Marquez sets blistering lap for new qualifying record at Silverstone

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo ended 1-2 in MotoGP qualifying for the British Grand Prix after a tight trade off of the fastest lap during the entire challenge.

Marquez’s lap time of 2’00.691 on the Silverstone circuit earned him his fifth pole of the MotoGP 2013 season. It was an amazing contest as the lap times were below record time lap as both the current points’ leader and the reigning champion had a show-stopping qualifying battle for the coveted pole for the British Grand Prix.

“If I’m honest, I didn’t expect that lap time," said Marquez. “I had many slides and was pushing 100% but, despite that, the lap time was still really good."

The old old record was set by Casey Stoner on the 800cc MotoGP time-frame in 2011 versus the current 1000cc MotoGP prototype bikes.

Yamaha Factory rider, Lorenzo, will start second on the front row having missed the pole by just over one-tenth of a second.

"I thought I had pole position, but when I saw the classification I again saw that Marc was in front of me, so I was a bit disappointed because I had done one of the best laps of my whole career," Lorenzo said. He was the first to better the lap record.

Cal Crutchlow was third for the final spot on the front row. The Yamaha Tech 3 rider had a rough final practice this morning with two falls, but pulled it together to earn the final spot on the front row.

About his first fall earlier in practice, Crutchlow said: “It was a normal Saturday morning for me at Silverstone…I wanted a little bit of gas and air, so I had some because I have some massive abrasions on my arms again." He did go on to thank the team for repairing his Monster Energy bike.

LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl again showed a surprising speed this season, and he will start on the second row ahead of Dani Pedrosa who was one second of the winning pole time set by his Repsol Honda teammate - the pole winner!

Completing the second row with the sixth fastest time was Valentino Rossi for the Yamaha Factory Team.

The Ducati team still searches for top times but both riders will start on the third row with Andrea Dovizioso showing the best form over his teammate. However Nicky Hayden is still recovering from earlier injuries. The American will slot ninth behind Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista.

Dovizioso is more positive this weekend than at past events. He said,“I’m really pleased with my time. We’ve worked well the whole weekend, and I’ve been pretty fast. I think our race pace is still quite a way off, but we’re certainly going better than we have at the other races."