World Championship leader takes eighth pole position of the season with a new lap record. Pedrosa to start from fifth on the grid at Sepang.
It was exciting to the end in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Marc Marquez again put on a show, starring as he broke the circuit record on his final hot lap. That was enough to give him pole position number eight of the season –his fourth in a row. Teammate Dani Pedrosa led the timesheet in the first half of the session but eventually dropped down to fifth.
In the third free practice session, Pedrosa was the top man. Marquez was down to seventh place. In the final practice run, the latter took a big step forward and clocked the fastest time, with Pedrosa fourth.
In an intense qualifying session, held with light rain dampening part of the circuit, tension was present right through to the final moments. Rossi, Crutchlow, Lorenzo and Pedrosa all took turns to lead the way, but it was rookie and World Championship leader Marquez who smashed the circuit record with his last attempt. A mistake at Turn 1 of his penultimate lap had left him with little margin for error on his final go, but he came back strong to take another pole position. He will be joined by Rossi and Crutchlow on the front row, with Lorenzo and Pedrosa on the second line in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
FP3 – 2:00.877, 12 laps, 67 km.
QP – 2:00.692, 7 laps, 39 km.
“Qualifying today was difficult to tackle, due to the rainfall, but in the end we all opted to go out on slicks. I was not able to clock the best time but I am happy with the pace that we have had during practice. Let’s see if tomorrow we can get a good start in the race.”
Marc Marquez >> Audio
FP3 – 2:01.956, 8 laps, 44 km.
QP – 2:00.011, 7 laps, 39 km.
“I’m really happy with this pole position, particularly as earning it was a little different to with my previous poles. At the start of qualifying there were two completely wet corners, which made it hard to put in a hot lap as we had to calculate the amount of risk ‒whilst still maintaining our speed. I knew that the final lap of the session would be definitive, because the surface was drying out and conditions were getting better by the minute. Things worked out for us and I set a time that I really wasn’t expecting. Tomorrow will be a different story, because Lorenzo and Dani [Pedrosa] both have a great pace, so we shall see if we have a bit of good fortune and the conditions remain dry.”
