Silverstone MotoGP: Marquez storms to pole with another lap record
Marc Marquez stormed to pole position for MotoGP's British Grand Prix with another lap record at the newly-resurfaced Silverstone, lapping four tenths of a second faster than Valentino Rossi
Honda rider Marquez beat the existing lap record set during Saturday morning's third practice session by nearly four tenths as he posted a 1m58.168s at the end of the 15-minute pole shootout, which was 0.428 seconds up on Rossi.
Marquez had been shaded on the first set of runs by the Petronas SRT Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, who posted a 1m58.612s to go half a tenth up on the reigning champion.
But the Frenchman was forced to swap to his second bike for the final part of the session and narrowly missed out on improving on his best, leaving him vulnerable as his rivals all found chunks of time on their final laps.
Works Yamaha rider Rossi briefly went top on a 1m58.596s, which was still enough for second as he matched his best qualifying effort of the season, while Jack Miller went third on his Pramac Ducati, knocking Quartararo down to fourth.
Quartararo will be joined on the second row by Suzuki rider Alex Rins, who made it out of the first segment of qualifying, and the second factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales - who was on course to go fastest before losing time in the final sector on his last lap.
Q1 pacesetter Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) will start seventh ahead of the second Petronas Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli and Cal Crutchlow, who crashed his LCR Honda at Stowe.
The second LCR machine of Takaaki Nakagami, Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) completed the Q2 order.
Rins's and Dovizioso's escape from Q1 means the fifth row of the grid will be an all-KTM affair, led by works rider Pol Espargaro.
Johann Zarco showed improved form by qualifying within a tenth of team-mate Espargaro in 14th, one place ahead of the Tech3 KTM of Miguel Oliveira.
Suzuki stand-in Sylvain Guintoli, who attracted the ire of Espargaro during Friday practice, will start 19th on the second of the GSX-RRs.
Beleaguered Honda rider Jorge Lorenzo could only manage 21st on the grid for his first MotoGP start since June's Barcelona race, ending up 2.6s off the pace of former team-mate Dovizioso in Q1 and ahead only of Karel Abraham's Avintia Ducati.
Provisional starting grid
Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | Honda | 1m58.168s |
2 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.428s |
3 | Jack Miller | Pramac Ducati | Ducati | 0.434s |
4 | Fabio Quartararo | Petronas Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.444s |
5 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | Suzuki | 0.502s |
6 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.594s |
7 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati | 0.594s |
8 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.928s |
9 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | Honda | 1.075s |
10 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | Honda | 1.259s |
11 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | Ducati | 1.319s |
12 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | Aprilia | 1.452s |
13 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | KTM | 1.381s |
14 | Johann Zarco | KTM | KTM | 1.480s |
15 | Miguel Oliveira | Tech3 KTM | KTM | 1.590s |
16 | Tito Rabat | Avintia Ducati | Ducati | 1.748s |
17 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | Aprilia | 2.072s |
18 | Francesco Bagnaia | Pramac Ducati | Ducati | 2.194s |
19 | Sylvain Guintoli | Suzuki | Suzuki | 2.492s |
20 | Hafizh Syahrin | Tech3 KTM | KTM | 2.532s |
21 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | Honda | 3.394s |
22 | Karel Abraham | Avintia Ducati | Ducati | 6.677s |
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