MotoGP Qualifying Silverstone 2026: Jorge Martin conquers pole position

– The Aprilia dominance continued at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone also in qualifying. Jorge Martin took pole position ahead of the Trackhouse duo Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura. Marc Marquez (Ducati) starts from the second row.

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After his crash in Friday practice, Francesco Bagnaia had to compete in Q1 for the fifth time this season. But after the first attempts, the Ducati factory rider was only eighth.

Franco Morbidelli (VR46-Ducati) initially led the standings ahead of rookie Diogo Moreira (LCR-Honda). In the second attempt, Morbidelli improved to 1:57.173 minutes.

Bagnaia improved only to sixth place in the second attempt and was seven tenths of a second behind Morbidelli. Then he made a mistake in turn 1 and his Q1 was over. Bagnaia ended up in 16th starting position.

Besides Morbidelli, Iker Lecuona (Gresini-Ducati) also advanced to Q2. He set this lap in the second attempt behind Morbidelli (Q1 result). Lecuona is replacing Fermin Aldeguer in Silverstone, who is still recovering from his spinal injury from Assen.

In Q2, the Marquez brothers found their first 1:56 laps of the weekend in the first attempt. Marc Marquez took the lead with 1:56.527 minutes, twelve thousandths of a second ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati).

The best Aprilia rider after the first attempts was Martin in third. In the second attempt, Marco Bezzecchi set a time of 1:56.456 minutes and took the lead. That was about two tenths of a second slower than his best time on Friday.

Then the two Trackhouse riders went on a time attack. Raul Fernandez set a new lap record with 1:56.181 minutes, and Ai Ogura slotted in 0.168 seconds behind as second.

However, that was not the final decision. Martin managed a lap in 1:56.160 minutes and secured his 22nd pole position in MotoGP with this new lap record. Aprilia took the entire front row.

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“I put everything I had on the track,” says Martin about his record lap. “Honestly, I did not expect to set such a strong lap time. But yesterday we confirmed that the feeling had improved.”

“Today we took another small step. I just strongly felt that I did not ride here last year. That’s why I tried to get a feel for the pace we run here.”

Martin was ultimately 0.021 seconds faster than Raul Fernandez, who is still waiting for his first pole position. Nevertheless, he says: “I am happy. But we still miss this pole position because of small details.”

“Today, almost nothing was missing. But still, I think we are working well. Now we have to carefully consider which tire is right for the sprint race, because we are not yet 100 percent sure.”

Ogura took third starting position with a gap of 0.189 seconds. “It was a difficult session for me,” says the Japanese rider. “The lap time did not really come as I expected. Let’s see what happens in the sprint.”

The best Ducati rider was Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) in fourth. His gap was 0.255 seconds. Bezzecchi lost an aerodynamic part at the rear in the final phase and did not improve further. He finished fifth.

Marc Marquez qualified sixth with a gap of 0.367 seconds. His younger brother Alex followed in seventh place. Morbidelli secured eighth starting position.

KTM spearhead Pedro Acosta was seven tenths of a second behind the leader. The Spaniard took ninth place (Q2 result). The starting positions in the fourth row went to Lecuona, Jack Miller (Pramac-Yamaha), and Joan Mir (Honda).

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The 10-lap sprint starts at 17:00 CEST (for the starting grid).