MotoGP starts at 0030 AEST
MotoGP 2017 – Round 12 – Silverstone
- Marc Marquez will start from pole for the sixth time this year. This is his fourth successive pole position and his longest sequence of successive poles since 2014. Marques has been on the podium at the last five races.
- Valentino Rossi, who is making his 300th premier-class Grand Prix start, has qualified on the front row for the fifth time in 2017. His only podium finish in the last eight races was his victory at the Dutch TT run in wet conditions. Rossi has finished on the podium for the last three years at Silverstone, including a win in 2015.
- Cal Crutchlow starts from third place on the grid, which is his first front row since the Spanish Grand Prix. He will be aiming to become the first British rider to win a premier-class Grand Prix on home soil since the British round of the World Championship was moved from the Isle of Man in 1977.
- Last year’s British Grand Prix winner, Maverick Viñales heads the second row of the grid. Viñales is aiming to be just the fifth rider in the history of Grand Prix racing to win in the premier-class at the same circuit in successive years on motorcycles from two different manufacturers.
- For the fourth time this year, Jorge Lorenzo is the highest placed Ducati rider on the grid, in the middle of the second row.
- In sixth place on the grid is Andrea Dovizioso, who has won three times in the last six races after taking just two victories in his previous 165 MotoGP starts.
- Heading the third row is Dani Pedrosa, who has finished on the podium seven times in the last nine races.
- Eighth fastest qualifier and the highest placed rookie of the grid is Johann Zarco, who won the Moto2 race at Silverstone two years ago.
- Taking the final place on the third row is Aleix Espargaro, which is the fourth time this year he has qualified in the top ten.
- Jonas Folger is in tenth place on the grid, with a qualifying time within nine-tenths-of-a-second of Marquez on pole.
- Pol Espargaro on a KTM is in the middle of the fourth row and Alex Rins heads the fifth row riding a Suzuki, making it six different manufacturers in the top thirteen places on the grid.
- Alvaro Bautista, who is starting from 14th place on the grid, is making his 250th Grand Prix start.
Moto2
- Mattia Pasini has qualified on pole position for the third successive race. He is the first rider to achieve that feat in the Moto2 class since Johann Zarco in 2015 and the first Italian rider to do so since Andrea Iannone in 2010.
- Alex Márquez will start from second on the grid, which his is ninth front row start of the season and his 11th since he joined Moto2 in 2015, equaling Toni Elias.
- Franco Morbidelli is in third place on the grid, which is his eleventh front row start from the first 12 races. He is the first rider to achieve that feat since the introduction of the Moto2 class in 2010.
- Takaaki Nakagami will head the second row, which is his best qualifying result since he qualified second in Assen this year.
- In ninth place on the grid is Tom Lüthi, winner of last year’s race at Silverstone. It’s his worst qualifying result since he was 11th in Brno this year where he managed to win his first race of the season.
- Stefano Manzi has qualified in 13th on the grid, which is his best qualifying result of his Grand Prix career.
Moto3
- Romano Fenati has qualified on pole position for the first time since Mugello last year. This is the fourth pole position in his Grand Prix career, which matches the tally of Niccolò Antonelli, Jonas Folger and Luis Salom. Fenati will be aiming to win his second race of the season to follow his victory in Austin.
- Joan Mir has qualified in second on the grid, which is the fifth front row start of his career. He will be aiming to win his eighth race of the season, which would make him the first rider to achieve that feat since the introduction of the Moto3 class in 2012.
- Gabriel Rodrigo is on the front row for the third successive race. Rodrigo will be aiming to become the first Argentinean rider to stand on the podium in the lightweight class since Willy Perez finished third at Spa Francorchamps in 1986. Argentina has never had a race win in the lightweight-class of Grand Prix racing.
- John McPhee has qualified in fourth for the second race in a row. He crossed the line in 17th last year in Silverstone from 17th on the grid.
- Niccolò Antonelli qualified in fifth, which equals his best qualifying result this season when he was fifth on the grid at the opening round in Qatar. Antonelli will be aiming to stand on the podium for the first time since he won in Qatar last year.
- Andrea Migno will start from sixth on the grid, which is his best qualifying result since he was fifth in Phillip Island last season.
