Silverstone MotoGP: Marquez beats Dovizioso, Lorenzo to 10th pole

Marquez had topped all four practice sessions heading into British Grand Prix qualifying, but his initial Q2 lap was underwhelming - placing the Honda only third behind Dovizioso's Ducati and Lorenzo's Yamaha.

That was just a warm-up effort, though, and Marquez's next lap put him on provisional pole by three tenths of a second.

His rivals responded, and Lorenzo - who had been off the pace and extremely unhappy with Bridgestone's Silverstone tyre choice on Friday - stole the top spot back again with a 2m01.175s lap.

It wasn't enough, as Marquez's final effort was a 2m00.829s, giving him pole while Dovizioso edged out Lorenzo by 0.035s for second place and his third straight front row start.

Aleix Espargaro put the Forward Yamaha ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi on row two.

Bradley Smith was top Briton in seventh, though it was Scott Redding who made the biggest impression among the home contingent as he topped Q1 on his production-spec Gresini Honda and then held seventh after the first Q2 runs. He was eventually pushed back to 11th.

Stefan Bradl added an accident in practice four to his Saturday morning accident and could only qualify ninth, just in front of fellow crasher Andrea Iannone, who fell on his final qualifying lap.

Briton Leon Camier also had a shunt in qualifying, going off on his last Q1 run and leaving himself 18th on the grid.

Cal Crutchlow could not get beyond Q1 and will start 15th for his home event.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap    
 1.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 2m00.829s         
 2.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                2m01.140s  +0.311s
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                2m01.175s  +0.346s
 4.  Aleix Espargaro   Forward Yamaha        2m01.448s  +0.619s
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 2m01.464s  +0.635s
 6.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                2m01.550s  +0.721s
 7.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         2m01.593s  +0.764s
 8.  Pol Espargaro     Tech 3 Yamaha         2m01.747s  +0.918s
 9.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             2m01.973s  +1.144s
10.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         2m02.064s  +1.235s
11.  Scott Redding     Gresini Honda         2m02.116s  +1.287s
12.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         2m03.618s  +2.789s
13.  Yonny Hernandez   Pramac Ducati         2m03.046s  Q1     
14.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Honda         2m03.206s  Q1     
15.  Cal Crutchlow     Ducati                2m03.407s  Q1     
16.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Aspar Honda           2m03.563s  Q1     
17.  Alex de Angelis   Forward Yamaha        2m03.686s  Q1     
18.  Leon Camier       Aspar Honda           2m03.696s  Q1     
19.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda Aprilia          2m04.755s  Q1     
20.  Michael Laverty   PBM Aprilia           2m04.836s  Q1     
21.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  2m04.957s  Q1     
22.  Mike di Meglio    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  2m05.451s  Q1     
23.  Broc Parkes       PBM Aprilia           2m06.106s  Q1