which opposes them in the quest for the world title not only continued yesterday during the first free practice sessions, which was expected and resulted in the provisional first place of the Frenchman against the fifth of the Spanish, but also extended to social networks about the already famous Long Lap to perform at turn #14!

This controversial penalty concocted by the FIM MotoGP stewards to spice up the championship caused controversy all summer before being contested by the riders themselves on Thursday, during the press conference ahead of the British Grand Prix. The opinions expressed are unanimously against this sanction, including fromAleix Espargaró, although ite last finds that, finally, this Long Lap is not very penalizing on the British route.

 

 

Humorous response fromEl Diablo who asked the Aprilia rider via social media how many Long Laps he wanted him to do… :)

 

 

The subject is not ready to go away because the unknown remains the moment to carry out this penalty : it will be within three laps after the message is displayed on the dashboard of Yamaha #20, but, according to our investigations, it could be one, two or three laps before it appears, either enough to change the appearance of Iwata's four-cylinder race...

Whatever, fabio quartararo, who has already seized every opportunity to complete five or six passages in the famous Long Lap, dominates for the moment a hierarchy made up of Joan mir, Maverick Vinales, Johann zarco, Aleix Espargaró, Miguel Oliveira, Alex Rins, Enea Bastianini, Jack Miller et Marco Bezzecchi, all provisionally pre-qualified for Q2, unlike Francis Bagnaia.

The rest, we will find out now, during this third 45-minute free practice session which will take place under a clear sky and temperatures of 17° in the air and 28° on the asphalt. Let's now enjoy these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here are the past references:

Silverstone MotoGP™	2021	2022
FP1	2'00.941 Marc Márquez (See here)	1'59.893 Johann Zarco (See here)
FP2	1'59.317 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'58.946 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
FP3	1'59.288 Jack Miller (See here)	1'58.254 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
FP4	2'00.002 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
Q1	1'59.288 Johann Zarco (See here)
Q2	1'58.889 Pol Espargaró (See here)
Warm Up	2'00.325 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
Course	Quartararo, Rins, Aleix Espargaró (See here)
All time lap record	1'58.168 Marc Márquez (2019) (See here)

 

When the red lights go out... We remain conservative with Franco Morbidelli who rushes first, fabio quartararo the last.

 

 

Everyone uses a soft tire at the front while the rear is more debated.

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Johann zarco recorded the first reference in 2'00.298 at the end of the first lap launched in front Jack Miller et Francis Bagnaia.

On the next pass, it was the Australian who took command in 2'00.224 ahead Maverick Vinales, Johann Zarco and Miguel Oliveira.

 

Johann zarco, definitely in very good shape, was the first to break the two-minute mark in 1'59.476 in his third flying lap, then preceding Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Miguel Oliveira, Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo.

At the end of the first quarter of an hour, alone Raúl Fernández improved his time from the day before, in 23rd position.

On the technical side, the two official KTM riders use the long exhaust on the front cylinders, while the Godzilla fins have not yet reappeared on the Ducati.

At the end of the first run, Johann zarco precede Maverick Viñales, Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaró, Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira, Álex Rins, Brad Binder, Luca Marini, Enea Bastianini, Joan Mir, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Alex Márquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Raúl Fernández, Marco Bezzecchi, Jorge Martín, Pol Espargaró, Takaaki Nakagami, Stefan Bradl, Remy Gardner, Franco Morbidelli and Darryn Binder.

On resumption, alex rins jumped from eighth to third position.

 

On the next pass, the Suzuki rider achieved the best time of the session in 1'59.431 while Takaaki Nakagami joins the very exclusive club of those who improved their times on Friday. However, this is not enough for him to enter the top 10 in the combined, just like, 18 minutes from the checkered flag, Francis Bagnaia.

 

The Godzilla fins appear at this moment on the motorcycle of Enea Bastianini, but it's Aleix Espargaro who produces his effort and slams a 1'58.695 quickly erased by his teammate's 1'58.599 Maverick Vinales : the Aprilias in force!

Aleix I will espargaro regains the advantage in 1'58.254, less than 1/10 of the absolute record of Marc Márquez achieved in 2019 in 1'58.168…

 

fabio quartararo, who takes in his wheel Jack Miller, then joins the Aprilia fight: El Diablo fourth, Miller second.

With 10 minutes to go before the checkered flag, almost everyone improved their time from Friday and John Zarco continues to impress by climbing to third position, 90/1000 behind the leader.

Four minutes before the flag was lowered, Luca Marini enters the top 10 in sixth position, which ousts his teammate Marco Bezzecchi.

Francis Bagnaia, who also entered the top 10, is struggling with Aleix I will espargaro...

 

 

At the last minute, Johann zarco turns the second sector red but drops in the third. The French pilot seems very unhappy…

 

 

In extremis, Jorge Martín takes second position, 28/1000 behindAleix I will espargaro.

 

 

Finally, Aleix Espargaró, Jorge Martín, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Maverick Viñales, Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia, Joan Mir, Luca Marini and Álex Rins are definitely pre-qualified for Q2. The first four are less than a 10th of a second…

MotoGP British Grand Prix FP3 results:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com