Francesco Bagnaia will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from pole position after winning a remarkable qualifying duel with championship leader Jorge Martin.
The Italian factory Ducati rider beat his own lap record by over a second with a scorching lap of 1m56.336s. This was a response to Martin earlier taking Sepang MotoGP qualifying times into uncharted territory with what looked like an unbeatable 1m56.553s.
Martin had time for one further lap to counter Bagnaia’s time, but simply had no response aboard his Pramac Ducati.
The pole sets up Bagnaia perfectly for the sprint and the grand prix, in which he must try to make a serious dent in Martin’s 17-point advantage going before the final round.
The title protagonists were effectively in a private duel in qualifying, with next-best rider Alex Marquez almost a second away from Bagnaia’s pole time. The 2023 Sepang sprint winner will nonetheless complete the front row aboard his Gresini Ducati.
Earlier, Bagnaia had continued his sparkling weekend form by leading FP2, meaning he had topped all three practice sessions ahead of qualifying.
Then, in Q1, LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco banged in a late 1m57.635 to top the session and book a spot in Q2.
KTM’s Brad Binder was the other rider to progress from Q1, just edging out Tech3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta.
While all eyes were then on the front-runners in Q2, Franco Morbidelli secured his best qualifying result since San Marino to claim fourth place for Pramac Ducati.
The Italian will share the second row with Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini, who fell at the last corner in the final moments of the session.
Marquez and Bastianini will continue their battle for third in the championship, which Marquez leads by 11 points.
Jack Miller continued to show the way for KTM in Malaysia, with the factory rider lining up seventh alongside the Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins, who made the top 10 together for the first time this season.
Miller’s team-mate Binder was 10th after having a time cancelled late in the session due to the yellow flags brought out by Bastianini. He will share row four with Zarco and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.
Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) was in contention for a place in Q2, but had to pull out of his final Q1 lap whilst second on the timesheets. His net result was fourth in the session and 14th on the grid behind Acosta.
Andrea Iannone was competitive after…
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