Marc Marquez set the first ever sub-two minute lap of Silverstone on a motorcycle to claim pole position for the British Grand Prix. The world champion set a new pole position record but it was only just enough to edge out Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi who paid the price for a slow final sector on his hot lap.
With the mixed weather of this morning giving way to warm temperatures and bright sunshine, conditions were perfect for the pole position shootout and Marquez gave a graphic demonstration of that, breaking the pole record on his very first attempt with a 2:00.106. Maverick Vinales was the only rider able to keep pace on the initial runs but the session was only just warming up.
With a minute to go, Marquez began taking bites out of his own provisional pole time and another typically aggressive lap saw him clock a 1:59.941. However, just behind, Rossi was going even faster and began the final sector with a four-tenth advantage but a slower run through the final complex ultimately cost the Italian as he came up short by eight hundredths of a second.
Cal Crutchlow kept up his excellent form so far this weekend with third, a tenth further back, to secure a second consecutive front row start at Silverstone while Vinales slipped to fourth after failing to make a significant improvement on his second run.
The Ducatis of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, who were first and second in FP4, will start fifth and sixth respectively with Dani Pedrosa rescuing his weekend after a disastrous Friday by going from Q1 to seventh, just ahead of Johann Zarco. Aleix Espargaro lines up ninth for Aprilia ahead of Jonas Folger, the other rider to advance from Q1, while Pol Espargaro could only manage eleventh after crashing his KTM at Brooklands.