Martin takes Malaysian MotoGP pole, Miller and title contenders crash

Jorge Martin has stormed to pole position for the Malaysian MotoGP while the three realistic title contenders all qualified no better than ninth after two crashed.

Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) escaped Qualifying 1 after a crash in Free Practice 3 but then went down again while chasing a time which would have put him onto provisional pole during Qualifying 2 at Sepang.

He would end up ninth all-told but is still on the row ahead of his key rivals, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing).

The latter also crashed at Turn 8 and the former very nearly did, with Espargaro set to start 10th and Quartararo 12th.

Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) did not make it that far, highsiding on his final lap of Q1 and ending up 14th on the grid.

Martin had started Q2 in a great hurry, breaking the outright lap record by almost three tenths of a second when he set a 1:58.201s straight out of the box.

Bagnaia was sixth at the end of the first runs but had started on a used soft Michelin slick on the rear of his Desmosedici given he came from Q1, and was still ahead of Espargaro and Quartararo at that stage.

However, he lost the front on the first flyer of his second run at Turn 4, and his session came to a premature end.

Quartararo saved a front-end moment at Turn 8 but it cost him the chance to improve on that lap and he was too slow to get in another before the chequered flag came out.

Then, Espargaro went down at Turn 8, while Martin went even quicker again in setting a 1:57.790s.

He will share the front row with Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati), who went as fast as a 1:58.246s, and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), who also got out of Q1 to set a 1:58.454s when pole was on the line.

Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) qualified fourth, ahead of Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar), Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati), and Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha).

The latter will have to serve a double long lap penalty in the race after being found to have impeded Bagnaia and Marquez in FP3.

Morbidelli is, of course, Quartararo’s team-mate, and while there is no suggestion that his wrongdoing was deliberate, he did the Frenchman another favour by knocking Bagnaia out of the combined top 10 with his final lap of FP3.

Eighth on the grid will be Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), from Bagnaia, Espargaro, Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar), and Quartararo.

Back in Q1, there was no certainty that Bagnaia would get out given how stacked the field was for that 15-minute stanza.

However, he punched out a 1:58.645s at the end of his first run, which would prove the fastest lap, and Miller sat second-quickest as the track went quiet.

After Marquez’s antics on the first runs, Ducati appeared to have sent Miller out as a decoy for the second runs, and the Honda man this time latched onto #43.

That was until the Queenslander ran wide at Turn 4, but Marquez found himself tailing Miller again when he too ran wide at Turn 8.

Miller then highsided at Turn 2 on his final lap and Marquez pressed on to pinch second position, before Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) earned 13th on the grid and relegated ‘Jackass’ another spot.

Cal Crutchlow (WithU RNF Yamaha) completes Row 5, Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) is an uncharacteristically low 18th, and Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM) took 20th after a crash at Turn 8.

After the Sunday morning Warm Up, 20 laps of racing is on the cards as Bagnaia looks to seal the championship with a race to spare.

Qualifying: Malaysian MotoGP