Marc Marquez sprinted to pole for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with the fastest ever MotoGP lap of the circuit.
Marquez had to play second fiddle to Fabio Quartararo for most of the weekend, and was pipped to provisional pole by the Frenchman following their first runs by just 0.055.
Quartararo however was unable to improve his time on his final effort, leaving him a sitting duck for the improving riders behind him who had just started their final laps.
Valentino Rossi was the first of Quartararo’s challengers to take the chequered flag, duly shooting to pole position with a 1:58.596.
Marquez was right behind the Yamaha though and shattered Rossi’s time with a 1:58.168 to once again lower the Silverstone MotoGP lap record, with over a second having been shaved over the weekend thanks to the newly resurfaced tarmac.
Rossi therefore will start second ahead of Jack Miller, who also improved late in the session to bump Quartararo off the front row to fourth on the grid.
Alex Rins will start fifth for Suzuki with Maverick Vinales sixth on his Yamaha just clear of the top factory Ducati machine of Andrea Dovizioso.
Andrea Dovizioso had to come through Q1 in order to fight for pole, but reigned supreme on his Ducati to lead Alex Rins’ Suzuki into the battle for pole in Q2.
Rins led the initial runs by posting his fastest lap of the weekend with a 1:59.436, with Dovizioso coming up a tenth short to just squeak ahead of KTM’s Pol Espargaro for the second fastest time.
The Italian turned up the wick for his second run though, banging in by far his fastest lap of the event so far with a 1:58.944 to move nearly half-a-second clear of the Suzuki, shortly before Rins himself improved to solidify his second place.
This was how the session ended as the KTM trio were unable to break through and secure the final two tickets to Q2, Pol Espargaro managing the 3rd fastest time just behind Rins. He will therefore start 13th ahead of team-mate Johann Zarco and Tech 3 man Miguel Oliveira.
Jorge Lorenzo managed his own best lap, a 2:01.562, but this was only enough for 21st on the grid for tomorrows’ race.
Completing the rest of the grid meanwhile was home hero Cal Crutchlow, who could only secure the ninth fastest time after crashing out on his final attempt, going down at Turn 7 having just set a session fastest first sector time.
His earlier effort was enough to hold off LCR Honda team-mate Takaaki Nakagami however who rounded out the top ten, although Franco Morbidelli snuck in a faster lap at the death to snatch eighth from the Brit.
Danilo Petrucci again struggled on his Ducati GP19 down in 11th, only going faster than Aprilia’s Aleix Epsargaro who capped off a solid qualifying session in 12th.
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