Fabio Quartararo just missed out on snatching the MotoGP Silverstone lap record as he flew to the fastest time in first practice for the British Grand Prix.
Quartararo worked his way slowly up the leaderboard across the 45 minute session, before winding up for a final flyer in the closing minutes.
The Frenchman lit up the timing screen to go over half-a-second faster than long-time leader Marc Marquez, posting a 1:59.952 to lap just 0.011 away from Marquez’s lap record from 2017-the Honda riders’ pole time that year.
Marquez himself settled for second fastest, unable to improve on his own 2:00.538 tour towards the end and thus closing out the session 0.586 down on Quartararo’s incredible time.
Maverick Vinales managed third despite a crash mid-way through the session, the Yamaha rider tucking the front of his M1 into Stowe.
He had just come off the back off two successive fast laps in which he had narrowed then-leader Marquez’s advantage to just over a tenth, but pushed too hard on his third effort and slid into the gravel on the exit of Stowe.
Alex Rins was the first rider to lap more than a second away from Quartararo in fourth, while the second SRT Petronas machine of Franco Morbidelli rounded out the top five.
Andrea Dovizioso managed sixth fastest for Ducati ahead of Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha, as home hero Cal Crutchlow posted the eighth quickest lap for LCR Honda-1.443 from the leading pace.
Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller completed the top ten runners on their GP19 Ducatis.
Aprilia had an encouraging session, Aleix Espargaro spending much of the session in the top five before slipping to 12th by the conclusion of the session with team-mate Andrea Iannone backing him up just behind in 13th.
The returning Jorge Lorenzo managed the 22nd and slowest time- 4.4 seconds from the pace-setting Quartararo- as he focussed on bedding himself back in having not ridden a MotoGP machine since his crash back at the Dutch TT in June.
Karel Abraham suffered an identical crash to Vinales at Stowe just minutes earlier, also re-joining later in the session, while Joan Mir’s Suzuki replacement Sylvain Guintoli also had a spill late on, going down at Turn 14.
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