Silverstone MotoGP: Bautista’s Maiden Pole

2012 Hertz British Grand Prix

For the first time in his premier-class career, San Carlo Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista earned a pole-position start.

This historical event for the Spaniard arrived following a drama-filled qualifying session Saturday for the Hertz British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Bautista set some lap times in the low 2:03s in the beginning of the hour-long qualifying session, and when rain began towards the end, a time when the lowest laps are usually set, nobody was able to challenge Bautista.

The satellite Honda RC213V rider posted a 2:03.303 to take the pole, 0.106 of a second ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies. Taking the final front-row starting position was Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner, who trailed Stoner by 0.120 of a second.

During qualifying, many riders went off the track and crashed, including Spies. As for Stoner, who posted the quickest times during two of the three free practice sessions, the reigning MotoGP Champion reported he struggled with chatter aboard the front end of the RC213V.

The current points leader, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, will head up the second row, though his progress was slowed during a mistake at turn 6 during his “hot lap.” Joining Lorenzo on the second row will be Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Pramac Racing Ducati’s Hector Barbera.

MotoGP says seventh place is occupied by Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, who managed to post his fast lap before crashing out at Vale corner in the latter stages. In eighth, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso was unusually low down the order, after having impressed in free practice this morning. The top 10 is rounded out by LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, riding with an injured finger after a crash this morning, as well as Ducati’s Valentino Rossi, who had a near carbon-copy crash to Hayden in the same corner at the start of the session. Both Ducati riders walked away unscathed. Best CRT finisher was Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró in 11th.

The Qualifying Practice did not include local rider Cal Crutchlow, as he crashed his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine in the morning practice, injuring his ankle. He is currently undergoing medial checks in hospital to determine whether he will be fit to race tomorrow. Also, the race will not include Cardion AB Racing’s Karel Abraham, who was declared unfit to race this weekend.

Bautista’s pole position is the first time since the Assen TT race last year that Lorenzo, Stoner or Pedrosa have not started from first. At that race, it was also the San Carlo squad that took top spot with the late Marco Simoncelli, MotoGP says.

2012 Silverstone MotoGP Qualifying Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
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
	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati
	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha