Silverstone MotoGP: Marc Marquez fastest in first practice
Marc Marquez dominated the opening practice session for MotoGP's British Grand Prix at Silverstone
The reigning world champion, whose 2014 winning streak finally ended in the Czech Republic a fortnight ago, was on top throughout Friday morning's session.
Marquez generally kept his Honda between half a second and a second clear of his rivals, and ended the 45 minutes with a 0.661-second gap back to second-placed Andrea Iannone.
There was a scare for the championship leader, though, as he had to slew off the road at Vale when he nearly clipped Pol Espargaro's Tech 3 Yamaha on his final flying lap.
Until that incident, Marquez had looked set to go even quicker on that run.
Iannone thrust his Pramac Ducati into second ahead of Andrea Dovizioso's factory machine in the closing seconds.
Alvaro Bautista showed better form than of late to go fourth for Gresini, followed by Aleix Espargaro and Stefan Bradl.
Marquez's usual rivals were a long way down. Yamaha duo Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were only seventh and eighth, with Brno winner Dani Pedrosa back in 10th on the second works Honda, 1.1s slower than his team-mate.
It was a tough start for home rider Michael Laverty and the British Paul Bird Motorsport team. Laverty sat out much of the early running in the pits, and then parked trackside with smoke pouring from his bike soon after making it out.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Marc Marquez Honda 2m03.208s 2. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 2m03.869s +0.661s 3. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 2m04.052s +0.844s 4. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 2m04.187s +0.979s 5. Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha 2m04.212s +1.004s 6. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m04.232s +1.024s 7. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2m04.240s +1.032s 8. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 2m04.281s +1.073s 9. Yonny Hernandez Pramac Ducati 2m04.301s +1.093s 10. Dani Pedrosa Honda 2m04.338s +1.130s 11. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 2m04.609s +1.401s 12. Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 2m04.628s +1.420s 13. Cal Crutchlow Ducati 2m05.130s +1.922s 14. Scott Redding Gresini Honda 2m05.503s +2.295s 15. Karel Abraham Cardion Honda 2m06.085s +2.877s 16. Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 2m06.250s +3.042s 17. Alex de Angelis Forward Yamaha 2m06.333s +3.125s 18. Danilo Petrucci Ioda Aprilia 2m07.761s +4.553s 19. Leon Camier Aspar Honda 2m07.774s +4.566s 20. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m08.358s +5.150s 21. Mike di Meglio Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m09.056s +5.848s 22. Broc Parkes PBM-Aprilia 2m10.042s +6.834s 23. Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia 2m11.919s +8.711s
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