(Reuters) – Italian Marco Bezzecchi took pole position for the second MotoGP race in a row before crashing in qualifying for a wet British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday.
The VR46 Ducati rider clocked a best time of two minutes 15.359 seconds with KTM’s Jack Miller 0.270 of a second slower and Alex Marquez completing the front row on a Ducati for Gresini Racing after falling at turn one.
Ducati’s reigning world champion and overall leader Francesco Bagnaia was fourth fastest after also crashing.
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 world champion and winner at Silverstone, failed to get through the first phase of qualifying and will start last.
Honda’s returning six-times MotoGP champion Marc Marquez also fell short and will line up 14th.
“I’m OK, it was a big one,” said Bezzecchi of his crash at Vale after setting the fastest lap with three minutes remaining.
“In the first half of the lap the track was OK and then the second half of the track there was a lot more water. I didn’t expect to crash but as soon as I braked I aquaplaned and the bike disappeared,” he added.
Bezzecchi, who also took pole at the Dutch TT in June before MotoGP’s summer break, said the conditions would make it difficult for the sprint race to be held later on Saturday.
“We wait and we see,” he said.
Miller also said it had been hard to control the bike on the wet track.
“Tricky conditions but happy enough. The bike’s working really well … for sure there’s a little bit we can fine tune for today’s race,” he said.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Helen Popper)
