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MotoGP British GP: Martin leads Aprilia duo in opening practice

Pramac’s Jorge Martin led the way in opening practice for the MotoGP British Grand Prix on Friday, leading Aprilia duo Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.

Aprilia led the majority of the 45-minute session at Silverstone, having won last year’s race with Espargaro on its RS-GP.

Maverick Vinales set the early pace on the factory bike with a 2m01.436s, before improving to a 2m00.319s to cement his position at the front.

Team-mate Espargaro was the first rider to break the 2m00s barrier, lapping the circuit in 1m59.769s to snatch the top spot from his team-mate after 12 minutes had elapsed.

Espargaro’s time remained unbeaten until the final third of the session, when Martin ended Aprilia’s stranglehold with a 1m59.627s flyer on the Pramac Ducati.

Espargaro responded with a 1m59.719s, but that still left him trailing Martin by 0.092s at the front of the order.

Championship contender Martin slowly extended his advantage in the final 10 minutes, first improving to a 1m59.509s before going even quicker with a 1m59.383s.

Vinales made one last-attempt at overhauling his countryman but his best effort of 1m59.473s fell short by 0.090s.

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

However, it was still a strong start to the weekend for Aprilia, with Espargaro finishing 0.246s adrift of Vinales in third.

KTM’s Jack Miller ran near the front for the majority of the session and took fourth as the chequered flag dropped, ahead of Franco Morbidelli on the second of the Pramac bikes.

Enea Bastianini was the top runner for the factory Ducati team in sixth place, two spots clear of his world champion team-mate Francesco Bagnaia. The Ducati two were separated by Fabio di Giannantonio on the VR46-entered GP23, as five Ducati bikes occupied the top eight spots.

Fabio Quartararo put in a solid effort on the factory Yamaha to take ninth place, less than half a second off the pace set by Martin.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was able to complete the top 10 despite a crash at Stowe in the final minutes when he was on a flying lap.

Tech3 GasGas’s Pedro Acosta also ended up in the gravel late in practice, but only just nudged the barriers after going off at Brooklands with seven minutes left on the clock.

A 2m00.052s lap left him 11th in the timesheets, ahead of the second Gresini bike of Alex Marquez and factory KTM rider Brad Binder.

A total of 23 riders started the British GP weekend, with Remy Gardner getting a wildcard outing with Yamaha.

MotoGP British GP - FP1 results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 16

1'59.383

  177.643  
2 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 15

+0.090

1'59.473

0.090 177.509  
3 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 14

+0.336

1'59.719

0.246 177.144  
4 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 15

+0.344

1'59.727

0.008 177.132  
5 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 17

+0.420

1'59.803

0.076 177.020  
6 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 17

+0.439

1'59.822

0.019 176.992  
7 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 14

+0.447

1'59.830

0.008 176.980  
8 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 15

+0.465

1'59.848

0.018 176.954  
9 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 14

+0.480

1'59.863

0.015 176.931  
10 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 14

+0.550

1'59.933

0.070 176.828  
11 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 12

+0.669

2'00.052

0.119 176.653  
12 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 17

+0.735

2'00.118

0.066 176.556  
13 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 18

+0.797

2'00.180

0.062 176.465  
14 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 16

+0.869

2'00.252

0.072 176.359  
15 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 15

+1.067

2'00.450

0.198 176.069  
16 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 16

+1.118

2'00.501

0.051 175.995  
17 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 16

+1.119

2'00.502

0.001 175.993  
18 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 16

+1.312

2'00.695

0.193 175.712  
19 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 16

+1.316

2'00.699

0.004 175.706  
20 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 17

+1.328

2'00.711

0.012 175.689  
21 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 16

+1.526

2'00.909

0.198 175.401  
22 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 15

+1.693

2'01.076

0.167 175.159  
23 Australia R. Gardner Yamaha Factory Racing 87 Yamaha 17

+3.664

2'03.047

1.971 172.353  
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