Marcel Schrotter set the pace in FP3 this morning at the British GP, setting a lap time of 2:08.182. Last year, the fastest time in this session was 2:06.993, but the weather in 2017 was hot and sunny as opposed to cold and windy this year with spots of rain.
Alex Marquez was also quick in this session, finishing 2nd just over a tenth away from Schrotter. Jorge Navarro completed the top 3. In FP1 and FP2, Schrotter and Marquez were fastest respectively so look the strongest heading into qualifying, although FP2 times were unrepresentative due to rain disruption.
Sam Lowes again looked strong at his home race, finishing in 6th just half a second off the pace. Things didn’t go so well for the other British riders, though; Danny Kent finished 27th and wildcard Josh Owens crashed during the session.
Other crashes in FP3 came from Khairul Idham Pawi, Joe Roberts, Navarro and Joan Mir, the latter of which had looked strong and temporarily faster than his team-mate prior to the crash. Mir returned to the track and eventually finished in 8th place. Navarro took 3rd place in the standings but crashed right at the end of the session.
We learned just before FP3 started that Isaac Viñales has been declared unfit for the rest of the British GP, after a crash yesterday left him with a broken right wrist. Xavi Vierge is also suffering from a broken wrist, but his has had two weeks to heal and he seemed more comfortable with it in this session than he did yesterday. Vierge completed 10 laps and finished 20th.
In terms of the championship battle, Francesco Bagnaia again looked faster than Miguel Oliveira. Bagnaia finished 7th and Oliveira 12th, though the session was quite close and Oliveira has definitely made an improvement from yesterday.
The forecast for today was completely dry, but typically of Silverstone there was some rain flags waved during the session. The rain didn’t seem to affect the track too much though, and was nowhere near the deluge that is forecast for tomorrow.
2018 Moto2 GoPro British Grand Prix (FP3)
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