PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Just when it looked like no one could possibly go any faster than Jorge Lorenzo’s lap-record-shattering 2:00.819 at Silverstone in today’s final qualifying, that man Marc Marquez showed everyone that he could. And should we really be surprised anymore?
Marquez lapped at 2:00.691 to take 1.32 seconds off the lap record set by Casey Stoner in 2011 and in doing so earned pole position for tomorrow’s Hertz British Grand Prix, his best lap coming right at the very end of the session and almost immediately after Lorenzo put down what he likely thought was a pole-position effort. In fact, Lorenzo said after qualifying that it may have been the best lap of his career. And it still wasn’t enough.
For Marquez it was pole number six in his rookie season; for Lorenzo disappointment; for those readying to watch the Grand Prix tomorrow, high anticipation of a battle between the World Champion and the World Championship leader.
Much to the delight of the partisan crowd, Cal Crutchlow ended the session third fastest and will lineup on the front row with the two Spaniard tomorrow, the Brit having made it through his two morning crashes to earn his sixth front row start of the 12-race-old season. Crutchlow’s best, however, was .734 of a second from Marquez and .606 from Lorenzo as those two separated themselves from the rest.
Row two for tomorrow’s race will be led by LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl, the German rider .066 of a second better than Marquez’s Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. Valentino Rossi will round out the second row, the factory Yamaha man 1.4 seconds behind Marquez in Q2.
Row three will be headed by Marlboro Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, the Italian besting Go&Fun Honda’s Alvaro Bautista and Nicky Hayden.
Crutchlow’s teammate Bradley Smith ended the session 10th with Colin Edwards finishing as the top CRT bike in qualifying for the third straight race on the NGM Mobile Forward FTR/Kawasaki.
MotoGP Final Qualifying Results
British Grand Prix
Silverstone, England, August 30, 2013
1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 2:00.691
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2:00.819
3. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 2:01.425
4. Stefan Bradl (Honda) 2:01.558
5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 2:01.624
6. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2:01.624
7. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 2:02.123
8. Alvaro Bautista (Honda) 2:02.252
9. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 2:02.289
10. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 2:02.409
11. Colin Edwards (FTR/Kawasaki) 2:04.032