Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo eked out another fine performance in the 2018 MotoGP season after taking pole in a wet Saturday at Silverstone ahead of teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
Q1
The first session in qualifying was delayed after a dramatic fall for Avintia Ducati’s Tito Rabat in FP4. The Catalan rider was conscious after he slipped into the gravel and then was hit by the bike of Marc VDS Honda’s Franco Mrobidelli.
The Avintia rider was airlifted to the hospital which resulted in the delay as the helicopter wasn’t present for the session to start. Once it kicked-off, it was KTM’s Bradley Smith and Suzuki’s Alex Rins topping the session to make it into Q2.
Morbidelli was third in Q1 to start from 13th followed by Aprilia’s Scott Redding and Marc VDS’ Thomas Luthi. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa had a tough run which saw him only post his best time with two minutes remaining in the session to be 16th.
Aprilia’s Alexis Espargaro in 17th led KTM’s Loris Baz, LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami, Angel Nieto Ducati pair of Karel Abraham & Alvaro Bautista, Avintia’s Xavier Simeon and Tech 3 Yamaha’s Hafizh Syahrin.
Q2
With eight minutes remaining, Pramac’s Jack Miller took provisional pole but he was immediately cleared by Ducati’s Lorenzo by more than half a second. As the track started to dry, it was lottery for the riders.
Dovizioso improved his time to snatch pole from Lorenzo but his teammate fought back to eventually take pole position in the British GP, leading a Ducati 1-2. Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco also improved on his last flying lap to third,
LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow improved to fourth with Marquez only fifth from Petrucci. Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone led Smith as Miller was only ninth after looking to clinch a surprise pole in the changing conditions.
Suzuki’s Rins was 10th leading the two Yamaha rider who had a disastrous session with Maverick Vinales only 11th from teammate Valentino Rossi – the slowest two riders in the Q2 session.