Marquez Takes Fourth Silverstone Pole Position in a Row, Rossi Starts 2nd

Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez put behind him a few practice tumbles to record his fourth Silverstone pole position in a row. It is almost a tradition that the youngest triple world champion takes his time to find the limits of his bike and the circuit before pulling out a magnificent lap to take pole position.

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi lines up in 2nd place alongside the Spaniard, home favourite Cal Crutchlow will start 3rd. 2016 winner, Maverick Vinales will head the fourth row ahead of the two Ducatis of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso. Marquez’ teammate Dani Pedrosa starts 7th. In wet conditions, another rider to keep an eye on is Danilo Petrucci who starts in 18th for tomorrow’s race. Among the rookies, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo of Jonas Folger and Johann Zarco are dark horses for getting a good result. Zarco starts 8th and Folger starts 10th, between them is Aleix Espargaro who rides the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini.

With the championship heating up and all eyes on the weather, it will be difficult to predict who will come out on top.

Moto2

Italian rider Mattia Pasini secured pole position ahead of Marquez’s younger brother, Alex Marquez and championship leader Franco Morbidelli. In 4th is Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami, 5th is Luca Marini, Rossi’s half brother. Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter starts 6th ahead of Lorenzo Baldassari. Completing the top 10 is Italian rider Simone Corsi. Other championship contenders, Tom Luthi, Miguel Oliveira and Francesco Bagnaia, qualified 9th, 8th and 11th respectively. The local crop of riders are Tarran Mackenzie, starting in 26th, and rookie Jake Dixon starting in 31st.

Moto3

Italian rider Romano Fenati took pole position ahead of championship leader Joan Mir and Argentina’s Gabriel Rodrigo. United Kingdom’s John McPhee, riding onboard the British Talent Team Moto3 bike, starts 4th. Other championship contenders, Jorge Martin and Aron Canet qualified 9th and 17th respectively. Niccolo Antonelli starts 5th ahead of Andrea Migno, Bo Bendesneyder and Nicolo Bulega. Behind Martin is Juanfran Guevara, rounding out the top 10.

While it may seem that Martin and Canet have their work cut out for them, one has to keep in mind that the weather is unpredictable and a key feature of Moto3 races are large groups of 15-20 bikes battling for the lead. With other impressive riders like Bendesneyder, Migno, Fabio DiGiannantonio, Philipp Oettl, Marcos Ramirez and other riders also in the mix, one will have a hard time predicting these Moto3 races. During the last race, another name popped up on the sharp end of the grid, Jaume Masia. In his debut race, he was challenging for a podium in wet conditions.