Aleix Espargaro claimed pole position for Aprilia in the British Grand Prix, beating the factory Ducati MotoGP bikes of Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini.

Espargaro delivered an impressive effort of 1m57.309s in the dying minutes of qualifying, taking advantage of late troubles for Bagnaia and Bastianini to put himself in prime position to repeat his grand prix victory from 2023.

Jorge Martin qualified fourth on the Pramac Ducati, while Marc Marquez ended up down in seventh on his year-old Gresini GP23.

As soon as Q2 began, Bagnaia started lighting up the timesheets and broke the 1m58s barrier on his first flyer before smashing the lap record next time out with a 1m57.517s.

Bastianini made it a provisional 1-2 for the factory Ducati team on a 1m57.693s, while Martin — who had topped all sessions coming into qualifying — only third on the Pramac-entered GP24 after losing time in the final sector.

Espargaro was only fourth after the first runs, facing a small but significant deficit to the three Ducatis ahead.

However, the second runs were anything but smooth for Ducati riders. First Bagnaia had to abandon a flying lap, after some debris got stuck on his visor, then TV images showed Bastianini slowing down and letting other bikes go through.

The story was similar for Marquez, who seemed visibly frustrated at being held back by the two VR46 GP23s running right in front of him.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

All of that allowed Espargaro to leapfrog the Ducatis and claim his first pole position of the season, two tenths clear of Bagnaia — who was unable to improve his time on his final effort.

Third and fourth places went to Bastianini and Martin, who also could not go any faster than they did in their first runs.

Alex Marquez managed to jump to fifth at the end on his Gresini bike, beating the top KTM of Brad Binder and his elder brother Marc, who was consigned to seventh.

Maverick Vinales crashed out at Farm corner late on in qualifying and ended up a distant eighth, eight tenths down on his polesitting team-mate, while Pedro Acosta made his way from Q1 to qualify ninth for Tech3 GasGas.

VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi appeared to be off the pace and ended up 10th and 12th respectively, separated by the second factory KTM of Jack Miller — who was unable to carry his Friday practice pace into qualifying.

Pramac rider Franco Morbidelli and Trackhouse Racing duo Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira were split by just over half a tenth in Q1, qualifying 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.

LCR rider Johann Zarco led the unofficial ‘Japanese Cup’ for Honda in 15th place, two places ahead of the top Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo.

Remy Gardner, replacing the injured Alex Rins on the sister M1, qualified last in 22nd place.

MotoGP British GP Qualifying results

Pramac MotoGP rider Jorge Martin edged out Aleix Espargaro in second practice for the British Grand Prix amid a close battle between Ducati and Aprilia for the top spot.

Ducati had an early scare at the start of one-hour session, with both Enea Bastianini and Marco Bezzecchi having to pull up at the edge of the track with smoke coming out of their respective bikes.

It didn’t take long for the duo to return to the garage and hop on their second machines, although there were concerned faces seen at Ducati as they remained perplexed by the cause of the problem.

Meanwhile, Martin carried his form from first practice to lead early on with a 1m59.583s, before he was dislodged from the top spot by championship leader Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati on a 1m59.142s.

Team-mate Bastianini then managed to go even quicker on the sister GP24, a 1m59.026s putting him at the head of the order at the halfway point of the session.

Maverick Vinales asserted Aprilia’s pace by finding even more time on the RS-GP, becoming the first rider this weekend to break the 1m59s barrier as he lapped the circuit in 1m58.563s.

More changes followed in the final leg of the session, with Espargaro taking over from team-mate Vinales with a 1m58.512s before Bagnaia put Ducati back at the front thanks to a 1m58.447s.

Fabio Di Giannantonio enjoyed a brief stint at the top until Martin returned to the head of the order with a 1m58.262s.

A final flurry of laps followed in the dying minutes of the session, with Espargaro setting a remarkable 1m57.956s on the Aprilia before Martin lowered the benchmark even further with a 1m57.911s to end the day at the top of the order.

Bagnaia ended up third on a 1m58.030s, with team-mate Bastianini finishing another 0.160s adrift to finish a solid fourth.

KTM’s Jack Miller put in another impressive performance to take fifth and secure a direct passage into Q2, beating the VR46 bike of Di Giannantonio but crucially his team-mate Brad Binder by over a tenth.

Vinales dropped to eighth in the final order behind Binder, while Bezzecchi was ninth after an early scare that left him with a single bike in FP2.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was the last rider to make it directly into Q2 on a 1m58.585s, 0.674s off the pace set by Martin.

A number of leading riders will have to get through Q1, including Franco Morbidelli on the Pramac Ducati (11th), Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta (13th) and Gresini’s Alex Marquez (14th).

Fabio Quartararo was the top Yamaha rider in 16th place, while the Honda contingent was led by LCR rider Johann Zarco in 17th.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin led the way in opening practice for the British Grand Prix on Friday, leading Aprilia duo Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.

Aprilia led the majority of the 45-minute session at Silverstone, having won last year’s race with Aleix Espargaro at the wheel of the RS-GP.

Maverick Vinales set the early pace on the factory bike with a 2m01.436s, before improving to a 2m00.319s to cement his position at the front.

Team-mate Espargaro was the first rider to break the 2m barrier, lapping the circuit in 1m59.769s after 12 minutes on the clock to snatch the top spot from his team-mate.

Espargaro’s time remained unbeaten until the final third of the session, when Martin ended Aprilia’s stranglehold with a 1m59.627s flyer on the Pramac Ducati.

Espargaro responded with a 1m59.719s, but that still left him trailing Martin by 0.092s at the front of the order.

The championship contender slowly extended his advantage in the final 10 minutes, first improving to a 1m59.509s before going even quicker with a 1m59.383s.

Vinales made one last attempt at overhauling his countryman but his best effort of 1m59.473s fell short by 0.090s, as Martin drew first blood in the second part of the season.

However, it was still a strong start to the weekend for Aprilia, with Espargaro finishing right 0.246s adrift of Vinales in third.

KTM’s Jack Miller ran near the front for the majority of the session and took fourth as the chequered flag dropped, ahead of Franco Morbidelli on the second of the Pramac bikes.

Enea Bastianini was the top runner for the factory Ducati team in sixth place, two spots clear of his world champion team-mate Francesco Bagnaia. The Ducati two were separated by Fabio di Giannantonio on the VR46-entered GP23, as five Ducati bikes occupied the top eight spots.

Fabio Quartararo put in a solid effort on the factory Yamaha to take ninth place, less than half a second off the pace set by Martin.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was able to complete the top 10 despite a crash at Stowe in the final minutes of the session when he was on a flying lap. He was the last of the riders to lap in the 1m59s bracket.

Tech3 GasGas’s Pedro Acosta also ended up in the gravel late on in practice, but only just nudged the barriers after going off at Brooklands with seven minutes left on the clock.

A 2m00.052s lap left him 11th in the timesheets, ahead of the second Gresini bike of Alex Marquez and factory KTM rider Brad Binder.

A total of 23 riders started the British GP weekend, with Remy Gardner getting a wildcard outing with Yamaha.

MotoGP British GP — FP1 results: