Zarco on Silverstone pole, bruised Espargaro salvages sixth

Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco will start MotoGP’s British Grand Prix from pole position after topping a qualifying session where Aleix Espargaro bounced back from a practice crash to qualify sixth.

Espargaro suffered a frightening crash at Farm curve during FP4 less than an hour before the start of Q2 and had to be stretchered away from the track. He was left with “contusions on both ankles” but no fractures, meaning he was allowed to take part in qualifying.

Huge high side for @AleixEspargaro

We hope he is ok but he's leaving the track by stretcher #BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/gmq0d0bRY8

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 6, 2022

Therefore, he hobbled back onto his bike in Q2 and after a steady first run on used tyres, Espargaro smashed the lap record with his final flying lap, setting the first sub-1m58s lap of the Silverstone weekend.

That put him on provisional pole, but he was eventually shuffled down to the end of the second row in sixth place.

Zarco was the fastest of the five riders to beat him as he earned his second pole position of the season and the eighth of his so far winless top-flight career.

He was 0.098s ahead of Maverick Vinales, who achieved his best qualifying result since joining Aprilia last year.

The front row will be completed by Jack Miller, who edged championship leader Fabio Quartararo by just 0.007s.

Yamaha’s Quartararo, who will have to take a long-lap penalty on Sunday, looked visibly frustrated after the session. He’ll start alongside Dutch TT winner Francesco Bagnaia and his closest championship rival Espargaro.

Marco Bezzecchi, who earned his first premier class podium at Assen, progressed through Q1 and then claimed seventh on the grid in Q2 for the VR46 Ducati squad.

He’ll share the third row with fellow Q1 graduate Enea Bastianini and Zarco’s team-mate Jorge Martin, whose pole challenge faced after strong early Q2 pace.

Luca Marini made it two VR46 riders in the top 10 and he’ll be joined on the fourth row by Suzuki riders Alex Rins and Joan Mir.

None of the KTM or Honda riders managed to make it to Q2 with factory KTM riders Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder the closest in 13th and 14th.

They were followed by Bastianini’s team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio, Tech3 KTM rider Remy Gardner and Alex Marquez, who crashed coming into the Turn 8/9 Vale chicane.

LCR Honda’s Marquez appeared angered by Bezzecchi following the crash after the two jostled for track position before Marquez misjudged the braking for the chicane and ended up in the gravel.

It's a long way back to the pits from there! 👀@alexmarquez73 drops his @lcr_team Honda over the far side of the circuit 💥#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/UTsbsyoRED

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 6, 2022

Marquez managed to get back on track and he qualified as Honda’s top rider in 17th place ahead of factory riders Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaro.

Quartararo’s Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli suffered his 10th straight Q1 exit as he struggled to 20th ahead of the second LCR Honda of Takaaki Nakagami who crashed in FP4.

Raul Fernandez suffered engine issues in FP4 and qualified eight tenths adrift of team-mate Gardner in 22nd place.

He will be joined on the back row of the grid by RNF Yahama duo Darryn Binder and Andrea Dovizioso.

Qualifying Results