Bradley Smith undertook a solid effort as he battled the wet conditions at the Silverstone track to finish his home Grand Prix in 7^th position. The 20 lap race began in chaotic conditions, as after the race was declared dry, rain started to fall on the warm up lap which caused the start to be stopped due to a red flag being shown. All riders switched to their wet bikes and when the GP began, Smith jumped forward as the lights went out and pushed to remain with the factory MotoGP riders. At the close of the first lap, the 24 year old was running in 6^th position however, one lap later he was shuffled back to 9^th. Nevertheless, the young Briton remained focused and moved up two places at the close of the third lap. He was firmly in his race rhythm as he aimed to continue his climb, but he was overtaken by his teammate at the midpoint of the race and bumped back to 8^th. Yet, Smith carried on fighting and with the five laps remaining, he was running in 7^th position. He continued his work and after guiding his Yamaha YZR-M1 around the slippery 5.9 kilometre Silverstone circuit, he sped across the finish line in the same position.

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team pit box, Pol Espargaro suffered bad luck despite a fearless effort as he fell on the 15^th lap at the British Grand Prix. The young Spaniard undertook a rocket start and muscled his way up one place to finish the first lap in 4^th and running right with the factory MotoGP bikes. However, he then unfortunately slipped back to 10^th on the 4^th lap after making contact with another rider which caused him to run off the track. Yet, he remained focused and brilliantly powered onwards as he climbed back through the field after riding at a notable pace. He jumped past his teammate to clinch 7^th on lap 10, yet his luck ran out and he fell at the third corner with less than a quarter of the race distance left to run. The 2013 Moto2 World Champion will now seek to bounce back with a strong finish at Misano in a fortnight's time.

“I have to be quite pleased with the end result as the conditions were far from ideal out there today but I did my best. I was a bit nervous on the grid about riding in the damp conditions as last year we struggled when it was wet, but we've improved the bike by more than 100% in terms of performance. Here, I was on average about 1.2 seconds a lap slower than the fastest guy, whereas in Aragon last year we were further behind in terms of times, so the team have done a fantastic job in giving me a bike that I can ride more confidently in the wet. I gave my absolute all to stay with the second group in order to try to fight for a podium, but at the end of the day they just had a bit more speed than me. So, I aimed to not make any mistakes and be as consistent as possible. I tried to hold off Redding in the final laps, as I really wanted to get the top six, but unfortunately he was too strong for me today. So overall, it's a damage limitation in a way as we did the best that we could, yet I am now behind Dovizioso by 5 points in the championship standings. Therefore, it was not an ideal day, but not terrible at all either. I want to say thanks to all my fans who came out to cheer for me today and next up for us is Misano in two week's time.”

Profil  

Position : DNF

"It was a game of two halves as on one hand I am pleased with my performance yet at the same time I am disappointed because of the crash but we still need to look at the positives. I started the race well and I was running near the front as my rhythm was good and I was able to follow Jorge quite easily. I felt I was faster than him and I tried to overtake, but as this happened, I thought there was a chance that he could cut back across, as he ran wide. Therefore, I didn't want to cause a collision as he is a factory Yamaha rider fighting for the championship, so I took evasive action to avoid touching him. As a result, I lost several positions and a lot of time. After that, I was behind my brother and I had to refocus plus concentrate again. I made up the time to Aleix and passed him as well as my teammate but as soon as I had opened up quite a significant gap to them, I made a mistake. I unfortunately lost the rear in the entry to the third corner which prevented me from finishing the race. Despite this, we have to take the positives of the weekend because we've made some really good progress, besides the crash, and we will take this momentum with us to the next race.”

Profil  

"In all honesty, I am quite happy it is over! The weekend has been really intense and both guys did their best as they fought against the tricky conditions. We were very proud and happy to qualify on the second row yet we knew that the weather forecast was not great for today. However, in this morning's warm up, the results were quite encouraging and Brad and Pol both had a good pace in the damp conditions, Pol in particular. The start of the race was a bit chaotic with the red flag being shown at the very last minute, yet when the show finally started it was in full wet conditions. Pol had an incredible start and was really fast in the first few laps. However, he was unfortunate as he made contact with another rider and ran wide which is a real pity as I think he had the pace to have a great result this weekend. He re-joined the second group where Brad was and recovered quickly but on lap 15 he fell. It was a shame as he hasn't ridden many MotoGP races in the wet and there could have been a good finish today. Nevertheless, we are proud of him and he is clearly back to his true speed. As for Bradley, he has been promising in the dry this weekend but it was a challenging race for him today and the most important thing is that he brought the bike home and collected another good set of points. Although he lost 5th position to Dovizioso in the championship standings it was still a positive weekend for him. Up next is Misano where we hope for some great sunshine and blue skies."

