Marcel Schrotter has finished Moto2 Free Practice 1 at the top of the times, with a lap time of 2:08.385. The German rider was followed by Mattia Pasini in second and home hero Sam Lowes in third, four-tenths off the pace.
Following FP1, Silverstone is looking good for Germany with Schrotter topping the Moto2 session and his compatriot Philipp Oettl fastest in the Moto3 session. Still, the home crowd can feel optimistic for Lowes. He went fastest a couple of times over the forty minutes of practice and looks comfortable on the bike, not far from the pace of Pasini or Schrotter.
Early in the session it was championship leader Francesco Bagnaia showing dominance, meanwhile his closest challenger Miguel Oliveira crashed out at turn three. Oliveira is now three points behind Bagnaia after the Italian rider took the hard-fought win last time out in Austria. Oliveira did return to the track in the second half of FP1 but finished in twentieth place. Bagnaia finished in seventh, 0.741 seconds away from Schrotter.
Xavi Vierge is riding this weekend with a freshly broken wrist, having broken it badly following a crash in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring two weeks ago. He had surgery on the wrist in Barcelona and his participation at the British GP was in doubt, but he did take part in FP1 even if he only managed nine laps. He finished in twenty-sixth position.
Vierge’s 2019 team-mate Alex Marquez will be looking for a stronger weekend here, having crashed out of the last two races. Now seventy-six points behind Bagnaia, the championship is probably out of the question, but Marquez will be keen to get a win and more podiums this season. He crashed out of the race at Silverstone last year whilst battling with his then team-mate Franco Morbidelli, so will not be looking to repeat this performance. He was over a second off the pace for much of the forty minutes but finished in fifth.
Simone Corsi crashed at turn thirteen in the first laps of the session, whilst Iker Lecuona crashed later on whilst sitting in seventh place. Lecuona has been strong up to then but didn’t have time to return to the track after his crash. The final crash of FP1 came from Isaac Vinales at turn twelve. As in the Moto3 and MotoGP sessions, many lap times were cancelled due to shortcuts/exceeding track limits.
Moto2 GoPro British Grand Prix Free Practice 1
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