Sepang MotoGP qualifying
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Bit of a traffic jam on the back straight. Marquez and Miller backing out of it. Crutchlow decides he's had enough of that and has left them to it.
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Vinales has followed in Aleix Espargaro's footsteps and has opted for the medium rear tyres. As has Q1 pacesetter Crutchlow.
Shoutout to LCR stand-in Johann Zarco. Just his second race on the Honda and he went straight into Q2 from FP3. He only made it into Q2 twice in his 13 races with KTM.
Green flag
The fight for pole is GO!
Here are your Q2 runners:
Morbidelli
Quartararo
Marquez
Dovizioso
Rossi
Miller
Bagnaia
Vinales
Rins
Zarco
Petrucci
Crutchlow
Morbidelli
Quartararo
Marquez
Dovizioso
Rossi
Miller
Bagnaia
Vinales
Rins
Zarco
Petrucci
Crutchlow
As we head into the 18th pole shootout of the year, still only three riders - Marquez, Quartararo, Vinales - have taken pole in 2019. Will that change today? Morbidelli is looking mighty strong this weekend.
Quote
LCR boss Lucio Cecchinello: "Really, really disappointed with Iannone. Always, always he is looking for someone [to get a tow from]. It's something I don't agree with."
He says Iannone looking for a slipstream forced Crutchlow to abort a flying lap, which put his hopes of getting to Q2 under pressure.
He says Iannone looking for a slipstream forced Crutchlow to abort a flying lap, which put his hopes of getting to Q2 under pressure.
Aleix Espargaro will start 14th from Pol Espargaro, Abraham, Iannone, Lorenzo, Kallio and Syahrin.
Petrucci will join Crutchlow in Q2, while Mir will have to start 13th. That's cruel for the Suzuki rider after a very strong session for him.
Stopwatch
Crutchlow goes top with a 1m59.216s! That pushes Mir out of qualifying. Stunning late effort from the LCR rider.
Stopwatch
Petrucci goes top now with a 1m59.336s.
Stopwatch
Mir takes the flag and improves to a 1m59.374s.
Checkered flag
Chequered flag is out.
Crutchlow needs to pull his finger out as the session reaches its final few seconds. He was unable to advance on third on his previous lap. Mir and Petrucci on hot laps right now.
Petrucci improves, but misses out by 0.038s - Mir found 0.040s in the final sector. Crucial improvement from the Suzuki rider.
Stopwatch
Mir finds a bit of time to improve to a 1m59.515s.
Petrucci on a good lap, though only seven hundredths up on Mir's best.
Pol Espargaro clearly struggling for grip on the KTM. He's had to abort this lap as he ran too hot into Turn 9 as he tries to make up for that lack of traction.
Aleix Espargaro sticking with that medium rear, as is Syahrin. Espargaro did set his best time on Friday on that compound, was very confident on it.
Everyone heads back out for their second runs. Just under five minutes to go.
LCR rider Crutchlow about a tenth outside of what he needs to progress. A.Espargaro, P.Espargaro, Abraham, Lorenzo, Iannone, Kallio, Syahrin is the current order with just over seven minutes remaining.
Stopwatch
1m59.555s for Mir puts him back on top. Crutchlow moves up to third.
Mir is going quicker again on his second lap. Crutchlow also on a good effort.
Stopwatch
But Petrucci immediately beats him with a 1m59.606s.
Stopwatch
Mir top with a 1m59.7.
Aleix Espargaro has also interestingly gone out on the medium rear.
Kallio and Syahrin have gone out on medium rear tyres. The rest out on the soft.
Green flag
Q1 is underway. As always, the top two at the end of this session progress to the pole shootout phase.
Expect no one to be hanging around at the start of this session. Rain is still in the air above Sepang.
Tech3 rider Miguel Oliveira is sitting out the rest of the weekend as he continues to suffer from a shoulder injury dating back to the British GP, while Tito Rabat is also absent due to a hand injury.
Information
Here are your Q1 runners:
Crutchlow
Mir
Petrucci
Marquez
Abraham
Syahrin
Pol Espargaro
Lorenzo
Iannone
Kallio
Aleix Espargaro
Crutchlow
Mir
Petrucci
Marquez
Abraham
Syahrin
Pol Espargaro
Lorenzo
Iannone
Kallio
Aleix Espargaro
So, FP4 has drawn to a close. Franco Morbidelli continues the Petronas Sepang Racing Team's domination of the top of the timesheets, while there were crashes for Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Lorenzo.
Autosport
Yesterday, Autosport revealed the anticipated ride swap between F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi will take place in Valencia on December 9: 
Autosport
Some news to catch you up on. First off, impressive 2019 rookie Quartararo will receive works machinery next season. Here was his reaction: 
Bikes are on track currently as fourth practice draws to a close. There was some light rainfall at the start of the session, but hasn't amounted to anything that should affect the coming Q1.
Green flag
Good morning and welcome to live text coverage of qualifying for the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix.
By: Matt Beer
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