BEZZECCHI TOPS SILVERSTONE SATURDAY AS QUALIFYING AND SPRINT APPROACH

Saturday at Silverstone began with qualifying scheduled for 10:50 local time, followed later by the Sprint at 16:00. Heading into the day, Marco Bezzecchi arrived as the fastest rider after Friday’s practice delivered a record-breaking lap, with the lap time beaten by almost a second. Bezzecchi said he was happy with his single lap, but admitted he was finding it harder to keep the same pace over longer runs because of his current physical condition.

Aprilia looked particularly strong in the early order, with four riders inside the top five. Jorge Martin was third-fastest among the Aprilia contingent and fourth overall, and he pointed to a positive change in his feel at the front: he said he had been able to recover some of the confidence he has been missing since Barcelona. Fabio Di Giannantonio was the only non-Aprilia rider in the top five, ending the day as the third-fastest rider.

On the Ducati side, Marc Marquez was the leading representative in sixth. After practice, the reigning champion suggested he was not yet close to the fight at the front, stating he felt he was “far from the podium.” Francesco Bagnaia, Marquez’s teammate, was more downbeat after earlier issues, having crashed due to ongoing difficulties with braking. That incident left Bagnaia down in 13th in practice.

Alex Marquez, another rider viewed as a pre-weekend contender, could only manage seventh on day one, explaining that he ran out of energy during the hour-long session and therefore couldn’t fully maximise a time-attack.

Pedro Acosta also had a difficult start, crashing once in each of the two sessions on Friday. His FP1 crash came at turn 15, while the practice fall happened at turn four. Despite the setbacks, he was “fortunate to squeeze into the final Q2 spot.” Acosta also expressed pessimism that potential fixes for the reliability problems he has faced so far this season would be enough to close the gap to the leading manufacturers.