DI GIANNANTONIO LEADS SILVERSTONE SATURDAY PRACTICE AHEAD OF FERNANDEZ

Fabio di Giannantonio set the pace in Saturday’s final practice at Silverstone as the 2026 British MotoGP weekend moved toward qualifying. The Italian topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1m 57.885s on the Pertamina VR46 Ducati, striking back for Ducati after earlier sessions and becoming the only rider to dip under 1m 58s. Di Giannantonio’s advantage was narrow: he finished 0.117s clear of Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez, with Marco Bezzecchi third for Aprilia Racing, 0.184s off the lead.

Bezzecchi had led much of the session earlier, but ultimately had to settle for the podium positions behind di Giannantonio and Fernandez. Marc Marquez followed in fourth for Ducati Lenovo, ahead of Jorge Martin in fifth and Ai Ogura in sixth. The top six underlined how tightly grouped the field was, with small gaps separating the leading contenders.

There was also a notable incident in the session: Jack Miller, who had secured direct access to Qualifying 2 with ninth on Friday, crashed early at Turn 16. The session’s tyre choices reflected the late-stage preparation for qualifying. Most riders ran soft tyres front and rear for final practice, but several—Bezzecchi among them—began on a medium rear before switching to a soft later in the session.

Qualifying implications were also clear. Riders outside the top ten on Friday, including Pecco Bagnaia, would start Qualifying 1. Bagnaia spent much of final practice near the back of the timesheets before improving to 12th.

The full Saturday practice order saw Alex Marquez in seventh, Pedro Acosta eighth, and Fabio Quartararo ninth. Brad Binder completed the top ten, with Luca Marini 11th and Bagnaia 12th. Francesco Bagnaia’s 12th-place effort left him among those who will go through Qualifying 1, while the rest of the field filled out the remaining positions with Diogo Moreira 13th, Franco Morbidelli 14th, and Miller 15th after his crash. Joan Mir was 16th, Iker Lecuona 17th, and Enea Bastianini 18th, with Toprak Razgatlioglu 19th and Cal Crutchlow 20th.

Beyond the session results, the weekend’s context remained shaped by the 2026 season’s restart after the summer break. Jorge Martin led the championship by 14 points over Ai Ogura, with Marc Marquez a further 18 points behind the top of the standings.

Several riders were also absent or replaced. Marco Bezzecchi, despite his strong pace in practice, was returning to action after a collarbone fracture suffered in Germany. Aprilia explained to MotoGP pit lane reporter Jack Appleyard that Bezzecchi used the soft tyre in warm-up primarily to save energy after his return from collarbone and knee injuries at Sachsenring. Meanwhile, Tech3’s Maverick Vinales withdrew from the Silverstone round to undergo further treatment on his shoulder injury; he was replaced by KTM test rider Pol Espargaro.

Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer remained sidelined by a vertebra fracture picked up at Assen, with Iker Lecuona taking his place. Lecuona is making his second appearance for Gresini this season after stepping in for an injured Alex Marquez earlier in the year. For this round, Lecuona will ride the satellite-spec GP25 rather than the factory GP26. LCR’s Johann Zarco also remained out with knee ligament injuries sustained at Catalunya in May, and Cal Crutchlow—competing at his home British Grand Prix for the first time since 2021—filled the seat.

Yamaha’s wildcard rider Augusto Fernandez was also set to make his latest appearance at Silverstone.

In the Silverstone record book, the best lap for the 2026 event was listed as Marco Bezzecchi’s 1m 56.280s, while the fastest race lap was recorded as Aleix Espargaro’s 1m 58.895s from 2024.