Viñales quickest as Espargaro braves the Silverstone Warm Up

Maverick Viñales has set the fastest lap in the MotoGP™ Warm Up session for the Monster Energy British Grand Prix, but Aleix Espargaro might have given Aprilia Racing an even bigger reason to smile. Espargaro gritted his teeth and saddled up on his RS-GP less than 24 hours after an FP4 highside which left him battered and – despite qualifying sixth – in doubt for today’s race. Now, the Noale marque’s ‘Captain’ has ridden nine more laps of the Silverstone Circuit, with a 1:59.894 seeing him take sixth on the timesheet, 0.667 seconds from Viñales’ benchmark of 1:59.227. Espargaro was clearly pumped when he completed that lap, before hobbling back to the Aprilia box.

Viñales also had an interesting session, which he finished by trying to ride his bike through a paddock gate after pulling off the race track at the end of the Maggotts/Becketts complex due to an apparent technical problem. Having qualified second for today’s race, he topped the Warm Up by a margin of 0.210 seconds, with Team Suzuki Ecstar duo Alex Rins and Joan Mir taking second and third respectively. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and World Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) rounded out the top five, and the latter was again practicing the Long Lap Penalty which he has to take this afternoon. Pole man Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) set a 2:00.695 to be classified 15th, two positions behind Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team), who had a painful end to the Warm Up when he lost the front through the fast Becketts corner.

Can Zarco turn pole position into a long-awaited MotoGP™ race win? Will Viñales get his first for Aprilia? And how will Aleix Espargaro fare? The answers to these questions will come this Sunday afternoon from 13:00 (GMT +1)!

MotoGP™ WUP Top 10

1. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) – 1:59.227
2. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.210
3. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.266
4. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.341
5. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.663
6. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.667
7. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.677
8. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.708
9. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.790
10. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.813

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