Marco Bezzecchi
Fabio Quartararo continued to highlight the resurgence of Yamaha at Silverstone this Friday, as he came second behind Alex Marquez in practice for the British Grand Prix.
Only 0.047 seconds separated the Frenchman from the Spaniard at the end of the hour after Marquez usurped Quartararo in the final seconds. The Gresini rider improved his time which was good enough for P2 after the chequered flag had fallen at Silverstone to pen a 1:57.295.
Quartararo was on course to top the pre-qualifying practice timesheet with a 1:57.342 as he and Marquez led the way. Pramac rider Jack Miller took third place and an automatic spot in Q2 at the British GP with a 1:57.642 lap of Silverstone, but was 0.347s slower than Marquez.
Fabio Quartararo ‘really’ likes that three Yamaha riders automatically made Q2 at Silverstone
Silverstone stages the British GP in round seven of the season on the back of Yamaha seeing Quartararo take pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix. He beat Marc Marquez of Ducati at Jerez by 0.033s and by 0.118s at Le Mans as Quartararo took pole for the French Grand Prix.
Yamaha even saw three of their four riders secure automatic Q2 places at Silverstone as Alex Rins set the ninth-fastest lap time during practice for the British GP with a 1:57.819. The sole rider with an M1 who must go through Q1 is Miguel Oliveira after the Pramac star came 13th.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fabio Quartararo from net worth to career stats
Oliveira was even in contention for an automatic Q2 place until the final minutes of practice after posting a 1:57.999 lap of Silverstone, just 0.704s off Marquez’s chart-topping time. Rins was 0.524s off the Gresini rider’s effort but still highlighted the progress Yamaha are making.
Quartararo said, via quotes by Motorsport.com: “Three Yamahas in the top 10 sounds great, and especially after the one-lap pace was clearly a disaster last year. And it’s started to be an area where we’re really improving.
“I’m happy to say that Jack Miller is there, too, and Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira are coming back step by step.
“Normally, you never want to have your teammates close together. You always want to have as big a gap as possible. But seeing them getting closer and closer to the front is something I really like. And that way we’ll have a lot of data to analyse.”
Fabio Quartararo can give Yamaha three consecutive poles for the first time since 2021
Quartararo will hope his pace in practice for the British GP continues into qualifying. The 26-year-old can deliver Yamaha pole position at three consecutive Grands Prix for the first time since 2021 if he claims P1 at Silverstone after his recent pole positions at Jerez and Le Mans.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Yamaha from the MotoGP team’s riders to hierarchy
The 2021 campaign marked the last time prior to this term that the Yamaha M1 was often a leading bike in qualifying. Quartararo’s pole at Jerez ended Yamaha’s 1,134-day wait back to the 2022 Indonesian Grand Prix, which was their only pole position of the 2022 season, too.
Ducati and, to a far lesser extent, Aprilia dominated over a single timed lap during the 2024 MotoGP season as the two Italian brands saw their bikes take 19 pole positions over the 20 rounds. Then-Tech3 rider Pedro Acosta also put a KTM on pole in 2024 at the Japanese GP.
Quartararo secured Yamaha’s last run of consecutive pole positions in 2021 when he led the qualifying timesheets at the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Catalan Grands Prix for a streak of five in a row. Yet Yamaha and Quartararo also only won at Portimao and Mugello.
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