Qualifying
A hot British summer continued apace on Saturday as the historic Silverstone Circuit was bathed in sunshine throughout. Having worked on improving stability issues after Friday’s two sessions, Bastianini complained of understeer with his front tyre in a tricky qualifying session, when he placed ninth in Q1 and 19th overall. 

After testing nothing but KTM’s 2027 package in recent months, Espargaró continued to understand the RC16 1000cc machine with Michelin tyres on Saturday morning. The 35-year-old lacked the confidence to push the bike to its absolute limits as he qualified 21st overall. 

Sprint
Temperatures hit 26 degrees ahead of the 10-lap Sprint race which got underway at the slightly delayed time of 16:05 (UTC+1). With track temperatures hitting 41 degrees, managing Michelin’s soft rear tyre proved to be a challenge. 

Bastianini enjoyed a steady start before gaining two places due to crashes for Iker Lecuona and Raul Fernandez ahead. ‘La Bestia’ was soon just off the back of an exciting seven-rider duel for eleventh place. Passes on Pecco Bagnaia on lap seven and then Alex Rins on lap eight lifted him to 15th at the chequered flag. 

Even if the Italian showed consistency on used tyres, he felt the windy conditions deprived him of front-end feel that is crucial around the track’s numerous fast turns. 

On the sister KTM bike, Espargaró was caught behind Toprak Razgatlioglu in the early laps. By the time he passed the Turkish rider, he had lost the tow to the group ahead. Nevertheless, the Spaniard was able to maintain a steady pace in the 2’00s to come home 18th. 

Bastianini and Espargaró are now preparing for race day at the British Grand Prix. The team-mates will aim to test setup changes in the Warm Up session at 9:40 (UTC+1) before Sunday’s 20-lap race, which starts at 13:00.

Enea Bastianini: “It was a difficult day! I was confident but the track is complicated when it’s windy, just like last year. I didn’t feel that contact with the front, which is very critical for me, so I wasn’t competitive in Qualifying. During the Sprint we could’ve been faster. We made one change to the bike but when you’re behind, you try to overtake one rider ahead and then lose two positions. The rear tyre was critical for everybody, but only in the last two laps. Tomorrow the race will be much longer and I’m sure we can do something better. It’s not the weekend I was expecting but we’re aiming for the top ten tomorrow.”

Pol Espargaró: “My problem today was that I lacked a bit of speed. I fought too much with Toprak at the beginning of the race. Then the group in front with Enea and Brad (Binder) left us behind. When I overtook Toprak it was too late. Then when the tyre dropped, I was completely alone. I felt I didn’t get 100% from myself today. I’m missing in two areas this weekend: the first is the intensity in the first laps of the race and time attack. The bike has changed a lot since the last time I tried it at the Sepang test. Then I struggled with the rear tyre degradation. Anyway, it’s been a while since I last raced. I hope people will take it easier tomorrow with the medium rear tyre and my life will be easier. I’ll try to fight for something better tomorrow.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “This is obviously not the result we were hoping for. Again, Enea was eleventh yesterday and just missed Q2. We really need to understand why our bike is somehow quicker on Friday compared to Saturday. It’s not the first time Enea was not able to ride his bike faster in Qualifying than in Practice. Starting so far behind made everything quite difficult. Enea rode a decent pace to end the Sprint in P15. I’m sure he will get the best out of the medium tyre in the main race tomorrow. On the other side, we knew it would be difficult for Pol. Jumping from his role as test rider on the 850cc bike to the 1000cc is a big challenge. Pol had to refresh all his lines and how to ride this current bike, but he’s doing it step-by-step. An early fight in the Sprint meant he lost the group, otherwise he’d have got a better position. This gives us hope for tomorrow.”