Source: Supplied.

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has set the fastest ever lap by a motorcycle around the legendary Silverstone Circuit to take his 28th career MotoGP pole position.

The reigning MotoGP World Champion went under his 2013 pole record on his very first flying lap to lay down a marker to the rest of the field at the Octo British Grand Prix.

The Spaniard then went even quicker on his second run to set a 2m00.234s in near perfect conditions as all of the riders made use of their softer option tyres.

Marquez had earlier topped FP4 by almost a second, and carried his pace into Qualifying to finish 0.288s ahead of Lorenzo.

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo had earlier topped FP2 and FP3 and had been touted as the favourite for pole when the session started.

The Spaniard had shown blistering pace throughout the weekend, and he too went under the old pole record on his way to claiming second, his 9th front row start of the season.

Dani Pedrosa (+0.482s) set his fastest time on his first flying lap to complete an all-Spanish front row. Pedrosa was in second when everyone returned to the pits for fresh rubber, but could not improve on his time but it was still good enough for third.

Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi (+0.713s) will have his work cut out come Sunday’s race after he could only manage to qualify on the middle of the front row in fifth.

The Italian improved his time from practice by over a second, but still found himself 0.4s behind his teammate and main title rival Lorenzo.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro (+0.797s) was the leading Satellite rider in fifth, as he equalled his best qualifying performance of the season (Assen).

His teammate Bradley Smith (+0.906s) had been third on the combined timesheets after FP3, but will start the race from the back of the second row as the leading British rider in sixth.

Smith’s compatriot Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) pulled off his best qualifying performance since Austin to start from the head of the third row in seventh.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) made it a good day for the home fans as they saw three British riders on the front three rows of the grid as he secured eighth.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone completes the third row ahead of the two men who made it through from Q1, Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Yonny Hernandez (Octo Pramac Racing).

Hernandez left it late to split the two Factory Suzuki’s at the top of the timesheets in Q1 and surprise Maverick Viñales who thought he had done enough to progress.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) completes the fourth row, ahead of Viñales, with Stefan Bradl impressing on only his third outing on the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini RS-GP in 13th.

Forward Racing’s Loris Baz will start from 15th as the leading Open class rider, with Australian Jack Miller (LCR Honda) the leading Open Honda rider in 16th.

The two Aspar MotoGP Team Honda’s of Eugene Laverty and Nicky Hayden will start from 19th and 21st respectively, with the rookie Laverty out-qualifying his more experienced teammate for the seventh time this season.

Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes pulled off an incredible record-breaking lap to take his third Moto2 pole position of the season at the Octo British Grand Prix to the delight of the home fans.

The British rider was forced to push his bike back to the pits after running out of fuel during the session, but responded brilliantly. Lowes managed to get back out with five minutes remaining and stayed calm to set a sensational 2m06.345s, destroying Takaaki Nakagami’s pole record from 2013 in the process.

Paginas Amarillas HP40’s Alex Rins (+0.058s) had been quickest after practice and thought he had secured pole with only seconds left on the clock.

The rookie Spaniard had gone under the pole record in FP3 and went even quicker in qualifying but even he had no response to Lowes pace. Rins eventually had to settle for second, his fifth front row start of the season.

Moto2™ championship leader, Ajo Motorsport’s Johann Zarco, completes a front row that was separated by just 0.074s as the top six all went under Nakagami’s previous pole record time.

EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Tito Rabat (+0.243s) finished the session in fourth but suffered a nasty looking highside on his very last lap.

The Spaniard was taken to the Medical Centre grasping his right knee after losing the rear and taking out Dominique Aegerter in the process, but was later declared fit.

Derendinger Racing Interwetten’s Thomas Luthi (+0.456s) will start from fifth, ahead of Takaaki Nakagami (+0.494s) on the Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex in sixth, with AGR Team’s Jonas Folger in seventh.

Lorenzo Baldassari (Forward Racing), Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) complete the top 10.

Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Jorge Navarro smashed pole record with a 2m12.440s to finish over 0.5s ahead of Karel Hanika in second, with Britain’s Danny Kent completing the front row.

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