Dixon was called up for the Silverstone weekend at SRT to replace the injured Franco Morbidelli, whose place was originally to be taken over by Cal Crutchlow before being transferred to the Yamaha factory team to replace the displaced Maverick Vinales.
Former British Superbike Championship star Dixon finished penultimate in both practice sessions on Friday, but gained almost 1.5 seconds in lap time between FP1 and FP2.
Dixon has been linked to a MotoGP move with SRT that will become a new entity in 2022 following SRT and Petronas’ decision to abandon the championship in late 2021. Andrea Dovizioso, Dixon is not focusing on his 2022 prospects this weekend .
“For all I know, judging me for next year is nothing,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com whether it would be unfair for SRT to judge its MotoGP prospects for 2022 this weekend. “It’s a pure wildcard ride. You see, the team has a lot of experience in a lot of things so they wouldn’t just judge me on a weekend because, as you say, it wasn’t fair.
“But in this sport, sometimes it takes some people longer to adapt than others. I feel like I can adapt quite quickly, but I don’t know how quickly.
“But I don’t know whether I’m well positioned for the future or not, that’s not what I’m concentrating on. I’m here to do a good job, the best job I can do, and that’s all I can really do. “
Jake Dixon, Petronas Yamaha SRT
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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Dixon didn’t test the Yamaha before making his debut this weekend, so his first experience with MotoGP machines was his first laps in FP1 on Friday.
Dixon quipped that the performance of a MotoGP motorcycle was “abnormal” and said the biggest problem he had compared to a Moto2 motorcycle was the throttle response.
“The power is ridiculous, I can’t even describe how it is without you,” enthused Dixon. “It’s just great how fast these things are, it’s abnormal.
“The biggest thing for me was the gas pedal, the first zero to 30, 40%, how different it is on a bike that I’ve ridden, how the electronics work on this bike. For me that was probably the biggest thing to get used to.
“But the speed is obviously fast, the tires are great and the brakes are good, but that was probably the thing I had to get used to the most in the first session.”