Marc Marquez admits he did not expect to annihilate his existing Silverstone MotoGP pole record with the first-ever 1m59s lap in qualifying for the British Grand Prix.
The Honda rider was on searing pace from the off in the second 15-minute qualifying segment, the Spaniard setting a new lap record on his first attempt with a 2m00.106s despite several moments over the bumps.
Coming under threat in the dying stages of the session from Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi, Marquez pulled the pin once again to produce a 1m59.941s to claim his sixth pole of 2017.
“During the day we improve a lot,” said Marquez.
“Yesterday I was able to be fast but I was struggling with the feeling and today the feeling was much better, same speed and better feeling, so that is the most important.
“In the qualy, honestly, I didn’t expect to go belo 1m59s, but when I put the soft rear I felt extra grip and then I was pushing my maximum of course.
“Here it’s difficult to make the perfect lap when you are alone. It’s a very long lap, with many corners, but anyway we did, but the most important for tomorrow is that the rhythm is not so bad.
“Still we need to improve a few points in the warm-up, but in the race it will be difficult because many riders have a good pace.”
Yamaha traction issues halted Rossi pole charge
Rossi – who will become the first rider in history to start 300 premier class races on Sunday – was on course for a maiden Silverstone pole, but fell foul of Yamaha’s traction issues in the final sector.
The 2017 YZR-M1 has tended to spin the rear tyre when track temperatures are high, and with Silverstone’s final sector commenced by a hard acceleration point from the Loop, Rossi’s laptime dropped.
The Italian still took the chequered flag in 2m00.025s to go second, and only missed out on pole by just 0.084s.
Happy with a career-best lap of the 3.6-mile British track, Rossi remains wary of suffering high tyre wear in the 20-lap race.
“We always suffer in the section four, because it’s a place where our problem is quite a lot; we spin very much and it’s difficult to bring the right speed,” he said.
“Starting yesterday from a good level, today we tried to improve but for some reason, with the bike, with the track, it’s a little bit worse than yesterday.
“Anyway, it was a good lap, I enjoy a lot. I improve by 0.8s, my personal best at Silverstone. As 2m00.025s is fantastic.
“Sincerely, it was a bit of a surprise because I was a little bit in trouble. Now we have to try to understand this to be able to improve, especially the tyre life because I remember a lot of times this year, at the beginning (of a race) we are not so bad, but after we suffer a lot of degradation.
“So I think for tomorrow (the race) wil be very hard, the second part of the race. I hope to make a small step to try to be competitive for the podium.”
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