Alex Marquez ends the practice day at the top with a new lap record – three Yamaha riders qualify directly for Q2 for the first time since 2021
In an exciting final phase, Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) took the lead in practice for the British Grand Prix late on Friday afternoon and set a new lap record for Silverstone. With Fabio Quartararo and Jack Miller (Pramac) in second and third place, Yamaha once again confirmed the upward trend of recent weeks.
There were three crashes in the first quarter of an hour. In the afternoon, it remained somewhat cloudy and cool with an air temperature of 19 degrees Celsius. It was also windier, with repeated gusts of wind that irritated the riders.
Miller crashed in the first run in the Vale chicane. Marc Marquez (Ducati) suddenly lost the front wheel when turning into the Village right-hand corner. And Franco Morbidelli (VR46-Ducati) went down in the Brooklands corner.
As a result, soft tires were fitted for the second run to be on the safe side. Before the qualifying attempts began in the final 20 minutes, Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda) led the standings ahead of Maverick Vinales (KTM) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia).
The Ducati duo of Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia were outside the top 10. In the first qualifying attempt, eight riders set laps in the 1:57 range. Alex Marquez led the timing just ahead of Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) and Marc Marquez. Bagnaia was only tenth.
The last five minutes brought the decision. Quartararo initially took the lead, mainly with a strong fourth sector, and came close to the lap record. But Alex Marquez drove a slightly different tactic and was alone on the track at the end.
With a time of 1:57.295 minutes, the Gresini rider finally set a new lap record. This put him 47 thousandths of a second ahead of Quartararo in second place. It was a strong Friday for Yamaha, with Miller finishing third and Alex Rins also making it into Q2 in ninth place.
MIGHTY, MIGHTY CLOSE TO THE LAP RECORD!
Quartararo puts together a great lap BritishGP pic. twitter.com/VdUgdS84Da
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) May 23, 2025
Marc Marquez was 0.360 seconds slower than his younger brother and finished the day in fourth place. Bezzecchi showed that he had worked on his qualifying difficulties with the Aprilia engineers by finishing fifth (see results).
Di Giannantonio finished sixth. Bagnaia made it into Q2 with seventh place on his last lap. France winner Zarco and rookie Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati) also qualified for Q2.
No KTM in the top 10, Ai Ogura forced to take a break
KTM narrowly missed out on the top 10. Pedro Acosta was just a few hundredths of a second behind Aldeguer in eleventh. Vinales took 14th, Brad Binder 17th and Enea Bastianini 18th. Apart from Bezzecchi, no other Aprilia was represented in the top field.
After crashing in the morning practice session at the Farm corner, Ai Ogura only completed one sighting lap. He complained of pain in his right knee and ankle, which prevented him from bending his leg properly and using it on the bike.
It seems that @AiOgura79‘s Practice is already over ❌
The Japanese rider suffered a fast crash at Turn 2 earlier today BritishGP pic. twitter.com/T9VBql8NBU
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) May 23, 2025
For this reason, the Trackhouse Aprilia rider ended this practice session early. The focus is now on physiotherapy to ensure that the rookie is ready to race again on Saturday.
Qualifying will begin on Saturday at 12:50 p.m. CEST. The 10-lap sprint will start at 5:00 p.m. German time.
The following riders have qualified directly for Q2
01. Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati)
02. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)
03. Jack Miller (Pramac-Yamaha)
04. Marc Marquez (Ducati)
05. Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia)
06. Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati)
07. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)
08. Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda)
09. Alex Rins (Yamaha)
10. Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati)
