British MotoGP: Bradley Smith fourth in 125GP opener

Bradley Smith made an encouraging start to the first British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone for over two decades when he clocked the fourth fastest time in 125GP free practice this afternoon. 

Under grey, gloomy but dry skies,  the Oxfordshire rider looked like securing third place with a best time of 2.16.268.

That was 0.433s slower than Spaniard Marc Marquez, but the Aspar Aprilia rider was bumped down to fourth spot in the dying moments of the session, courtesy of a lap of 2.16.038 by Efren Vazquez.

Fastest rider was Mugello winner Marquez, who clocked a best time of 2.15.835 to deny fellow Spaniard Pol Espargaro top spot by just 0.016s.

Espargaro clocked a best time of 2.16.038 on his 19th lap with current world championship leader Nicolas Terol well over half-a-second off the pace with a best lap of 2.16.534.

That left Terol, who leads Espargaro by just six points going into Sunday’s 17-lap race, 0.699s adrift of provisional pole position.

British teenager Danny Webb managed to claim a top ten finish in eighth even though he was a massive 2.572s slower than Marquez’s pace.

Webb logged a quickest time of 2.18.407 to finish just 0.177s slower than Tomoyoshi Koyama in seventh.