Sepang MotoGP: Marquez takes yet another pole

Rookie sensation Marc Marquez will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from pole position, as the championship leader takes his fourth consecutive and eighth of the season.

Running wide on his second fast run of Q2 meant that he was only able to get one fast lap in, but it was all he needed to snatch the top spot away from Valentino Rossi with a new lap record.

Rossi himself put in a fast lap in the final minute of the session to provisionally hold the top spot, demoting Brit Cal Crutchlow back to second and then third.

With rain falling at the end of Q1, a number of people including Rossi and teammate Jorge Lorenzo had big near misses after making contact with the kerbs.

Lorenzo finishied in fourth, ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Alvaro Bautista, while Bradley Smith tops the third row in seventh.

Stefan Bradl was forced to sit out the session, and will not tart tomorrow’s race after a FP4 crash left him with a fractured ankle. What looked like an innocuous crash turned serious when Bradl caught and twisted his ankle on the astroturf lining the track.

Aleix Espargaro was once again best of the CRT machines in ninth, while Michael Laverty was in 19th after getting caught out by the rain shower on his final fast lap of Q1.

1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA Q2 2’00.011 7 7 327.5
2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA Q2 2’00.336 7 7 0.325 0.325 323.2
3 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA Q2 2’00.359 7 7 0.348 0.023 320.9
4 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing YAMAHA Q2 2’00.578 5 5 0.567 0.219 322.2
5 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA Q2 2’00.692 7 7 0.681 0.114 324.2
6 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini HONDA Q2 2’00.974 7 7 0.963 0.282 323.7
7 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA Q2 2’01.306 7 7 1.295 0.332 319.2
8 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI Q2 2’01.635 6 6 1.624 0.329 318.9
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART Q2 2’02.151 2 3 2.140 0.516 273.1
10 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing DUCATI Q2 2’02.536 7 7 2.525 0.385 317.6
11 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team DUCATI Q2 2’02.900 6 7 2.889 0.364 319.3
12 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA FP3 2’01.083 0.529
13 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR KAWASAKI Q1 2’02.858 2 6 (*) 0.532 307.4
14 71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR KAWASAKI Q1 2’03.175 2 6 (*) 0.849 0.317 303.9
15 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR Q1 2’03.212 6 7 (*) 0.886 0.037 307.6
16 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR Q1 2’03.418 4 7 (*) 1.092 0.206 311.7
17 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Ignite Pramac Racing DUCATI Q1 2’03.651 6 7 (*) 1.325 0.233 316.9
18 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART Q1 2’03.805 4 7 (*) 1.479 0.154 303.2
19 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART Q1 2’04.198 3 7 (*) 1.872 0.393 305.6
20 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER Q1 2’04.310 3 7 (*) 1.984 0.112 299.4
21 23 Luca SCASSA ITA Cardion AB Motoracing ART Q1 2’05.199 6 7 (*) 2.873 0.889 301.6
22 67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR HONDA Q1 2’06.038 3 6 (*) 3.712 0.839 296.2
23 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER Q1 2’06.203 2 6 (*) 3.877 0.165 297.8
24 50 Damian CUDLIN AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM Q1 2’06.273 4 6 (*) 3.947 0.070 303.7 –