British MotoGP, Silverstone – Qualifying (1) Results

The top two riders in Q1 – Enea Bastianini, with the pokemon wings, and fello GP21 rider Marco Bezzecchi  –  now progress to the Q2 pole position shootout, where they will join the ten fastest riders after third practice.

Bezzecchi had earlier tangled with Honda riders Alex Marquez, then Stefan Bradl and Takaaki Nakagami, before snatching second from factory KTM riders Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder.

The others will start, in the above order, from 13th on the grid onwards…

Fabio Quartararo starts the British MotoGP, the first event after the summer break, with a reduced 21-point lead over Aleix Espargaro after suffering a first DNF of the season at Assen.

Crucially, the French star will also need to serve a Long Lap penalty in Sunday’s Silverstone race as punishment for forcing Espargaro off-track during the misjudged pass, which ended with the Yamaha rider on the ground before a second accident ended his Dutch drama.

Both Quartararo and Espargaro have good memories of Silverstone from last year, when Quartararo won from the Suzuki of Alex Rins and Espargaro held off the Ducati of Jack Miller to claim the RS-GP’s first-ever MotoGP podium.

Espargaro and Aprilia’s spectacular season means, despite the Assen incident and handing away another near-certain rostrum in Barcelona, the Spaniard arrives in the UK seeking a sixth podium and second win of the year.

Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco is best of the rest in third, albeit 58 points from Quartararo and still seeking a long overdue premier-class win, with Factory Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia eight points behind after taking three wins and three DNFs in the last six races.

Silverstone will be Bagnaia’s first MotoGP event since his drink-driving incident in Ibiza.

Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati) and Jorge Martin (Pramac) remain locked in battle to be Bagnaia’s 2023 team-mate, with Silverstone likely to be their last chance to impress before an end-of-August decision is made.

Triple race winner Bastianini has slipped to fifth in the standings after his early season heroics, with 2021 winner Martin currently eleventh with two second-places.

Just two points separate Brad Binder and future KTM team-mate Miller in the fight for sixth in the championship, with the same slim margin splitting Joan Mir and Alex Rins in their last season as Suzuki team-mates.

While Rins officially confirmed a switch to LCR Honda during the summer break, Mir’s expected move to Repsol Honda in place of Pol Espargaro is still to be confirmed.

With Marc Marquez still recovering from his latest arm surgery, Espargaro – tipped to make a return to KTM and Tech3 next season – is again partnered by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl this weekend.

Friday August 5

9am – Moto3 Free Practice 1

9.55am – MotoGP Free Practice 1

10.55am – Moto2 Free Practice 1

1.15pm – Moto3 Free Practice 2

2.10pm – MotoGP Free Practice 2

3.10pm – Moto2 Free Practice 2

Saturday August 6

9am – Moto3 Free Practice 3

9.55am – MotoGP Free Practice 3

10.55am – Moto2 Free Practice 2

12.35pm – Moto3 Qualifying 1

1pm – Moto3 Qualifying 2

1.30pm – MotoGP Free Practice 4

2.10pm – MotoGP Qualifying 1

2.35pm – MotoGP Qualifying 2

3.10pm – Moto2 Qualifying 1

3.35pm – Moto2 Qualifying 2

Sunday August 7

9.20am – Moto3 warm-up

9.40am – MotoGP warm-up

10.10am – Moto2 warm-up

11.20am – Moto3 race

1pm – MotoGP race

2.30pm – Moto2 race