KTM into Q2 with Pol Espargaro at BritishGP plus with six bikes in the Moto3 top ten QUALIFYING 12th Rd. MotoGP 2017 – Silverstone Circuit (GBR) MotoGP The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MotoGP team have built upon their recent top ten results from Brno and Spielberg to improve and develop the KTM RC16 at Silverstone for this weekend's British MotoGP as the bike turned a wheel on British soil for the first time. Pol Espargaro brilliantly qualified for the all-important Q2 following his seventh position from Friday and Saturday morning free practice, the first time any of the KTM MotoGP riders have advanced straight to Q2 in dry conditions. In qualifying Espargaro set his best lap time around the longest circuit of the MotoGP series to be seventh at the halfway point – a stunning performance – but the plucky Spaniard was desperately unlucky to fall off at the late-apex Brooklands corner as he started his second run. He will start 11th on the grid, his third best in the debut season of the KTM MotoGP project. Team mate Bradley Smith found a huge 2.4 seconds today over his Friday time to race around his home GP circuit for the first time on Michelin tyres after not being able to ride last year due to injury. He dug deep throughout the day to be ultimately an impressive 0.6 secs off his team mate come the end of qualifying. He will start 19th. Espargaro: "We've had a good run here at Silverstone considering this KTM has never even been here before, but me and the bike still have scope to improve and we've worked hard on that happening, particularly for the race tomorrow. This may mean we've had to go close to the limit than the rest but you have to put everything on the table for qualifying. I didn't have a bad first run but then on the second I was maybe over-pushing on the out lap to get a good wheel to do a good lap. I know 100% I could have improved my time but unluckily I crashed...but that's the risk of racing on the edge and that's what we need to do to push this project forward by finding the limits of the bike to improve it to make it better for next year. Overall we are very happy with the pace of the KTM this weekend to go through to Q2 directly in dry conditions – that's another step we've made."    Smith: "I have to be pleased with the improvement in time from yesterday; 2.4 seconds improvement is a huge step and at the end of today I'm only 0.6 seconds back of Pol on a long lap. This morning's rain didn't help but it was dry again this afternoon. I had a little slip off in FP4 with one of the harder front tyres so lost a bit of time but I managed to pull it together for the second run of the second tyre with a 2m 02.0sec. That was a good lap with nothing left on the table to give me 19th place on the grid which is on the left hand side of the track which is great for the run in to Copse and then Maggots. I'm now looking forward to racing at home in front of the British fans tomorrow."   Sebastian Risse (Technical Director MotoGP): "As a whole the bike works very well here at Silverstone. With Pol we got through to Q2 directly after his great run yesterday so we were automatically in the top 12 on the grid. This was great for the whole team here and in Austria. In qualifying he did his fastest lap of the weekend on his first run that put him seventh, however he was so unlucky on his second run when he had an off as he wound himself up for an even faster lap. These kind of things just happen but it's so good to have such committed riders and that's the price you occasionally have to pay, so we don't need to dwell on that. With Bradley we've made some big steps forward today so I'm happy with that as his lap time is strong and getting closer to Pol."    Moto2 On the first visit of the KTM Moto2 bike to Silverstone, Miguel Oliveira took a great third row start after concentrating on race pace throughout the dry qualifying session, only once visiting the garage to make adjustments in the 45 minute session. The Portuguese ultimately set his time on his own rather than using another rider's slipstream so he knows he has the tempo for the British track tomorrow. For last year's Moto3 champion, Brad Binder, things were not quite so quick as he didn't feel so well today before losing a little bit of confidence in the front end around one of the fastest tracks in the world.    Silverstone seems to throw up variety in Moto2 with seven different winners from the seven years the championship has been to the track, so the 18 laps tomorrow are sure to be interesting.   