Silverstone MotoGP: Marquez fastest as Crutchlow crashes twice

Marc Marquez again topped the time sheets in free practice three at Silverstone, but the story of the session was two big crashes for local hopeful Cal Crutchlow.

Crutchlow crashed early in the session, sliding out at Beckett’s. He was on his feet immediately, but his Tech3 Yamaha was totally destroyed as it flipped itself across the grass.

Having made it to the medical centre for an ok and then back out on track, he then crashed again at Vale, losing the front before the bike violently bucked him over the handlebars, winding him, but he was back on his feet before having to sit out the rest of the session.

Crutchlow was only one of a number of riders who were caught out by colder temperatures this morning, with both Michael Laverty and PBM teammate Yonny Hernandez hitting the gravel; twice, in the Columbian’s case.

Marquez was able to improve his FP2 time by half a second, taking the lead from Jorge Lorenzo, who was able to improve by only 0.1 seconds, not enough to maintain the gap to his fellow Spaniard.

Stefan Bradl finally found his form this weekend, going P3, less than 0.1 behind Lorenzo, while Bautista was also running well to finish fourth.

Andrea Dovizioso was a surprise fifth, with him and teammate Nicky Hayden bracketing Valentino Rossi in sixth with their factory Ducatis.

Crutchlow was eighth, Aleix Espargaro was best CRT in ninth, while Dani Pedrosa was languishing back in 10th, over a second off the pace, while Bradley Smith finished 11th, relegating him to Qualifying 1.

1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 324.5 2’02.485
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 324.0 2’02.654 0.169 / 0.169
3 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 326.3 2’02.673 0.188 / 0.019
4 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 324.7 2’02.773 0.288 / 0.100
5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 324.5 2’03.213 0.728 / 0.440
6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 322.5 2’03.285 0.800 / 0.072
7 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 322.7 2’03.378 0.893 / 0.093
8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 316.9 2’03.403 0.918 / 0.025
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 311.4 2’03.464 0.979 / 0.061
10 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 323.3 2’03.581 1.096 / 0.117
11 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 315.7 2’03.892 1.407 / 0.311
12 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 322.6 2’04.073 1.588 / 0.181
13 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 310.1 2’04.542 2.057 / 0.469
14 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR 306.2 2’04.620 2.135 / 0.078
15 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 308.4 2’04.781 2.296 / 0.161
16 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 322.2 2’05.441 2.956 / 0.660
17 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 306.9 2’05.609 3.124 / 0.168
18 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR 305.3 2’05.844 3.359 / 0.235
19 71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 309.6 2’05.893 3.408 / 0.049
20 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Paul Bird Motorsport ART 305.9 2’06.391 3.906 / 0.498
21 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 308.7 2’06.752 4.267 / 0.361
22 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 295.8 2’08.125 5.640 / 1.373
23 67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda 303.1 2’08.178 5.693 / 0.053