Marquez tops British MotoGP FP1 despite fearsome late-session crash

Marc Marquez led the way in opening practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone despite a nasty crash at Maggots that ultimately ended the session early.

Marquez looked at ease around the fast curves of Silverstone from the get-go, swapping fastest times with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo throughout the early stages of the test before eventually settling on top with a 2:01.135s.

The Honda man continued to chip away across the remainder of FP1 to ultimately end up as the only rider to lap underneath the 2:01 mark, a 2:00.941s tour leaving him 0.250s clear of the impressive Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro.

His session leading effort was little consolation though as the red flags brought an early end with just under two minutes remaining after the six-time premier class champion suffered a fearsome crash on entry to the fast Maggots-Becketts esses section, the Spaniard losing the rear of his RC213-V and sliding across the grass on the inside of the bend from an entry speed of around 170 miles-per-hour.

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He thankfully was able to walk away seemingly unharmed, though his wrecked machine and subsequent grass and muck that had been dragged onto the circuit forced an early stoppage to the opening practice of the day.

Quartararo ended up third overall as he made it three manufacturers in the top three positions, while Marquez’s team-mate Pol Espargaro slotted his own Honda into fourth ahead of Ducati’s Jack Miller.

Takaaki Nakagami also showed well for Honda in sixth ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins, with factory Ducati racer Francesco Bagnaia and Pramac Racing ace Johann Zarco ending up eighth and ninth respectively.

Alex Marquez completed a strong showing for Honda as he completed the top ten, though it wasn’t all plain sailing due to a crash at the quick Farm left-hander, the Spaniard walking away after sliding into the gravel.

He wasn’t the only one to get caught out by the bend though as Styrian GP victor Jorge Martin also went down on his way to 13^th just behind Cal Crutchlow, the Brit making his factory Yamaha MotoGP bow at his home race only a second from Marquez’s benchmark.

His countryman Jake Dixon also impressed as he deputises for the injured Franco Morbidelli, the Petronas SRT man lapping only 2.998 seconds from Marquez’s gambit despite having never ridden a premier class machine prior to leaving the pits at the start of FP1.     

KTM meanwhile got off to a relatively slow start with Tech 3’s Danilo Petrucci its highest representative in 11th, with factory men Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira 14th and 19th respectively.