The first Silverstone appearance by the modern breed of four-stroke MotoGP prototypes finished with title leader Jorge Lorenzo setting the pace during Friday free practice for the British Grand Prix.
Silverstone hadn’t held a round of the motorcycle grand prix world championship since 1986, after which it moved to Donington Park, and a cloudy first hour began with Randy de Puniet making the most of a recent track day to lead the early running around the fast, but bumpy, circuit.
The Frenchman quickly brought the leading lap down from 2min 15sec to 2min 8.6sec, before Casey Stoner took over with the first 2min 7sec lap. The aggressive looking de Puniet then returned to the top and brought the best lap into the 2min 6sec bracket just before the halfway mark.
Click Here to Read More:
MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo Fastest in First Practice at Silverstone
Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso then outpaced Stoner by a similarly small amount and the last quarter of an hour started with Dovizioso, Stoner and de Puniet all covered by less than 0.1sec. Yahoo! Eurosport
Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will be hoping to take advantage of the fact that this is a new track for all and the rookie was fifth. His first run on the layout placed him 1.259s off Lorenzo and he will take great encouragement from the session, in which he placed ahead of Mugello race winner Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa by almost four-tenths. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) was only two-thousandths further back in seventh.
Top ten times were also recorded by Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro), and the riders will continue their adaptation to the track in the second practice session. MotoGP
Pos. Num. Rider Team Time 1 99 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 2'05.991 2 27 Casey STONER Ducati Team 2'06.133 3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 2'06.347 4 14 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda MotoGP 2'06.439 5 11 Ben SPIES Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2'07.250 6 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 2'07.586 7 33 Marco MELANDRI San Carlo Honda Gresini 2'07.588 8 41 Aleix ESPARGARO Pramac Racing Team 2'07.927 9 58 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 2'07.951 10 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 2'08.300 11 40 Hector BARBERA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 2'08.452 12 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2'08.525 13 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2'08.666 14 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA Interwetten Honda MotoGP 2'09.639 15 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2'09.805 16 36 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing Team 2'10.227
| 
|