Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Franco Morbidelli and Tom Luthi overcame treacherous track conditions in rain hit preparations for the British Grand Prix.

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Franco Morbidelli and Tom Luthi overcame treacherous track conditions in rain hit preparations for the British Grand Prix.

Franco Morbidelli continued his forward surge to grab a top ten position with seventh in FP3 and backed that up with 10th in FP4 despite a crash at Stowe Corner caused by sudden and heavy rain. With a brave comeback in Q1 Morbidelli was second fastest with a 2’13.945 lap before being bumped to third in the final moments of the session.

Tom Luthi completed the morning FP3 session on a dry but cool track in 19th position before going 0.2s faster for position 20 in FP4. He then displayed his trademark mastery of the slippery track conditions – half wet, half dry – to post an impressive time of 2’14.198 for 15th on grid, his best qualifying of the season so far.

The Sunday morning warm-up will be at 9:30am with the 20 lap British GP set to start at 1pm.

Franco Morbidelli: 13th, 2’13.945, + 0.605, 30 laps, 177 km

“The conditions for qualifying were tricky with part of the track wet and another section dry but I was able to put together a fast time and just missed out on going through to the Q2 session. In FP4 the rain came suddenly and there was a wall of water and no front grip and I slid off into the gravel.”

Tom Luthi: 15th, 2’14.198, + 0.858, 30 laps, 177 km

“These were very special conditions and I’m very happy to get my best qualifying of the season so far. With the delay after the surprise arrival of rain in the previous FP4 session the track for Q1 was half wet and half dry so no chance to go with slick tyres. But I found some good speed and set a fast time.”