MotoGP Qualifying at Silverstone: Martin (Aprilia) takes pole with record lap

In Friday’s qualifying session, Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi of the Aprilia factory team set a time of 1:56.280 minutes, beating the lap record by almost a second and demonstrating that the pace is very fast this weekend at Silverstone. All eight of the top riders beat last year’s record set by Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)!

Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) and Iker Lecuona – runner-up in the World Superbike Championship and standing in for the injured Fermin Aldeguer at Gresini Ducati – were the top qualifiers in Q1 to progress to Q2, whilst former champion Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati), in sixth, and rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha), in twelfth, both crashed out. For them, this means starting from 16th and 22nd respectively in the 23-rider field for Saturday’s and Sunday’s races.

Qualifying 2, also lasting 15 minutes, began under blue skies and an air temperature of 22 degrees Celsius with a near-highside from Marc Marquez at 180 km/h; shortly afterwards, Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) set the first benchmark with a time of 1:56.593 minutes.

After 6 minutes, the order on the timing screen was shaken up considerably; Marc Marquez moved into first place and, with a time of 1:56.527, was less than a tenth of a second ahead of his brother Alex, World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia) and Fernandez.

For the final seven minutes, the riders had new rear tyres fitted in the pits and set off on the longest circuit on the calendar in pursuit of their final lap times. Then things happened in quick succession: Bezzecchi catapulted himself to the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:56.456, but was beaten by Raul Fernandez by 0.275 seconds shortly afterwards.

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Fernandez’s record (1:56.181) lasted only briefly, before Jorge Martin came along, clocked 1:56.160 and snatched pole position from his compatriot. Ai Ogura ensured that the front row is made up exclusively of Aprilia riders.

Di Giannantonio (Ducati), Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez qualified for the second row. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) secured ninth on the grid with the best non-Italian bike, whilst Jack Miller (Yamaha) and Joan Mir (Honda) finished eleventh and twelfth respectively.