MotoGP: Bezzecchi claims British GP pole at soaking Silverstone

Bezzecchi is lying third in the riders’ standings, 36 points behind world champion Francesco Bagnaia, who posted the fourth fastest time to start on the second row.

Mooney VR46 Racing’s Marco Bezzecchi during Free Practice Two ahead of the British Grand Prix 2023 at Silverstone, England. | Photo Credit: Bradley Collyer/ AP

Marco Bezzecchi battled atrocious conditions to claim pole for the British MotoGP at a soaking Silverstone on Saturday.

Jack Miller and Alex Marquez join Bezzecchi on the front row of Sunday’s race and the 10-lap sprint later Saturday.

Riding for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Ducati satellite team Bezzecchi was taking back-to-back poles after heading the grid at the Dutch MotoGP before the summer break in June.

Bezzecchi is lying third in the riders’ standings, 36 points behind world champion Francesco Bagnaia, who posted the fourth fastest time to start on the second row.

After setting the fastest time with a handful of minutes left of qualifying Bezzecchi promptly joined the list of riders to crash in the worst weather of the season so far.

After dusting himself down he said: “I’m okay, it was a big crash, I didn’t expect to crash but I aquaplaned. We made this pole so I’m very happy.”

An indication of how tricky the conditions were came from the 18second-difference between Bezzecchi’s lap time of 2mins 15.3590s and the circuit record of last year’s pole-sitter Johann Zarco of 1:57.767.

One man distinctly unhappy was France’s 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo.

The Yamaha factory rider failed to fire at a track where he won two years ago to qualify in last place - his worst qualifying result since graduating to MotoGP in 2019.

The riders can expect no let up in the wet weather for the sprint but the forecast for Sunday’s ninth round of the championship is brighter.