Marquez the star as Crutchlow overcomes crash at thrilling Silverstone

2013-08-31 20:20
MotoGP™ championship leader Marc Marquez set an incredible lap time of 2’00.691 to clinch pole position for Sunday’s Hertz British Grand Prix. The Repsol Honda Team rider went head-to-head with reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, who will start second from Cal Crutchlow despite two earlier crashes for the Englishman.

For 2013, the British round of the championship has been moved from a June date to this August-September weekend. Amid bright sunshine in the English countryside, lap times dropped dramatically courtesy of warmer afternoon temperatures.

Marquez’s remarkable effort sees the Spaniard clinch his fifth pole of the season and third in five Grand Prix weekends, beating Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) by just over one tenth of a second while third-placed Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech3) was a further six tenths in arrears; however this came after two separate crashes for Crutchlow during third practice this morning. The top five was completed by LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa, who was the final rider within one second of the pole position time - a new qualifying record.

Second Yamaha Factory Racing rider Valentino Rossi will complete Row 2 in sixth position, while the third row will consist of Ducati Team duo Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden who sandwich GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista in seventh, eighth and ninth places. The top ten was completed by Tech3’s Bradley Smith, while NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards appeared in Q2 for the third successive event and achieves his best qualifying result of the year so far in 11th. CRT counterpart Aleix Espargaro was absent from Q2 following a crash in final practice; having injured his neck and the fourth finger of his left hand, the Power Electronics Aspar rider’s race participation will now be subject to a Sunday medical check-up.

Espargaro’s teammate Randy de Puniet missed out on Q2 by just six thousandths of a second and is therefore set to line up 13th, while Avintia Blusens’ Hector Barbera also improved at the end of Q1 and will be 14th on the grid. Britain’s Michael Laverty, who like compatriot Crutchlow crashed in morning practice, has qualified 19th for PBM while Australian Bryan Staring completes the grid on the Gresini CRT machine. Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham is not at Silverstone, having elected to skip the race in order to recover from injuries picked up in an Indianapolis crash.

The 2013 Hertz British Grand Prix begins at 1pm local time (GMT +1) on Sunday, coming after the Moto2™ race but before Moto3™, as was also the case at Brno.


Moto2™

Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami will start from the front of the grid in the Moto2™ Hertz British Grand Prix, marking his second pole position within the space of a week. Championship leader Scott Redding qualified second quickest at his home circuit of Silverstone, with Johann Zarco third and title contender Pol Espargaro sixth.

Amid ideal conditions at the Northamptonshire venue, Nakagami (Italtrans Racing Team) pipped Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) by just three hundredths of a second, while Zarco (Came Iodaracing Project) collected his third front row slot of the campaign but missed out on second place by a single thousandth.

Espargaro (Tuenti HP 40), who was engaged in a small battle with Redding during final practice this morning, will line up sixth and on the second row behind teammate Tito Rabat and Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing’s Tom Luthi. Heading into Sunday’s race, there are 21 points between Redding and Espargaro atop the standings.

Brno winner and Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio has qualified seventh at Silverstone, sharing the third row with Technomag carXpert’s Dominique Aegerter and Maptaq SAG Zelos Team’s Xavier Simeon. Jordi Torres, who suffered an accident in practice earlier on, completes the top ten for Aspar Team Moto2.

There were contrasting fortunes for the second and third British riders. While wildcard Gino Rea managed 20th place on the grid with his privately-entered Gino Rea Montaze Broz Racing machine, Tech3’s Danny Kent – whose contract has been renewed for the 2014 season – was highly disappointed to end a promising day in 27th position following a crash early in qualifying. He had finished practice in sixth place.

Sunday’s Moto2™ race begins at 11:20am local time (GMT +1).

Moto3™
Maverick Viñales will start Sunday’s Moto3™ Hertz British Grand Prix from pole position, having achieved a scorching pace in qualifying on Saturday. Alongside the Team Calvo rider on the front row will be title rivals Alex Rins and Luis Salom.

Beating last year’s Moto3 best at Silverstone by two and a half seconds, Viñales was on top form as he posted 2’13.507 to seal his second pole of the year, but first since Le Mans in mid-May. With Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0, pole-sitter at the previous three Grand Prix) and championship leader Salom (Red Bull KTM Ajo) poised to be right with Viñales at the start, Sunday’s race promises to be another closely-fought affair. Row 2 will consist of Caretta Technology – RTG’s Jack Miller, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger and Rins’ teammate Alex Marquez who re-joined the session following a huge highside crash which damaged the fairing of his KTM.

Ongetta-Centro Seta’s Isaac Viñales, elder cousin of Maverick, will line up seventh and head the third row from Mahindra Racing’s Miguel Oliveira and GO&FUN Gresini Moto3’s Niccolo Antonelli. Tenth will be Ongetta-Rivacold’s Alexis Masbou, just ahead of Avant Tecno’s Niklas Ajo who had a fall. Despite Silverstone being the longest circuit on the calendar at almost six kilometres per lap, riders still struggled with slow traffic - not least in the tight Arena complex starting at Village corner.

In 16th place, German rookie Philipp Oettl managed his best qualifying result to date for Tec Interwetten Moto3 Racing, while Scotland’s John McPhee is the leading British runner and will set off from 19th spot for Caretta Technology – RTG. Racing Steps Foundation KRP wildcard entries Wayne Ryan and Kyle Ryde will occupy positions 33rd and 35th on the grid as they make their respective debuts.

Sunday’s Moto3™ Hertz British Grand Prix begins at 2:30pm local time (GMT +1), ending the day’s World Championship action after the Moto2™ and MotoGP™ races.

Source: motogp.com

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