Oliveira: "In the qualifying session we placed little lower than we were expecting, but I have to say that it was a very good session for us. We were close to my best lap all the time. I'm happy about this, and I think that tomorrow I can run that pace for the entire race. A lot of riders set their best lap at the end, using slipstreams, so it's a bit bittersweet for us. Looking at the work we've done so far, I'm optimistic for tomorrow." Binder: "I didn't feel very well today, and despite that we have improved our best time from yesterday. During qualifying I didn't feel very comfortable with the front; every lap was the same and I lost confidence in the front. It was very difficult to try to set a fast lap, because every time I pushed a little I made a mistake and I went off the track. We need to think about the warmup tomorrow and find a setup that allows us find more feeling. From there we can try to look ahead and recover as many positions as possible in the race. It's something that we know we can do, because we have shown as much on other occasions." Moto3 Six KTM RC250 GP's filled the top ten places in the ultra close Moto3 class where just two seconds covered 26 riders. At the end of a frenetic session it was Gabriel Rodrigo – the pole position man for the last two Grands Prix – who will be the top KTM to start tomorrow's race from the front row. Italian Niccolo Antonelli with his Red Bull Ajo motorcycle equalled their best qualifying result from the 2017 season with fifth place followed by team mate Bo Bendsneyder just 0.11 secs back in 7th. The team now look forward to the race, a race they won with Brad Binder last year with Bendsneyder third.   Tomorrow's race will be the 100th Moto3 Grand Prix since the introduction of the formula in 2012. KTM is the most successful manufacturer in the class after 99 Grands Prix with 54 wins as an engine supplier.   Rodrigo: "I’m very happy. This weekend we made some proper progress: we struggled in the first free practice, but we could fix the situation. Yesterday in the FP2 we were fast on used tyres and, even if we weren’t quite in the front, we knew we had some margin. Unfortunately in the last free practice the track was wet and we didn’t manage to work on the bike setting because of that. However, in the qualifying I felt confident since the beginning and I could push hard. I was highly motivated and I wanted to get the third consecutive pole position, yet in the end we got the third position, on the first row. For the race start, there won’t be much difference between the first few spots on the grid, so we can actually say we achieved our objective today. I believe we have a solid pace, my KTM is competitive here. We’ll check the data and we’ll put together the final details, in order to be ready to race and fight for a good result." Antonelli: "We started qualifying with a little doubt because I still had the feeling in the wet in mind; I didn’t feel comfortable, so we couldn’t be as strong as we wanted. After the first trip back to the garage, the feeling I had was better and I improved my time, but the best lap we did was on the third stint. I managed to break away a little from the big group and set an almost perfect lap. I'm happy about how the session went and how the bike works in the dry; I hope tomorrow's race will be run in the same conditions." Races: August 13, 2017 – Moto3 12:40 | Moto2 14:00 CET | MotoGP 15:30  Results Qualifying MotoGP Silverstone Circuit 2017  1. Marc Marquez (ESP), Honda, 1:59.941 min 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA), Yamaha, +0.084 sec 3. Cal Crutchlow (GBR), Honda, +0.165 4. Maverick Vinales (ESP), Yamaha, +0.400 5. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP), Ducati, +0.458 KTM 11. Pol Espargaro (ESP), KTM, +1.437  19. Bradley Smith (GBR), KTM, +2.076 Results Qualifying Moto2 Silverstone Circuit 2017 1. Mattia Pasini (ITA), Kalex, +2:06.572 min 2. Alex Marquez (ESP), Kalex, +0.222 sec 3. Franco Morbidelli (ITA), Kalex, +0.245 4. Takaaki Nakagami (JAP), Kalex, +0.364 5. Luca Marini (ITA), Kalex, +0.411 KTM 8. Miguel Oliveira (POR), KTM, +0.552 20. Brad Binder (RSA), KTM, +1.419 Results Qualifying Moto3 Silverstone Circuit 2017 1. Romano Fenati (ITA), Honda, 2:12.846 min 2. Joan Mir (ESP), Honda, +0.116 sec 3. Gabriel Rodrigo (ESP), KTM, +0.203 4. John McPhee (GBR), Honda, +0.552 5. Niccolo Antonelli (ITA), KTM, +0.620 KTM 6. Andrea Migno (ITA), KTM, +0.711 7. Bo Bendsneyder (NED), KTM, +0.732 8. Nicolo Bulega (ITA), KTM, +0.738 10. Juanfran Guevara (ESP), KTM +0.859 PHILIPP GRÜNBERGER PR MANAGER MOTOGP philipp.gruenberger@ktm.com 0043 664 6217921 www.motogp.com www.ktm.com | media.ktm.com  Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram