Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) claimed top spot in both FP1 and FP2 on Friday at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix and set a new Moto3™ Silverstone lap record in the process to hold a 0.139s advantage over Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Fenati’s 2:11.334 is almost three tenths quicker than the previous lap record, with Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia VR46 Academy) taking P3 on Day 1.
???? @RomanoFenati's reign continues!
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) August 27, 2021
A new all-time lap record to top Friday free practice! ✅#Moto3 | #BritishGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/yYk2Bdx6QA
Fenati unstoppable at Silverstone
After taking P1 in the opening session of the weekend, Fenati got back down to business in the afternoon and set two consecutive lap records to at one point hold a 0.830s gap to the chasing pack. In the latter stages, the competition was able to reel in the experienced Italian but it wasn’t enough to stop Fenati from having a commanding Friday at the office.
The remaining top 10 runners
Sasaki and Antonelli – who is returning from injury at the British GP – were also under Tony Arbolino’s old lap record in FP2 to finish inside the top three, Riccardo Rossi (BOE Owlride) and Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) left it until their final laps to jump to P4 and P5 respectively.
P6 went the way of Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing), the South African is 0.7s shy of Fenati’s pace and sits fractionally clear of 7th fastest Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3). The Turkish rider crashed in FP1 but managed to find pace in the afternoon, the Austrian GP runner-up leads 8th place Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) by 0.088s. The French rookie enjoyed his opening day at Silverstone and leads World Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) – the Spaniard and Argentine close out the top 10.
An important FP3 awaits for the lightweight class at 09:00 local time (GMT+1), tune in!
Top 10:
1. Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) – 2:11.334
2. Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 0.139
3. Niccolo Antonelli (Avinita VR46 Academy) + 0.199
4. Ricardo Rossi (BOE Owlride) + 0.384
5. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 0.390
6. Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.702
7. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 0.722
8. Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.810
9. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.828
10 Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) + 0.830