British MotoGP: Bautista takes surprise pole

Gresini Honda rider Alvaro Bautista will start tomorrow’s British GP from pole position after setting his fastest lap just before rain started to fall.

Bautista set his fastest lap of 2’03.303 with 10 minutes of the session remaining, just before the rain flags came out and stopped any of the other riders improving on the Spaniard’s time.

Factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies starts from second on the grid, with Australian Casey Stoner completing the front row in third for his final GP race at Silverstone before his retirement.

Jorge Lorenzo heads the second row in fourth position, ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Hector Barbera.

Factory Ducati rider Valentino Rossi will start from 10th on the grid after a heavy crash on the brakes. Team-mate Nicky Hayden will start from seventh, after crashing at the same spot as Rossi late in ther session.

Brit Cal Crutchlow was absent from the qualifying session after crashing heavily in morning practice and spraining his ankle. Cal is currently in hospital, but could possibly start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid.

1 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 313.0 2’03.303 
2 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 309.5 2’03.409 0.106 / 0.106
3 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 313.6 2’03.423 0.120 / 0.014
4 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 308.7 2’03.763 0.460 / 0.340
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 313.1 2’03.835 0.532 / 0.072
6 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 314.6 2’03.876 0.573 / 0.041
7 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 309.5 2’04.162 0.859 / 0.286
8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 311.7 2’04.304 1.001 / 0.142
9 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 314.6 2’05.035 1.732 / 0.731
10 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 309.7 2’05.416 2.113 / 0.381
11 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 292.0 2’06.283 2.980 / 0.867
12 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 292.4 2’06.303 3.000 / 0.020
13 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR 291.6 2’06.814 3.511 / 0.511
14 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 288.9 2’07.016 3.713 / 0.202
15 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 290.6 2’07.376 4.073 / 0.360
16 54 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART 289.2 2’07.511 4.208 / 0.135
17 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 292.4 2’08.228 4.925 / 0.717
18 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda 276.0 2’08.686 5.383 / 0.458
19 22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR 286.3 2’10.092 6.789 / 1.406