Andrea Iannone heads into Saturday as the fastest rider at Silverstone after topping the timesheets in a busy finish to second practice. The Ducati rider edged out FP1 pacesetter Maverick Vinales by three tenths of a second as the pair appeared to steal a march on the pre-race favourite, all of which were half a second behind.
Vinales had stunned his rivals with a dominant advantage earlier this morning but as the circuit rubbered in, his time was eventually overhauled. Iannone was the man to finally better the Spaniard’s 2:02.483, going a tenth faster on his fourth lap of the afternoon, but any further gains wouldn’t be made until the softer tyres were introduced later on.
With many teams fearing a rain-affected Saturday programme, the closing minutes of FP2 resembled a qualifying session as the riders chased a top ten position overnight, securing their spot in Q2 should it rain tomorrow morning. Cal Crutchlow was the first to light up the timing screens, breaking into the 2:01s bracket on his LCR Honda, before Vinales found a further two tenths to return Suzuki to the top of the leaderboard.
The final word would go to Iannone though and after ending FP1 with smoke billowing from his Ducati Desmosdici GP, the Italian ended FP2 with a 2:01.421 to finish three tenths clear of the field. Vinales and Crutchlow completed the top three while Jorge Lorenzo led the trio of riders expected to dispute the victory on Sunday, pipping Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi to fourth.
Andrea Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro were seventh and eighth after failing to match the blistering pace of their respective teammates while Dani Pedrosa and Scott Redding grabbed the two remaining provisional Q2 spots, leaving Pol Espargaro potentially stranded in eleventh.
