British MotoGP 2014: Marc Marquez back in the groove to take pole at Silverstone

Unstoppable Spaniard takes his 11th pole in 12 races

Lean time over: Marc Marquez leads Briton Scott Redding in qualifying at Silverstone after coming fourth last time (Reuters)

The 21-year-old Spaniard Marc Marquez will start from pole position on his Repsol Honda in the British MotoGP at Silverstone today after he dashed rivals’ hopes that his season may have peaked prematurely.

Marquez reverted to form by recording his 11th pole in 12 races, with a lap of two minutes 0.829 seconds on the 3.666-mile circuit. He slumped to an unaccustomed fourth place in the last round in the Czech Republic, after reeling off wins in the opening 10 races of the series.

“My qualifying lap was not as fast as last year, because the track is a bit slower,” Marquez said. “But I’m really happy with the bike.” The 28-year-old Italian Andrea Dovizioso will start from second, only a third of a second slower than Marquez, in a Ducati revival that has seen his V4 on the front row for the last three races.

The double MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo completes the front row on his Movistar Yamaha, after setting a pace only 0.346s slower than Marquez. “I used a soft tyre in qualifying, and I’ll have to use a hard tyre for the race,” he said.

The 23-year-old Oxfordshire rider Bradley Smith is best of the five Britons, with seventh place on his Yamaha Tech 3, one place behind the MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha), who today starts his 246th MotoGP race, a record for any rider.