2018 British MotoGP Friday Results
Lowering skies and occasional spits threatened rain for tomorrow morning’s FP3 made today’s first two practices potentially crucial for MotoGP, determining the top ten to go straight through to Q2.
2018 British MotoGP Friday Results
The result was not very unexpected, but still big relief after Austria’s problems for the factory Movistar Yamaha pair, who were quickest in the morning, and comfortably still in the mix in the afternoon, the top six all inside half a second at the longest track of the year.
But in spite of a full resurfacing, with riders praising the new levels of grip, the bumps – mystifyingly – had become even worse than before, and the expected lap-time improvement didn’t come. The fastest time, 2m 1.385s, was 1.444 seconds off last year’s pole.
That time was set by last year’s winner Andrea Dovizioso, whose factory Ducati was for a time fully half a second clear … until the rest revved it up.
By the finish, British star Cal Crutchlow (LCR Castrol Honda) was merely five thousandths slower, and then Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) 0.056 behind him.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) was a similar distance away in fourth; second Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo four tenths down, coming through into the top ten only after the flag.
Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Ducati) was sixth; then Johan Zarco (Monster Yamaha) heading factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi and Andrea Iannone on the top Ecstar Suzuki.
Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Ducati) completed the top ten, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Idemitsu Honda) out of it by less than a tenth.
Big names to miss the cut were Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Ducati) 12th; Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 15th and Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) 19th.
2018 British MotoGP Friday Results
