Martin leads the field as M. Marquez narrowly avoids Q1

It was a frantic 60 minutes for the MotoGP™ field, who took to track in a show-stopping end to Friday at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix. Practice was filled with drama as Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) ended the first day of track action at the top of the timesheets after the Spaniard set a stunning 1:57.911 on his penultimate flying lap. The #89 had steep competition, finishing a mere 0.045s ahead of Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), who continues his brilliant form at Silverstone in second. Espargaro’s late lap allowed the Spaniard to place ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), who rounded out the top three spots after the Italian had to pit early on in the session to fix the zip on his leathers.

Stories began to form from the start, with Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) suffering from early technical issues with their machines. This brought an early end to running on one of their machines as Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) had an early fall. Meanwhile, Maverick Viñales spent the opening stages of the session at the top of the timesheets before time attacks began with 15 minutes remaining on the clock, riders began to set red sectors before Martin stole the show and took the top spot. Moments after, Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ Team) would suffer a crash at Turn 6.

Taking fourth behind his teammate was Bastianini, who set almost 20 laps during the session after suffering from issues early on. Behind the Beast and rounding off a great day in Britain was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jack Miller, who secured fifth position and a Q2 spot. Miller set a 1:58.260 late in the session, improving from outside the top 10.

The Australian was ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), who was sixth after an impressive day, with the Italian yet to confirm his future in the premier class. Behind the Italian was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who leapt up the order after spending a chunk of the session outside the top 15.

Viñales ended Friday in eighth position, showing an encouraging pace on the Aprilia after the Spaniard was able to find further time late in the session to remain ahead of Bezzecchi. The #72 was able to secure a spot inside the top 10 after spending the majority of Practice with one motorcycle. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) held onto the final spot inside the top 10 after a breathtaking save at Turn 12.

Q1 on Saturday is packed with talent with Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing), missing out in P11 by a mere 0.057s. Joining the #21 in Q1 will be Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez, who received a new RS-GP24 for Silverstone. Raul Fernandez was 12^th at the end of Friday ahead of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), who will be forced to battle it out for a Q2 position as MotoGP™ remains as unpredictable as ever.

Do not miss an exciting Saturday with Free Practice 2 getting underway at 10:10 local time (UTC +1) before qualifying begins at 10:50 local time, so make sure you don’t miss anything on motogp.com!

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