World championship leader Jorge Lorenzo will start today's British Grand Prix from pole position after topping the times in qualifying at Silverstone.

The Fiat Yamaha rider's time of two minutes 3.308 seconds saw him edge out the LCR Honda of Randy de Puniet by just over a tenth of a second.

The Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa completes the front row with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso fourth ahead of the Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.

Ben Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha), Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda), Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda) and Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) complete the top ten.

Lorenzo has become the favourite for the title after team-mate Valentino Rossi suffered a broken leg in practice for the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago and the Spaniard has been right on the pace all weekend, topping Friday's practice session at the revamped Northamptonshire track.

But he initially struggled to match De Puniet's pace as the Frenchman threatened to become the first non-factory rider to start from the front of the grid since 2006.

But Lorenzo eventually managed to edge ahead, with De Puniet crashing on his final lap as he desperately sought his maiden pole position in the top class.

Pedrosa, however, was not so lucky when he crashed at Brooklands on his final lap. The Spaniard was clipped by his tumbling RC212V and had to be stretchered away from the scene.

Bradley Smith narrowly missed out on a home pole position in the 125cc class as Derbi rider Marc Marquez pipped the Oxford racer by over two tenths of a second.

Pol Espargaro and Nicolas Terol completed the front row.