Marc Marquez set the fastest ever two-wheeled lap of Silverstone to claim pole position for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The world champion was at his aggressive best in Q2, riding at such a pace that even the in-form Jorge Lorenzo was forced to give best.
With the circuit continuing to rubber in as the weekend unfolds, lap times were expected to tumble but few were predicting Marquez to produce the fastest ever two-wheeled lap of Silverstone on his opening flyer. Not even Lorenzo had an answer at this early stage, slotting into second, while Dani Pedrosa found enough grip on the second lap of his tyres to split the men who had dominated every session so far.
As he started his second run, Marquez only had a tenth of a second in hand over his teammate but that margin soon opened up as Marc improved to a sensational 2:00.234, moving him half a second clear. Lorenzo still had pace up his sleeve and managed to set a 2:00.522 but that would only promote him back above Pedrosa, ensuring he will split the Repsol Hondas on the front row of the grid.
Valentino Rossi, who shares the championship lead with Lorenzo, needed a repeat of Brno to keep his teammate in sight. The Italian was languishing in sixth heading into his final lap but his first sub-two minute lap of the weekend lifted him ahead of the two Tech 3 Yamahas of Pol Espargaro and home favourite Bradley Smith.
The three British riders on satellite machinery will all start line astern with Scott Redding and Cal Crutchlow seventh and eighth while Andrea Iannone qualified ninth on a disappointing afternoon for Ducati. Aleix Espargaro starts tenth after narrowly escaping Q1 but his teammate Maverick Vinales was less lucky, being eliminated by Yonny Hernandez after opting against a second run. The Colombian wasn’t complaining and went on to qualify eleventh, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso.
