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Sepang MotoGP: Marc Marquez takes record 13th pole of 2014

Marc Marquez flew to a record 13th pole of the 2014 MotoGP season as he denied Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa in Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying at Sepang

Marquez's 1m59.791s was the first time the two-minute barrier had been broken during a MotoGP race weekend at the track, although slightly quicker laps had been achieved in testing at the start of the year.

Pedrosa also got below 2m00s as he pushed to beat his team-mate.

They had been 0.063 seconds apart after their first Q2 runs, which Marquez had led on a 2m00.245s, but the world champion then raised the bar considerably with his second attempt.

Pedrosa had to back off from the first lap of his final run, before regrouping for a second bid.

He beat Marquez's pace in the first two sectors then tailed off and missed pole by 0.182s.

Jorge Lorenzo was the Hondas' closest rival, putting his Yamaha on the outside of the front row and briefly getting between Marquez and Pedrosa before the latter's final improvement.

Stefan Bradl tucked in behind Marquez on his pole lap and elevated his LCR Honda to fourth on the grid, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati and Valentino Rossi's Yamaha.

Aleix Espargaro was pushed back from an early fourth place to seventh.

His brother Pol was given 12th on the grid in his absence, having sat out the session with a broken foot following his practice three crash.

The younger Espargaro will decide on Sunday morning if he is fit enough to try to race.

Espargaro was one of two absentees from qualifying, with Andrea Iannone ruled out of the rest of the weekend due to arm injuries sustained in a tangle with Marquez on Friday.

Adding to Pramac Ducati's disappointment, its remaining rider Yonny Hernandez failed to make it out of Q1, in which Alvaro Bautista and Hiroshi Aoyama were fastest.

They brought up the rear in Q2, Aoyama crashing at Turn 6 along the way, taking 10th and 11th behind British pair Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith.

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m59.791s -
2 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m59.973s 0.182s
3 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 2m00.203s 0.412s
4 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m00.472s 0.681s
5 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 2m00.703s 0.912s
6 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 2m00.740s 0.949s
7 Aleix Espargaro Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 2m00.801s 1.010s
8 Cal Crutchlow Ducati Ducati 2m01.119s 1.328s
9 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 2m01.263s 1.472s
10 Alvaro Bautista Gresini Racing Honda 2m02.294s 2.503s
11 Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 2m10.568s 10.777s
12 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 2m01.885s -
13 Yonny Hernandez Pramac Racing Ducati 2m02.184s -
14 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 2m02.330s -
15 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing Honda 2m02.548s -
16 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Ducati 2m02.682s -
17 Scott Redding Gresini Racing Honda 2m02.874s -
18 Alex de Angelis Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 2m03.165s -
19 Danilo Petrucci IodaRacing Project ART/Aprilia 2m03.874s -
20 Michael Laverty Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 2m04.539s -
21 Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Avintia/Kawasaki 2m04.784s -
22 Broc Parkes Paul Bird Motorsport PBM/Aprilia 2m05.208s -

Format: Q1 for slowest riders from practice sets 13th back, top two join top 10 from practice in Q2 to set 1st-12th

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