MotoGP Silverstone: Crutchlow takes pole as Marquez crashes out

Hometown hero Cal Crutchlow took a soaking wet MotoGP pole position at Silverstone this afternoon, beating Valentino Rossi by just less than a second as series leader Marc Marquez crashed out of contention with a carbon copy of the incident that put him out of last year’s race.

Crutchlow timed a bite-the-screen lap of the Northamptonshire circuit to perfection, putting in a 2’19.265 lap just before the rain got worse and it took an equally-brave performance by Movistar Yamaha’s Rossi to grab second with a 2’20.263.

The Isle of Man resident had seen great mate Jack Miller go down right in front of him at Luffield, worked out the conditions were getting substantially worse and put the hammer down.

But Crutchlow’s top spot was under threat from Aspar Ducati’s Eugene Laverty who had gone faster through the first two sectors on his final lap but the Monegasque lost the front and slid into the gravel after coming through from qualifying one with a time faster than the pole.

“I had a couple of moments. I am very pleased, we have worked hard and deserve this. We also have great pace in the dry but I pushed when I needed to,” said Crutchlow in parc ferme.

Maverick Vinales, on a Suzuki that isn’t the easiest to ride in these sort of conditions, managed to find enough pace for third place while Dani Pedrosa, who has struggled all weekend, demoted Repsol Honda team-mate Marquez to fifth place with his final lap.

Marquez could only watch the last part of qualifying from behind an air-fence after suffering an off-throttle highside on the entry to Copse - the exact same crash that ended his dice with Valentino Rossi in the race last year.

Laverty, meanwhile, will start from the outside of the second row after the laps from Pedrosa and Vinales shuffled him backwards but it is still a top-drawer performance from the Desmosedici GP14.2 rider.

Scott Redding heads the third row, just ahead of Andrea Iannone with Jorge Lorenzo in ninth, his wet weather brain still not in the game. Andrea Dovizioso crashed at Aintree and was helped away by marshals but was still fast enough for tenth.

Aleix Espargaro couldn’t get near Vinales’ lap times and will start in 11th, one ahead of Miller who looked like he hadn’t aggravated his injuries during his crash.

Loris Baz is 13th, one ahead of Danilo Petrucci who will not be happy with that qualifying performance in the rain, with Pol Espargaro in 15th.

Alex Lowes rode a MotoGP bike for the first time in free practice four and used that half an hour of experience to set the 16th quickest time, only two-tenths slower than Espargaro on the other Monster Yamaha, and ahead of Stefan Bradl, Hector Barbera and the rest.