Pol Espargaro’s early weekend form turned into sensational pole position at the British GP, his first aboard the Repsol Honda Team RC213V. Marc Marquez will start the race in fifth place, right behind his team-mate, and will finish a very positive Saturday.
A typically gloomy British morning waited as the MotoGP World Championship rolled out of the pit lane for Free Practice 3. The cooler conditions didn’t stop the fast lap times, as all top 11 fell into 1: 59, Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez kept up with the pace to get straight into Q2.
There was no delay for Espargaro in Free Practice 4 as the # 44 finished the session in second and again honored the Honda height – a small fall at the end of Free Practice 3 didn’t have much of an impact on his performance. With his brand-typical determination, Espargaro rolled out of the pit lane for Q2 and got to work. A stable first run put him well placed, but on his second set of tires Espargaro unleashed himself and set his best lap time ever around Silverstone – a 1’58.889. Time put him in second place in the session, just seconds before Q2. When the Repsol Honda Team rider rolled into Parc Ferme, he was promoted to pole position for Martin due to a track violation.
Pol Espargaro will start the 2021 British Grand Prix from pole position, his first with the Repsol Honda team and his third in the premier class. This is also the first time a Repsol Honda Team rider has started from pole since Marc Marquez was at the head of the field for the 2019 Japanese GP. Espargaro is also the first Repsol Honda Team rider alongside Marc Marquez to take pole since the 2017 Malaysian GP.
Marc Marquez was seldom more than three tenths behind his team-mate from the Repsol Honda team at Silverstone on Saturday. As tenth in Free Practice 3 and fourth in Free Practice 4, Marquez was still at the sharp end, just like on Friday. Track limits during his first run in Q2 saw the lifting of the eight-time world champion’s lap times. Marquez drove a strong final lap and finished fifth on the grid, 0.197 seconds behind his team-mate. Together, Marquez and Espargaro produced the Repsol Honda Team’s best Saturday in 2021.
Sunday is a new day, but both Espargaro and Marquez are determined to convert their training pace to racing pace and battle for the top spots. The 20-lap race starts at 1:00 p.m. local time before the Moto2 race.