MotoGP: Zarco beats Vinales by 0.098s to British GP pole
Johann Zarco broke Silverstone’s lap record to take MotoGP pole in British GP from Maverick Vinales and Jack Miller.
Q1:
The first in MotoGP qualifying in British GP at Silverstone post the summer break saw and early crash for LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez at Turn 8-9 sequence. He was agitated with someone but replays showed he had a fall on his own and not while in a fight.
He was shown to be angry at VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi with whom he had a run-in earlier. On track, Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini led the way initially with a 1m58.804s lap from KTM’s Miguel Oliveira with Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli slotting just behind them.
Bezzecchi had more run-in against Honda riders as Bastianini upped his pace to a 1m58.609s to make it in Q2 from Bezzecchi who put in a late lap of 1m58.756s to go through as well, where Binder was knocked out of contention.
A late lap from his teammate Oliveira put him in third and 13th for the British MotoGP race, with Binder in 14th from Gresini’s Fabio di Ginannantonio in the Top 15. Tech 3 KTM’s Remy Gardner put in a good lap to be 16th from Marquez, who hoped onto the second bike.
He led the two factory Honda riders Stefan Bradl and Pol Espargaro, as LCR teammate Takaaki Nakagami was 21st behind Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli. Tech 3’s Raul Fernandez was 22nd from RNF Yamaha pair of Darryn Binder and Andrea Dovizioso.
Q2:
The second part in MotoGP qualifying in British GP saw Aleix Espargaro hit the track on his Aprilia after a heavy crash in FP4. He was 12th after his initial lap despite the pain he was in as Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo led the way with a 1m58.259s.
Remarkably he was only 0.001s quicker than Ducati’s Jack Miller, as Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales rounded the front row after their first run. The Pramac Ducati pair of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco rounded out the Top 5 positions.
The second run started with Espargaro going fastest with a 1m57.966s lap, but Quartararo and Miller toppled him with Zarco ending up quickest with a 1m57.767s lap to not only break the lap record but also secure MotoGP pole in British GP.
A late lap from Vinales put him in second as he was only 0.098s down on Zarco, with Miller in third from Quartararo and the other Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia in the Top 5. Espargaro managed sixth in the end from Q1 runners Bezzecchi and Bastianini.
Martin could only manage ninth in the end with VR46’s Luca Marini in 10th from the Suzuki pair of Alex Rins and Joan Mir in the Top 12.
