He did it for the first time this season in Qatar, then did it again in Spain and, for the third time in 2010, the Repsol rider again demonstrated himself to be the fastest in the 125cc class in qualifying. Having kicked off the arrival of the Motorcycle World Championships at Silverstone with the best time of yesterday, Friday, this afternoon Márquez has established himself as the first rider to take pole at the British circuit.
Third this morning behind local rider Bradley Smith and fellow countryman Pol Espargaró, Márquez this afternoon beat, by almost two seconds, his best time of the morning. Only the Cervera rider and Bradley Smith were today able to beat 2 minutes and 14 seconds, although the English rider finished up almost 3 tenths off the Márquez best time.
From the first few minutes of the qualifying session, the Emilio Alzamora pupil had shown his colours and was leading the timesheets after his first laps. With a set up more finely tuned each time, both in the configuration of the suspension and gearbox – one of the unknown factors when confronting a new circuit -, the Repsol rider worked on his race pace with worn tyres until, ten minutes from the end, he changed for new tyres.
Márquez battled for first place with local rider Bradley Smith who, with two minutes to go, was top of the leader board. However, in a perfect last lap, the Repsol rider took the advantage over his rival by 299 milliseconds, assuring the first position on the grid for tomorrow’s race. A race which, due to the time difference in England, will take place later than usual, after the MotoGP and Moto2 classes. It will be at 14:30 hours (local time), 15:30 in Spain.
Marc Márquez, 2’14.667 sec, 27 laps, 159 km. >> Audio
“Testing went pretty well. Yesterday we started to try out some adjustments and today we finished testing the best configuration, although the track was a little cold and slippery. In qualifying we went out with the best that we had and, to be honest the motorbike rode very well. We have done a great job with the team. I thought that the wind would cause a few more problems in clocking up good times but, in the end, I felt comfortable and was able to take pole position. Starting from the front line is what counts and we achieved that and also have a good pace for the race. I think we are ready for a good race”.
