Zarco smashes Silverstone lap record for pole

Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) will start from pole position at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix after producing a new all-time lap record at Silverstone. A magnificent 1:57.767 saw the Frenchman beat second place Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) by 0.098s as Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) claimed a front row in P3. And after huge crash in FP4, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) rescued a heroic P6 and finished just 0.199s away from pole – sensational from the Spaniard.

In the battle to make it into the pole position fight, early drama unfolded for Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) as the Spaniard crashed down at the Vale chicane. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) went fastest and went faster again on his final flying lap to cement P1, as Ducati counterpart Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) snatched P2 away from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) on his last lap to sail into Q2.

After a huge highside at Turn 12 in FP4, a bruised Aleix Espargaro was back out on track after medical checks confirmed he’d suffered no fractures. Meanwhile, Martin laid down a quality early banker to edge teammate Zarco by less than a tenth after the first flying laps – a 1:58.377 was the time to beat.

Quartararo did then better the time by 0.118s as Miller rose to P2, 0.001s off the Frenchman. Espargaro’s first effort was 1.6s away from Quartararo’s pace, but that was just an exploratory run to see how he was feeling. New tyres were fitted and the number 41 was back out to see how far up the grid he could get – just being out there was impressive enough.