Silverstone MotoGP: Marquez decimates lap record for pole

Marc Marquez has decimated the outright lap record at Silverstone in order to beat fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo back to second on the grid for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix.

Lorenzo led the session early on, beating the lap record on his first tyre to lead, until Marquez took pole with a huge slide around Woodcote to finish off the lap. However, Lorenzo was able to find a second lap in his tyres, pitting to change them with the lead.

Lorenzo, first into the pits, was able to get clear traffic and set the first ever 2 minute lap of Silverstone on two wheels. However, it wasn’t his day, as Marquez responded again with a 2’00.691, blowing away Casey Stoner’s outright lap by two seconds.

Cal Crutchlow will start his home race from the front row, taking the third spot on the grid ahead of the Honda of Stefan Bradl and Dani Pedrosa. Despite two huge crashes this morning, the Brit finished the session 0.1 ahead of the German, although some three quarters of a second off Marquez.

Valentino Rossi is the last rider on the second row, back in sixth and only 0.01 ahead of the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso.

Bradley Smith was unable to make much improvement from Q1 and will start from tenth. Colin Edwards is first of the CRT machines in 11th, while Aleix Espargaro, who was forced to sit out the session after yet another FP4 crash, is in twelfth despite not setting a time.

Marquez said afterwards “I didn’t expect these lap times before this session. With the first tyre I was already faster than expected, and I didn’t think I would go faster with the second one. It will be a difficult race tomorrow, as this circuit is so hard to keep concentration at as it is a long race.”

Crutchlow said “I actually made qualifying this year for the first time, although it didn’t look like it this morning. I’ve got a few massive abrasions and can hardly put my arm in my leathers, but that’s a normal Saturday morning for me at Silverstone. I can’t thank my team enough as they did a massive job to rebuild my bike for me.”

1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 323.5 2’00.691
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 322.0 2’00.819 0.128 / 0.128
3 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 319.7 2’01.425 0.734 / 0.606
4 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 326.3 2’01.558 0.867 / 0.133
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 323.1 2’01.624 0.933 / 0.066
6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 322.3 2’02.109 1.418 / 0.485
7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 321.3 2’02.123 1.432 / 0.014
8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 325.2 2’02.252 1.561 / 0.129
9 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 321.3 2’02.289 1.598 / 0.037
10 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 320.0 2’02.409 1.718 / 0.120
11 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 308.2 2’04.032 3.341 / 1.623
12 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART