Petronas SRT Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo claimed MotoGP pole in Malaysian GP from Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli.
Q1:
The first part of Malaysian GP MotoGP qualifying at Sepang International Circuit had Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci head Suzuki’s Joan Mir for a place in Q2 initially. It stayed like that for majority of the session until Mir went quickest.
But Petrucci came back with a 1m59.336s. However, LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow saved the best for last to be the fastest in Q1 eventually with a 1m59.216s as Petrucci was pushed to second and Mir knocked out to start the Sunday race in 13th.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro improved on his final lap to be 14th and get ahead of brother and KTM’s Pol Espagaro. The lone Avintia Ducati of Karel Abraham slotted in 16th from Aprilia’s Andrea Iannone as they pushed Honda’s Jorge Lorenzo to 18th.
KTM’s Mika Kallio was 19th with the lone Tech 3 KTM of Hafizh Syahrin in 20th. Teammate Miguel Oliveira along with Avintia’s Tito Rabat were forced out of the weekend due to their respective injuries.
Q2:
The tow game was on in the second part of Malaysian GP MotoGP qualifying with every rider trying to be on the back of each other. Amidst all that, Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales went quickest to take provisional pole from Fabio Quartararo.
The second run was all about Honda’s Marc Marquez as he tried to get on the back of Quartararo for his quick lap. The Frenchman was trying to shake him off but there was no way as Ducati’s Petrucci joined the duo as well to start the new lap.
It got messy as Honda’s Marquez suffered a massive high-side and fell face first to retire from the session. On track though, Petronas SRT Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli went quickest to provisional pole but was soon beaten by Yamaha’s Vinales.
However, Quartararo saved it for the last as he went even quicker with a 1m59.303s to clinch Malaysian GP pole in the team’s home grand prix. It is his fifth MotoGP pole of 2019 as in celebration, he broke his helmet’s visor post the quick lap.
Vinales had to settle for second with Morbidelli in third in a Yamaha 1-2-3 as Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller improved on his final lap to be fourth ahead of LCR Honda’s Crutchlow. They both got the better of Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, who was sixth.
Suzuki’s Alex Rins finished seventh with Petrucci slotting in eighth as LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco did well to be ninth as he managed to beat Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, Honda’s Marquez and Pramac Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
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