Fabio Quartararo was the only driver to lap under 1:58 seconds in Friday’s second practice of the British MotoGP at Silverstone.
In preparation for the lengthy penalty he will have to accept on Sunday for his role in a crash with Aleix Espargaro at Assen six weeks ago, the Yamaha rider spent the majority of the practice session practicing the penalty loop and doing race simulations.
Like most of his competitors, the reigning MotoGP world champion decided to switch to new tyres as the session drew to a close. Quartararo then recorded a time of 1:58.946 seconds to win FP2 and take the lead into Saturday.
Joan Mir had his best Friday in a while, finishing second overall and only 0.154 seconds behind Quartararo. The Spaniard outperformed Suzuki teammate Alex Rins, who had led for much of the race until slipping to eighth as a number of competitors improved.
Maverick Vinales continued his success from Assen by finishing third on the first Aprilia, ahead of FP1 leader Johann Zarco, with Espargaro’s sister RS-GP rounding out the top five.
KTM’s Miguel Oliveira finished sixth ahead of Rins, who struggled to find extra time at the latter end of the test despite having led for the majority of it. Enea Bastianini took eighth place while testing an interesting new set of mini-winglets on the back of his Gresini Ducati.
Jack Miller recovered from an early collision at Stowe to finish the day in ninth While Marco Bezzecchi was the fastest rookie in tenth place,
Francesco Bagnaia will need to work hard on Saturday after finishing FP2 in 11th place, slightly ahead of Luca Marini of VR46, and Jorge Martin of the other Pramac entry in 13th. In 14th place, Alex Marquez, a fellow RC213-V driver, came in barely ahead of Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaro.
With over a second behind the leading Quartararo, Andrea Dovizioso and Franco Morbidelli on their respective Yamaha prototypes continued to struggle, finishing 19th and 20th, respectively. Darryn Binder was 23rd on his M1 after losing to Stowe earlier in the practice.
BRITISH MOTOGP, SILVERSTONE – FREE PRACTICE (2) RESULTS
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | TIME/DIFF | LAP | MAX | |
| 1 | ^3 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | 1’58.946s | 14/15 | 331k |
| 2 | ^6 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.154s | 15/16 | 333k |
| 3 | ^4 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.177s | 15/15 | 329k |
| 4 | ˅3 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.188s | 15/15 | 327k |
| 5 | ^1 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +0.207s | 14/15 | 329k |
| 6 | ^8 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.217s | 15/15 | 330k |
| 7 | ˅4 | Alex Rins | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +0.300s | 11/18 | 330k |
| 8 | ^8 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21) | +0.412s | 15/16 | 329k |
| 9 | ^3 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +0.418s | 13/14 | 332k |
| 10 | ^3 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)* | +0.432s | 17/17 | 332k |
| 11 | ˅9 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +0.439s | 14/15 | 331k |
| 12 | ^7 | Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | +0.450s | 15/16 | 334k |
| 13 | ˅4 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +0.711s | 15/16 | 331k |
| 14 | ^1 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +0.843s | 14/16 | 327k |
| 15 | ^7 | Stefan Bradl | GER | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.855s | 16/16 | 328k |
| 16 | ˅5 | Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.906s | 13/14 | 332k |
| 17 | ^6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21)* | +1.040s | 15/16 | 327k |
| 18 | ˅13 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +1.057s | 4/16 | 326k |
| 19 | ^1 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) | +1.097s | 15/16 | 328k |
| 20 | ^1 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.192s | 15/17 | 326k |
| 21 | ˅11 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +1.198s | 4/10 | 324k |
| 22 | ˅5 | Remy Gardner | AUS | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +1.208s | 14/15 | 330k |
| 23 | ^1 | Darryn Binder | RSA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)* | +2.582s | 2/10 | 326k |
| 24 | ˅6 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +3.116s | 7/11 | 329k |
