MotoGP Qualifying From Silverstone: Record Lap Puts Marquez On British Grand Prix Pole

Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez set the fastest ever lap by a motorcycle around the legendary Silverstone Circuit to take his 28th career MotoGP pole position. The reigning MotoGP World Champion went under his 2013 pole record (2'00.691) on his very first flying lap to lay down a marker to the rest of the field at the Octo British Grand Prix.

The Spaniard then went even quicker on his second run to set a 2’00.234 in near perfect conditions (Track temp. 33˚C) as all of the riders made use of their softer option tires. Marquez had earlier topped FP4 by almost a second, and carried his pace into Qualifying to finish 0.288s ahead of Lorenzo.

Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo had earlier topped FP2 & FP3 and had been touted as the favorite for pole when the session started. The Spaniard had shown blistering pace throughout the weekend, and he too went under the old pole record on his way to claiming second, his ninth front row start of the season.

Dani Pedrosa (+0.482s) set his fastest time on his first flying lap to complete an all-Spanish front row. Pedrosa was in second when everyone returned to the pits for fresh rubber, but could not improve on his time but it was still good enough for third.

Movistar Yamaha's Valentino Rossi (+0.713s) will start from the head of the second row in fourth. The Italian improved his time from practice by over a second, but still found himself 0.4s behind his teammate and main title rival Lorenzo.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro (+0.797s) was the leading Satellite rider in fifth, which was his best qualifying performance since he was also fifth in Assen. His teammate Bradley Smith (+0.906s) had been third on the combined time sheets after FP2, but will start the race from the back of the second row as the leading British rider in sixth.

Smith’s compatriot Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) pulled off his best qualifying performance since Austin to start from the head of the third row in seventh. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) made it a good day for the home fans as they saw three British riders on the front three rows of the grid as he secured eighth.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone completes the third row ahead of the two men who made it through from Q1, Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Yonny Hernandez (Octo Pramac Racing). Hernandez left it late to split the two Factory Suzuki’s at the top of the time sheets in Q1 and surprise Maverick Viñales who thought he had done enough to progress. The Spaniard was forced to watch as the Columbian pulled off a sensational last lap to deny him passage to Q2.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) completes the fourth row, ahead of Viñales, with Stefan Bradl impressing on only his third outing on the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini RS-GP in 14th.

Forward Racing’s Loris Baz will start from 15th as the leading Open class rider, with Australian Jack Miller (LCR Honda) the leading Open Honda rider in 16th. The two Aspar MotoGP Team Honda’s of Eugene Laverty and Nicky Hayden will start from 19th and 21st respectively, with the rookie Laverty out-qualifying his more experienced teammate for the seventh time this season.