It was Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró who topped the Moto2™ combined timesheets of the first day at the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone ahead of local riders Scott Redding and Bradley Smith.
The rain stayed away and the track was dry for the afternoon session in the intermediate class, during which all riders set their most competitive times. And it was towards the end of the day that a lap of 2.08’826 was enough for Espargaró to displace Marc VDS Racing Team’s Redding into second place. Completing the top three was Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith, who looked in good form in front of his home crowd, and will no doubt look to repeat his podium at the track from last year.
In fourth, Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez was unable to break into the top three, yet was only marginally off Smith. Fifth place went to JiR Moto2’s Frenchman Johann Zarco, who is now becoming somewhat of a regular in the top ten. NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis, who was just under a second off the pace, ousted Mapfre Aspar Team’s Toni Elías into seventh.
Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti set the eighth quickest time, and was followed by Speed Master’s compatriot and last race winner Andrea Iannone. Competing the top ten was Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi, the sole FTR rider in the top ten.
The only crasher in the afternoon session was Interwetten-Paddock’s championship leader Tom Lüthi, who fortunately walked away from the crash unscathed. In the morning however it was a different story, as track conditions were still very wet when practice began. Desguaces La Torre SAG’s Angel Rodriguez was caught out early on with a crash, followed shortly by GP Team Switzerland’s Randy Krummenacher. JiR Moto2’s debutant, 16-year-old Brazilian Eric Granado, also crashed out on his maiden run towards the end of the session, followed by Espargaró’s teammate Axel Pons.