Photography by Gold & Goose
Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo ended Friday at Silverstone top among MotoGP riders. Lorenzo turned a lap of 2:02.338 aboard his MoviStar Yamaha to edge Honda’s Marc Marquez, who clocked in at 2:02.371, by 3-100ths of a second. A mild surprise of the session was newly re-signed Brit Bradley Smith, who turned a 2:02.531 on his Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha.
Lorenzo arrives at the British GP on top of the standings level on points (211 each) with his teammate Rossi, yet due to the fact he has won five races to Rossi’s three. The Spaniard enjoys the Silverstone circuit and has recorded two wins and a second placed finish in the last three years: “When you see the track and the layout it’s understandable it can be good for my riding as it has a lot of chicanes and very flowing. To be honest from the first time I was here, I just felt great. I won again in 2012 and 2013 and the other year I finished second. I always feel great here.”
The Spaniard is also clearly delighted with his recent upturn in form and what it means for his title hopes: “I’m very proud of my recovery as after Argentina we were 29 points behind and now we’ve recovered all of them. Now starts another championship for both of us.”
Rossi finds himself knocked off the top of the standings for the first time this season by his teammate Lorenzo after his win at Brno. The Italian has won the British GP five times before in the premier class, but these all came at Donington Park with his best result at Silverstone a third last year: “Now it will be harder and harder, a great fight. It looks like after the summer break, I arrive with a small advantage into the summer break of 13 points and I was able to battle Jorge in the last two races before the stop. After the stop he came back in better shape and was able to do great races. One in Brno and in Indianapolis, the second place fighting with Marc in the last laps was a great result. So it’s difficult because I need to go faster and stay focused and work well.”
Marquez is currently third in the standings, 47 points behind the Movistar Yamaha duo. The reigning MotoGP World Champion arrives to the UK in good form on the back of two wins and two second places in the last four races and has not given up the title fight yet: “I need to do my 100% and be there every race and wait and see. It’s true that in Brno where we usually struggle I was able to be there in the second place with some laps following Jorge. Here last year we had a really good weekend for me, just on Sunday Jorge was really strong.”
Fourth in the standings lies Andrea Iannone. The Italian has not finished outside of the top six all season, and hopes to benefit from a one-day private test held by his team at Misano earlier in the week: “For sure the first part of the season is really good for us, but after three or four races the situation is complicated more. After Mugello in Barcelona, Assen, Sachsenring are difficult for us and I didn’t know why. I had less feeling. Last weekend in Brno is a really good positive for me and I was able to come back and close the gap to the best bike and rider and I have a good motivation for this weekend.”
Bradley Smith will be full of confidence in front of his fans at his home Grand Prix having announced the extension of his contract with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 for 2016. Smith grew up about 30 miles from the circuit in Oxfordshire and arrives at the GP as the leading Satellite rider, fifth in the standings, with 106 points: “Certainly it was a great start to the week announcing my new contract with Hervé and the team. It is a good feeling to get that out of the way. It’s been a talking points let’s say and there have been a lot of meetings over the last couple of weeks to finalise those last details. MotoGP is hard enough without meetings and having to talk about your future, so now I can focus fully on my home GP.”
Silverstone MotoGP FP2 Results – Aug. 28, 2015
1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 2m 02.338s [Lap 4/13] 317km/h (Top Speed)
2. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 2m 02.371s +0.033s [10/17] 321km/h
3. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 02.531s +0.193s [13/17] 320km/h
4. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 2m 02.573s +0.235s [5/15] 323km/h
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 2m 02.761s +0.423s [13/15] 325km/h
6. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 2m 02.872s +0.534s [14/14] 311km/h
7. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 02.972s +0.634s [17/17] 321km/h
8. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP15) 2m 03.219s +0.881s [15/15] 325km/h
9. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 2m 03.284s +0.946s [3/17] 319km/h
10. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 2m 03.327s +0.989s [10/16] 316km/h
11. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.1) 2m 03.339s +1.001s [17/17] 320km/h
12. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 2m 03.391s +1.053s [11/15] 315km/h
13. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 2m 03.618s +1.280s [12/13] 319km/h
14. Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda (RC213V-RS) 2m 03.656s +1.318s [13/15] 313km/h
15. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda (RC213V) 2m 03.748s +1.410s [14/14] 321km/h
16. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team (RC213V-RS) 2m 03.877s +1.539s [13/17] 310km/h
17. Yonny Hernandez COL Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 2m 03.878s +1.540s [15/16] 321km/h
18. Loris Baz FRA Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 2m 03.977s +1.639s [14/15] 308km/h
19. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14 Open) 2m 04.216s +1.878s [13/13] 317km/h
20. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 2m 04.416s +2.078s [15/16] 316km/h
21. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 2m 04.885s +2.547s [12/15] 314km/h
22. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team (RC213V-RS) 2m 05.295s +2.957s [14/15] 311km/h
23. Karel Abraham CZE AB Motoracing (RC213V-RS) 2m 05.396s +3.058s [6/15] 310km/h
24. Alex De Angelis RSM E-Motion IodaRacing (ART) 2m 05.820s +3.482s [9/13] 306km/h
25. Claudio Corti ITA Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 2m 06.275s +3.937s [14/16] 314km/h
