British MotoGP: Johann Zarco grabs pole position with a new lap record at Silverstone

Bengaluru, August 6: The 2022 FIM MotoGP World Championship resumed after the summer break with Pramac Racing's Johann Zarco grabbing the pole position for the British Grand Prix to be held at the Silverstone circuit with a new lap record.

Aprillia Racing's Maverick Vinales is back in the front row after a while while Ducati's Jack Miller will start third on the grid.

Zarco's new all-time lap record gives the man third in the 2022 FIM MotoGP World Championship chase, his second pole position of the season.

After seven different winners on the last seven visits, the race is on to see if there will be a magic number eight.

Find out when the lights go out for the premier class at 1pm local time (5.30pm IST) on Sunday! Indian audience can catch all the action live on Eurosport SD/HD channels.

THE GRID (TOP 10)

1. Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) - 1:57.767
2. Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) + 0.098
3. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.164
4. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.171
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.194
6. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.199
7. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.334
8. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP^TM) + 0.339
9. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.407
10. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 0.550

Vinales is back

The last rider to cross the line on a flying lap was Vinales - and it was a belter.

Top Gun's 1:57.865 was enough to shoot him up to second place, earning the Spaniard his best qualifying result with Aprilia and his first front row since claiming pole at the 2021 Dutch TT.

Miller in front row

Miller claimed a front row in P3 after a stellar show. In the battle to make it into the pole position fight, early drama unfolded for Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) as the Spaniard crashed down at the Vale chicane.

Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) went fastest and went faster again on his final flying lap to cement P1, as Ducati counterpart Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) snatched P2 away from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) on his last lap to sail into Q2.

Quartararo fourth

In the end though, Zarco's new all-time lap record gives the man third in the 2022 FIM MotoGP World Championship chase his second pole position of the season.

Quartararo will be praying for a great getaway from P4 as he faces the much-talked-about the long-lap penalty on Sunday afternoon.

Bagnaia in the mix

Three main title contenders line up on the second row. -- Francesco Bagnaia starts P5 and Aleix Espargaro starts P6. After coming through Q1, Marco Bezzecchi starts seventh ahead of fellow Q1 graduate Enea Bastianini - amazingly, both of the Ducati riders were under Marc Marquez's (Repsol Honda Team) old lap record at Silverstone.

That is just how competitive MotoGP is in 2022. Jorge Martin has to settle for P9 despite being less than half a second away from pole position, as Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), Rins and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) round out the Q2 places in P10, P11 and P12 respectively. All this means we are set up for a spell-binding Sunday at Silverstone.