SILVERSTONE: Aprilia Racing’s Marco Bezzecchi smashed the Silverstone lap record on his return from injury to lead Practice at the MotoGP British Grand Prix.

Before the hour-long practice session on Friday afternoon, no rider had ever set a sub-1min 57sec lap at Silverstone.

Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura became the first with just over 10 minutes to go, as he produced a 1min 56.810sec to take over top spot.

But that would not be enough to keep him there, as Aprilia counterpart Marco Bezzecchi produced a 1min 56.280sec at the end of the session to move 0.335s clear of the field.

It was a statement lap from a rider who spent the summer break recovering from a collarbone injury, following a crash in qualifying at the German Grand Prix.

Aprilia looked strong throughout the session, with both Trackhouse riders leading the way at various points, before Bezzecchi took over at the death. Raul Fernandez made an early leap on fresh soft rubber with a 1min 57.779sec with just over half an hour remaining.

But at the chequered flag, Bezzecchi was well over a second quicker than that benchmark.

He led Fernandez, who took over top spot in the closing stages with a 1min 56.615sec, by 0.335sec, while Fabio Di Giannantonio was third on the VR46 Ducati.

Jorge Martin was another to breach the 1min 56sec barrier with a late 1min 56.780sec on his factory team Aprilia, though the championship leader was 0.5sec from team-mate Bezzecchi.

Ogura was the final rider inside the 1min 56sec in fifth, with Marc Marquez underneath the old lap record in sixth on the factory team Ducati with a 1min 57.013sec.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2026