The British Grand Prix returns to Silverstone for the first time since 1986 when Australia’s Wayne Gardner won the 500cc race for the Rothmans-Honda team.
This race will see one of the first international races to be held one Silverstone’s new Arena circuit layout. The new track has been praised by all who have sampled it including the Rizla Suzuki riders Loris Capirossi and Alvaro Bautista. The expectation is that this will be one of the fastest and most spectacular races of the season with numerous potential overtaking positions.
The home fans have no one to follow in the top class but with Bradley Smith showing a return to form in recent weeks in the 125cc class the expectation is that the 19 year old from Oxford could compete for a third career victory. It has been a challenging start to the year for the young Briton due to reliability issues as well as a lack of top speed at Mugello but racing before his home crowd has brought out the best in him in the past with pole position last year at Donnington a prime example.
The Circuit
Like most circuits in Britain Silverstone is located on what was during the Second World War an RAF airfield. As a result the land is mostly flat but it is also incredibly fast. The new layout features many of the previous corners that have helped make Silverstone a favourite for racing drivers as well as motorcyclists. Opening the lap with the fearsome Copse corner riders are then pressed into action with Beckets and Maggots before taking a breather down Hanger straight. All this is identical to the old layout of the track but once riders exit the slightly reprofiled Club corner they enter the new section.
Whereas in the past the Abbey chicane was a slow left-right chicane it is now one of the seasons most fearsome challenges with riders facing a very fast right hander that leads into the Arena section that is quite technical and sure to challenge the setup of the bike with the rear wheel constantly losing traction.
Once the Arena is tackled the riders are then onto the back straight which leads into the ever tightening Brooklands before Luffield and the fabled Woodcote curve take the riders back to the start of the lap.
Who will be the contenders for MotoGP victory on Silverstone’s return to the calendar?
With the injury enforced absence of MotoGP’s biggest star, Valentino Rossi, there is one less front runner to worry championship leader Jorge Lorenzo. The Yamaha rider will start as the clear favourite but Ducati’s Casey Stoner is always strong on fast circuit such as the new Silverstone and the 2007 world champion will be looking to put his miserable start to the year behind him. As a former British Championship racer Stoner feels at home in England and perhaps crucially is the only rider to have raced at Silverstone in the past.
The main challenger to Lorenzo though should come from Mugello winner Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa clearly has the Honda dialled in more to his liking after struggling with the bike at Qatar. With his slight frame and powerful Pedrosa should dominate the top speed charts and with so many fast corners the triple world champion will be confident of closing the gap to Lorenzo at the top of the title table.
It’s unlikely that anyone else could challenge for victory in the dry against Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner but in the wet of Donnington last season Andrea Dovizioso emerged victorious to take his first premier class win. The Italian has shown good form this season and knows that with the paddock increasingly certain that Stoner will be a Honda rider next season the next five races before the summer break are crucial if the Italian hopes to keep his ride for next year.
Who will be the challengers in the smaller class?
Outside of the top class the battle for victory is difficult to predict. The last Moto2 race featured the first dominant victory in the new class with Andrea Iannone dominating at Mugello. It is difficult to see a repeat performance this weekend. The difference between a lap that gets a rider to the front of the field and one where he is left in the midfield is tiny and the one thing that this year has shown so far is that anyone can challenge for the honours on any given weekend.
Even so it is tough to overlook the form of Toni Elias this year and with reigning world 125cc champion, Julian Simon, gaining increasing confidence in his new bike it would not be unexpected for them to battle it out at the front. The hometown hero will be Scott Redding in this race with the young Englishman performing before an expectant home crowd. The youngest ever winner of a GP has struggled since taking the flag at Donnington in 2008 but he has the ability to challenge at the front once more and the fact that he is at home again makes him impossible to underestimate. It has been a trying start to the year for Redding but he has the ability to turn his season around, starting this weekend.
In the 125cc class Smith will be one of the favourite but the Derbi riders will be very tough to be beaten. Even though the Derbi and Aprilia bike are now all but identical in each race Derbi has been shown to have the fastest bike in terms of top speed. This is due to a different exhaust configuration on the Spanish bikes and Marc Marquez will be confident of adding to his first career win from Mugello with another great result at Silverstone.
His teammate Pol Espargaro has shown that when all things are equal he is the outright fastest rider in the class and with the new found maturity in his riding the tough Spaniard will be looking to take the title lead away from Nico Terol, winner of the opening race in Qatar.
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