SILVERSTONE - Dominant championship leader Marc Marquez will attempt to return to winning ways at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday. Two weeks ago the world champion saw his attempt to set a new record of winning the opening 11 races to a season thwarted as Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa triumphed in Brno.
Marquez, 21, had equalled Italian great Giacomo Agostini's record of 10 wins from 1968, 1969 and 1970 after winning in Indianapolis but could only manage fourth in the Czech Republic. Yet he remains upbeat as he still leads the championship by 77 points from Pedrosa. "In the end it's the same situation really, of course that day we couldn't win at Brno. Maybe it was my worst race in MotoGP, but on the Monday we found a solution so it's ok and we are positive," he said on Thursday. "Silverstone is a great track and the weather looks good for this weekend."
Marquez has already dazzled the British public this week, as he rode his bike over the pedestrian Millennium Bridge in London. "It was really nice to become the first ever person to cross the Millennium Bridge on a motorbike," Marquez said. He is looking in great shape to add an 11th victory in 12 races this season after dominating practice on Friday. He clocked 2min 02.126sec to complete the circuit more than half a second quicker than the rest of the field. Stefan Bradl was second fastest with Andrea Dovizioso third.
Pedrosa was a distant ninth in practice but he was at least quicker than misfiring Yamaha pair Valentino Rossi, the six-time world champion, and Jorge Lorenzo, 14th and 13th respectively. Rossi was almost two seconds off the pace on a track where he has never won. Rossi won five British Grands Prix whilst also triumphing once each in the Moto2 and Moto3 categories when the event was held at Donington, but since 2010, when it moved back to Silverstone after a 24-year absence, his best result was fourth last year. "Silverstone is a very long and technical track, wide and fast, I like it," said the 35-year-old. "It's very difficult to learn the lines and we haven't had the best results here. We were better last year, but it was still not enough. This year we are better on braking so we should be able to keep improving."