Aprilia factory rider Aleix Espargaró approached the all-time record at the Silverstone Circuit with his best time in FP3, with four MotoGP riders separating just 0.09s at the front.
FP3 for the MotoGP stars, in which ten tickets for direct Q2 entry are awarded, began on Saturday morning in sunshine but cool temperatures (17 degrees air and 28 degrees track temperature).
As a reminder: Due to the one-hour time difference for fans in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, qualifying for the British Grand Prix does not start until 3.10 p.m. with Q1. SPEEDWEEK.com ticks both qualifying sessions live.
After a quarter of an hour, Pramac-Ducati ace Johann Zarco led the FP3 classification in 1:59.476 min. Behind them at this early stage was Aprilia factory rider Maverick Viñales and Ducati star Pecco Bagnaia, who destroyed a soft front tire in his FP1 crash on Friday and therefore did not use a fresh soft front tire for the time hunt at the end of the first day.
However, these lap times had no meaning for the combined time sheet. For comparison: Yamaha star Fabio Quartararo set Friday’s best time of 1’58.946 in yesterday’s FP2. Pol Espargaró’s pole time last year was 1:58.889 min. The all-time lap record, on the other hand, has been held by his injured Repsol Honda teammate Marc Márquez since 2019 with a 1:58.168 min.
Halfway through the 45-minute FP3 session, the first drivers went in pursuit of the times. Takaaki Nakagami (Honda) and Brad Binder (KTM) improved their personal best times, but did not make it into the top 10. It was then the Aprilia works drivers Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales who remained below the Quartararo reference time in their first flying laps and subsequently undercut each other.
Fifteen minutes before the end, Espargaró, who came second in the World Championship, set the new target time of 1:58.254 minutes, putting him 0.345 seconds ahead of his team-mate. Shortly thereafter, Ducati factory rider Jack Miller used Quartararo as a reference and came within 0.078 seconds of the best time. The championship leader also improved. With Martin and Bagnaia, two other Ducati riders made it into the top 10, while Zarco improved to third place.
In the final five minutes, Luca Marini threw his VR46 teammate Marco Bezzecchi out of the top 10. There was a gestural discussion between Pecco Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaró because the Ducati factory rider felt disturbed by the Spaniard in turn 13. Suzuki’s Joan Mir improved, briefly putting Bagnaia in danger in tenth, but the Italian also improved on the next lap.
At the last minute, Zarco crashed at Turn 13 on the fastest course, resulting in yellow flags in the third sector. One flying lap was left to his Prima Pramac teammate Jorge Martin (without the Rear wing seen in FP2) after that – and he finished 2nd.
Stefan Bradl, still a good 15th in FP2., lost another one and a half seconds to the top on Saturday morning. As the only driver in the field of 24, he did not improve compared to Friday. That meant 22nd place overall for the Márquez replacement.
MotoGP combined times post FP3, Silverstone (6th August):
1. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, 1:58.254 min
2. Martin, Ducati, + 0,028 sec
3. Miller, Ducati, +0.078
4. Zarco, Ducati, + 0.090
5. Viñales, Aprilia, + 0.321
6. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,365
7. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.371
8. Mir, Suzuki, + 0,403
9. Marini, Ducati, +0.409
10. Rins, Suzuki, + 0,475
11. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.657
12. Bastianini, Ducati, + 0.673
13. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.752
14. Oliveira, KTM, + 0.812
15. Alex Marquez, Honda, +0.856
16. Pol Espargaro, Honda, +0.971
17. Dovizioso, Yamaha, +0.986
18. By Giannantonio, Ducati, + 1,231
19. Brad Binder, KTM, + 1,277
20. Nakagami, Honda, +1.369
21. Gardner, KTM, + 1,395
22. Bradl, Honda, +1.547
23. Raúl Fernández, KTM, + 1,811
24. Darryn Binder, Yamaha, + 2,385
MotoGP result FP3, Silverstone:
1. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, 1:58.254 min
2. Martin, Ducati, + 0,028 sec
3. Miller, Ducati, +0.078
4. Zarco, Ducati, + 0.090
5. Viñales, Aprilia, + 0.321
6. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,365
7. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.371
8. Mir, Suzuki, + 0,403
9. Marini, Ducati, +0.409
10. Rins, Suzuki, + 0,475
11. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.657
12. Bastianini, Ducati, + 0.673
13. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.752
14. Oliveira, KTM, + 0.812
15. Alex Marquez, Honda, +0.856
16. Pol Espargaro, Honda, +0.971
17. Dovizioso, Yamaha, +0.986
18. By Giannantonio, Ducati, + 1,231
19. Brad Binder, KTM, + 1,277
20. Nakagami, Honda, +1.369
21. Gardner, KTM, + 1,395
22. Bradl, Honda, +1.561
23. Raúl Fernández, KTM, + 1,811
24. Darryn Binder, Yamaha, + 2,385
MotoGP combined times post FP2, Silverstone (5th August):
1. Quartararo, Yamaha, 1:58,946 min
2. Mir, Suzuki, + 0,154 sec
3. Viñales, Aprilia, + 0.177
4. Zarco, Ducati, + 0.188
5. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 0.207
6. Oliveira, KTM, + 0.217
7. Rins, Suzuki, + 0,300
8. Bastianini, Ducati, + 0.412
9. Miller, Ducati, +0.418
10. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.432
11. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.439
12. Marini, Ducati, +0.450
13. Martin, Ducati, +0.711
14. Alex Marquez, Honda, +0.843
15. Bradl, Honda, +0.855
16. Pol Espargaro, Honda, +0.906
17. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, + 1.040
18. Nakagami, Honda, +1,057
19. Dovizioso, Yamaha, +1.097
20. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +1.192
21. Brad Binder, KTM, + 1,198
22. Gardner, KTM, + 1,208
23. Darryn Binder, Yamaha, + 2,582
24. Raúl Fernández, KTM, + 2,632
Moto3 combined times post FP3, Silverstone (6th August):
1. Suzuki, Honda, 2:10,713 min
2. Pioneer, KTM, +0.120 sec
3. McPhee, Husqvarna, + 0,226
4. Baggy, KTM, +0.253
5. Migno, Honda, + 0.259
6. Sasaki, Husqvarna, +0.384
7. Moreira, KTM, + 0,510
8. Foggia, Honda, + 0.534
9. Nepa, KTM, + 0,572
10. Toba, KTM, + 0.607
11. Yamanaka, KTM, + 0,634
12. Guevara, GASGAS, +0.659
13. Fellon, Honda, + 0.781
14. Ortola, KTM, + 0.804
Further:
18. Garcia, GASGAS, +0.978