At the historic Silverstone Circuit, where the twelfth round of the 2021 MotoGP season, the British GP, takes place this weekend, the Ducati Lenovo Team riders completed the first day of free practices on a positive note. Thanks to the favourable track conditions, which remained dry throughout the day despite overcast skies, both Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia were able to work consistently on their Desmosedici GP machines, managing to be fast at the end of the two sessions held today.
Fifth, after this morning’s FP1, Miller was able to improve on his best time in FP2 by over a second and a half, taking second place 512 thousandths off the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:59.829. Bagnaia, eighth this morning after the first session, was also able to improve further in the afternoon. Thanks to a lap in 2:00.102, the Italian rider closed Friday in sixth place, 273 thousandths behind his teammate.
Jack Miller (#43 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 2nd (1:59.829)
“I’m thrilled to be back at Silverstone! It’s an old-style track with lots of corners, where it’s always great fun to race. Compared to 2019, the last year the GP was held here, the asphalt conditions have improved significantly, which is also positive in terms of tyre wear. Compared to two years ago, my feeling with the bike has improved a lot, and this also shows how the Desmosedici GP has made huge steps forward in recent years! We have a really great bike this year, shown by the fact that we are always competitive on every track. Now we will continue to work hard to try to improve again tomorrow. There were already a lot of fans in the stands today, and I hope we can give them a great show this Sunday!”
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 6th (2:00.102)
“I’m pleased with the work we’ve done on this first day. In FP1, I struggled a little bit with the lack of grip, but in the afternoon, we improved a lot and took a big step forward with the bike. It was very cold this afternoon, which made it difficult to make a time attack, so I preferred not to take too many risks. Anyway, we are sixth, and this is a sign that we are doing a great job. Quartararo and Márquez were fast today, but I’m not worried: I’m sure that tomorrow we’ll be able to take another big step forward”.
The Ducati Lenovo Team riders will be back on track tomorrow at 9:55 am local time (10:55 am in Italy) for FP3, while qualifying for the British GP will take place from 2:10 pm (3:10 pm in Italy) at the end of FP4.
