Marquez takes fourth pole in a row at Silverstone

Britain's Cal Crutchlow, who was on pole last year and finished second, took the final front-row slot on the non-works LCR Honda.

(Reuters)

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales, the 2016 race winner on a Suzuki, starts fourth.

Marquez leads Italian Andrea Dovizioso, who qualified sixth for Ducati, by 16 points in the standings with Rossi fourth and 33 points behind the Spaniard.

Rossi's time was a mere 0.084 slower than Marquez, whose lap of one minute 59.941 seconds was a record by a MotoGP rider at the circuit.

Sunday's race starts at 1430GMT, avoiding a clash with the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps which gets under way at 1200GMT.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Clare Fallon)