Espargaro stuns Ducatis in Silverstone MotoGP pole battle

Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro defeated the factory Ducatis to claim a surprise pole - and a new MotoGP lap record - for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Championship leader Pecco Bagnaia led after the opening sequence of laps, having improved by two tenths of the second on the previous lap record set by Johann Zarco two years ago.

But Espargaro found four tenths of improvement on his second run to fire in a 1m57.309s, visibly delighted at the laptime as he took the chequered flag - and guaranteed pole virtually in that very moment despite time remaining on the clock.

This was because team-mate Maverick Vinales had crashed at the Farm corner at the start of his own lap, and any and all riders who stood any chance of challenging Espargaro had to abort their final attempts due to yellow flags.

Glad to see Maverick's up and OK! 🙌

That was a fast crash that brought out the yellow flags! 💥#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/GV0ZQns4r3

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 3, 2024

Bagnaia was among them, having already rolled out of his previous lap when he had to distract himself through Turn 1 to rip off a flapping sticker on his helmet.

The full look at the issue that caused @PeccoBagnaia to roll out of his first lap in his second run 👇#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/paqhUw9V4E

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 3, 2024

Espargaro and Bagnaia will be joined on the first row by the other works Ducati of Enea Bastianini, while Bagnaia's main title rival Jorge Martin will start at the head of the second row.

Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez had starred in Q1 after a massive turnaround compared to Friday, and then posted the fifth-fastest time in Q2, with Brad Binder the lead KTM in sixth.

Marc Marquez had followed Bagnaia on his first, record-breaking run, but could only stick with Bagnaia for the first of his two push laps. He then tried to tuck in behind Bagnaia again on the second run, but instead found himself boxed in behind two VR46 Ducatis, before running out of time to improve.

He will head up row three ahead of Vinales and Tech3 Gas Gas rookie Pedro Acosta, who had been the second rider to progress from Q1.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), Jack Miller (KTM) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) completed the Q2 order.

Franco Morbidelli ended up as the sole Ducati rider absent from Q2 as he was two tenths off progressing in the final segment, though he did book a spot at the head of row five in 13th.

He was followed by Trackhouse Aprilia duo Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira, Fernandez beating Oliveira by half a tenth in his first qualifying after being upgraded to the 2024-spec Aprilia.

LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco towed Morbidelli to place sixth in Q1, a stunning result - given the form of the series' Japanese manufacturers in this weekend so far - 0.357s off the Q1 pace.

Fabio Quartararo was the lead Yamaha in 18th on the grid, with team-mate Remy Gardner eight tenths off, relegated to last place at the final second by Zarco's team-mate Takaaki Nakagami.

Gardner had entered the weekend as a Yamaha wildcard but was moved to the works Yamaha garage following Alex Rins' withdrawal on Friday due to continuing injury struggles. The Aussie was considerably off the pace on Friday, but closed the gap substantially in time for qualifying.