Two of the title contenders take a tumble but they still out-qualify key rival Quartararo in Malaysia
Two MotoGP™ World Championship contenders crashed and another qualified all the way back on the fourth row as Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) shattered the All Time Lap Record in Q2 at the Sepang International Circuit. Championship Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) masterfully got himself out of Q1 only to drop his Desmosedici on its front end while on-track to go to provisional pole at the start of his second run in Q2 at the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia. He would be classified ninth but still outqualified title rivals Alex Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), the former of whom went down at Turn 8 and the latter of whom could only take 12th on the grid.
Martin starts strongly as Bagnaia crashes
When Q2 kicked off, Martin immediately stormed to a 1:58.021, almost three tenths of a second quicker than Quartararo’s All Time Lap Record of 1:58.303. Bagnaia was fastest in Q1 but had to start the second stanza of qualifying with a used soft Michelin slick on the back of his Ducati, and would be sixth at the end of the first runs on a 1:58.862. Still, he was ahead of his key rivals at that point, with Alex Espargaro eighth on a 1:58.935 and Quartararo, who had a finger strapped after a crash in FP4, 11th on a 1:59.215.
Bagnaia blows Q2 chances with Turn 4 crash
When Bagnaia went back out for his second run, Marquez latched on for a tow, as he had done in Q1. The tow was lost when Bagnaia had a front-end lose at Turn 4 having just set a new fastest first sector, and the eight-time World Champion was on his own. It proved little impediment, with Marquez jumping from the very bottom of the timing screen to third by clocking a 1:58.454.
Dramas for Quartararo and A. Espargaro as Martin continues to blitz them
The Honda man’s effort left Quartararo 12th and the Frenchman had a big front-end scare of his own at Turn 8. He…