Lorenzo and Márquez promise another great battle

After the fantastic display which he put on in Brno, Jorge Lorenzo proved that he is still on top form. And so is Marc Marquéz, who ended up just 0.033 seconds slower than Lorenzo after dominating the first free practice session at Silverstone. The pair are promising to stage another battle, with Valentino Rossi off the pace.

It is clearly a circuit which both of them like, and where they have contested first place in a head-to-head in the last two years. This year is shaping up to be the same, unless Rossi can make an impact. The Italian is some way down the pecking order, in amongst the rest of the field. This time he was tenth fastest, almost a second slower than Lorenzo.

The surprise of the day came from Bradley Smith, who finished third fastest ahead of Dani Pedrosa. The Englishman recently celebrated his contract renewal with Tech3 and nearly managed the best time of the day. Pedrosa, meanwhile, came in fourth just two tenths slower than the leader.