Wet conditions lead to mixed results in qualifying thriller.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) has taken an incredible home pole position at the Octo British Grand Prix, as the Brit kept his stunning wet weather form from the Czech GP running and took only his third career pole.
Crutchlow, who has shown good form at Silverstone Circuit throughout the weekend, sees his fairytale continue as he lines up in P1 once again for Sunday’s race.
It is the first British pole position in a home GP since 1977. Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi took P2, with Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completing the front row in a big improvement in the wet conditions.
The top ten in Q2 were joined by Q1 graduates Eugene Laverty (PULL&BEAR Aspar) and Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) as the two men made the most of the weather to come to the fore, with big casualties including Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) just forced out as the wet weather shook up the order.
Espargaro’s temporary teammate Alex Lowes, riding in place of injured Bradley Smith, put in an impressive Q1 performance to line up behind Espargaro on the grid for Sunday’s race, as the rain gave the WorldSBK rider a good opportunity to show his skill set.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) has been having a solid weekend at Silverstone after a tough start to the season, and despite wet weather problems in Brno the Spaniard made good on his impressive FP4 improvements in the British GP.
The cool conditions on track didn’t seem to cause the problems Pedrosa has often suffered recently, and the three-time world champion crossed the line on his final effort to pip teammate Marc Marquez to P4.
Marquez, who had been a front-runner in the session, crashed in the last third and sat the final few minutes of Q2 out as he watched on from behind the barriers. Initially on the front row, his time was still good enough for a good starting position for Sunday’s showdown.
Eugene Laverty (PULL&BEAR Aspar) will line up sixth after graduating from Q1 – despite a late crash in the session that saw the Irishman lose out on a possible pole lap – in another impressive showing in tough or changeable conditions.
Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) heads up row three at his home race, with a solid session that saw him recover well from a fall in FP4. Redding has a great record at Silverstone and will be looking to impress on Sunday once again, having now taken two podiums in the premier class.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) had an uncharacteristically anonymous session in the wet to cross the line for eighth, ahead of reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).
Lorenzo, just pipped by teammate Rossi in wet FP4, put in some good laps under the rain and was the initial leader of the session before Crutchlow struck back and he was unable to improve.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) suffered a fall in the session and will begin the race from P10, with the Italian heading for the Medical Center to get checked out and subsequently being declared fit.
Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was P11, ahead of Q1 graduate Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), who suffered a crash near the beginning of the session as he recovers from another fall in Austria in which he suffered two hairline fractures.
Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) took an impressive Moto2 pole position under pressure at his home GP, topping the drenched QP session ahead of reigning champion Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) and wet weather Brno winner Jonas Folger (Dynavolt Intact GP). Aussie Remy Gardner (Tasca Racing Scuderia) starts 21st.
In Moto3 the pace-setter in the dry at the British GP has undoubtedly been 2015 pole sitter Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0), but the Spaniard was one of the first major casualties of the weather as he took a tumble and was unable to restart the bike to get back to pit lane.
Navarro was left at the mercy of the weather, along with his contemporaries. With the rain not improving and conditions treacherous over the length of the 5.9km circuit, it was Francesco Bagnaia (PULL&BEAR Aspar Mahindra) who put the lap together when it counted, taking his Mahindra to the top of the timesheets.
The Italian heads his compatriot Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3) on the front row, ahead of Dutch rookie Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who qualified in P3. Navarro will begin the race from a difficult P18.