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Pol Espargaro will lunge from 5^th position on the grid for the 12^th round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship at Silverstone after undertaking a brilliantly executed qualifying campaign today. The Spaniard began proceedings on Saturday morning by completing the FP3 session in 9^th position, which left him able to instantly progress through to Q2. Proceeding that, a successful ride to 5^th in the final free practice saw Espargaro full of optimism as he determinedly looked onwards to the qualifying 2 shootout. When the session began, he bolted from the pit lane aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 and set a fast time of 2’01.031 on only his second lap. This was only 0.084 back from the head of the second row and his performance today will see him start the race as the leading satellite rider. He will seek to leap forward when the lights go out tomorrow and then challenge the factory MotoGP bikes at the rapid British circuit.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team pit box, Bradley Smith successfully clinched 6^th position in qualifying and will aim to speed to glory in front of his home fans in the 20 lap sprint tomorrow. The 24 year old rider launched into action as soon as the morning practice began and sped to his best time of 2’02.125 on his penultimate lap out of 18, which left him in 6^th position. Later in QP2, Smith who was feeling confident of storming to a strong qualifying position, got straight to work at the 5.9 kilometre track. After undertaking 7 laps, the Briton’s best time was 2’01.140 that he set on his sixth lap, which left him just one tenth of a second behind his teammate. Tomorrow he will intend to undertake a rocket start from the rear of the second row and battle to a top six position in order to consolidate his standing of 5^th in the championship.

Position : 5^th

“It’s been quite a while since I have been as satisfied as this after the qualifying. The session went very well and with the new tyre and the good grip, we were finally really competitive. However, the most important thing is that we had a consistent pace in FP4 and I was able to feel confident with the lower grip level as well, which is an area that we usually struggle with. So now we need to analyse the solution that we found as this might be crucial for other tracks because it could allow us to be fast straight away. Regarding the race tomorrow, we do not really know what to expect with the weather conditions, but for sure starting from the second row will be a huge positive. The initial 5 to 7 laps will be vital for a strong result because it is usually on the full fuel load where we lose most of our time, but I will certainly give it my all and put on a good show for the British fans.”

Profil  

“I am pleased with my starting position for tomorrow’s race on the second row and I’m ready to do my best in front of my home fans. We accomplished exactly what we hoped to achieve today as it is crucial to get a good grid position in front of the Ducati MotoGP bikes, especially at a track like this. Those bikes are very fast on the straight, but not as quick as the Yamaha in the corners, so I knew that I needed to produce a good result in order start in front of them. We tried a few things in FP4 for our race setup for tomorrow, but to be honest, we knew that there were some tweaks that we could make to improve my single lap time, but I focused on getting everything sorted for tomorrow instead. Anyway, it’s my third consecutive second row start in part two of the season, which shows our progress is continuing and even though I still need to find a bit more race pace tomorrow morning, I feel good. I hope that the weather remains dry as a lot of English fans are coming out to cheer for me, so I will do my absolute best to not disappoint them by fighting inside the top six or higher.”

Profil  

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Bradley Smith produced a superb start at his home Grand Prix weekend by storming to 3^rd place overall at the end of the first day of action. The British rider, who is looking to conquer the 12th round challenge with a top point scoring result, kicked off proceedings at Silverstone by finishing the opening practice in 7^th position aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1. This left him optimistic for the afternoon session where he sought to continue making adjustments to the setup of his MotoGP bike. When FP2 began, Smith determinedly pulled out of the pit lane and got straight to work in front of his fans. In the final third of the practice, the young Briton delivered a superb time of 2’02.531 on his 13^th lap which saw him end the day in the top three and merely 0.193 back from the leading time. His confident run today leaves him fully charged for a strong performance in qualifying tomorrow.

On the opposite side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team pit box, Pol Espargaro concluded the opening shake down of the British Grand Prix with a positive run to 7^th position overall. The 24 year old Spaniard took to the track this morning and embarked on making steps forward with the setup of his Yamaha YZR-M1 in order to battle the fast flowing circuit. At the end of the practice, Espargaro produced his best time on his last lap, which left him in 9^th position and ready for the action in the afternoon. Here, he continued getting up to speed at the Northamptonshire track and tirelessly completed a total of 17 laps which marked his determination as he sped to a solid time of 2.02’972 on his final run. This result saw him finish just four tenths behind his teammate and now the 2013 Moto2 World Champion optimistically looks on to the all-important qualifying session tomorrow at the 5.9 kilometre circuit.

"It was a great start to my home GP and it’s clear to see that the Yamaha is working really well here for me. I always have good confidence when I compete at Silverstone, especially with my riding style, and I’m not afraid of high speed circuits as we saw at Phillip Island last year. Initially we struggled a bit in FP1 as the track conditions were not fantastic, but in the afternoon the grip levels increased and we were then able to analyse both compounds of front and rear tyres which was positive. We are unsure of what the temperature will be on Sunday, so we need to be ready for anything. Yet, it’s fantastic to start the British GP in this manner and after signing my contract, there is no stress and I can completely focus on my job. The team made a fantastic effort today but of course, we expect the other guys to catch up tomorrow. Nevertheless, our performance here means that we can start FP3 with confidence as we aim to continue improving whilst working on the base setup for the race. Also, I must give a big thanks to everyone for coming out today and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow."

Profil  

Position : 7^th

"It has been a solid start to the weekend as we finished seventh overall which could turn out to be quite important if the weather conditions are going to change tomorrow. However, this morning we had to face a few issues due to the track conditions and the grip level was very low, so my confidence on the bike was not at its highest. But the team did a good job and the surface also became cleaner this afternoon, so we managed to find some setup solutions which made me feel much more comfortable on the bike. Therefore, this is of course, really positive for tomorrow. In addition, we have been able to evaluate both rear tyre options which gives us a clear direction for the rest of weekend. It goes without saying that there is still a big margin of improvement which can be made, so we will use this afternoon to have a deep look into the data in order to be prepared for all circumstances tomorrow."

Profil