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Sepang Moto3: Zulfahmi Khairuddin claims first pole at home

Zulfahmi Khairuddin claimed his maiden Moto3 pole position with a superb performance in qualifying for his home race in Malaysia

The Ajo rider spent the session battling for the top spot with Aspar's Jonas Folger, but when it counted at the end, Khairuddin was untouchable.

A string of rapid laps took him to a 2m13.885s, nearly 0.3 seconds clear of his opposition as he wrapped up pole on his 21st birthday. The result was the first pole for a Malaysian at grand prix level.

Folger retained second place.

With Maverick Vinales' dramatic departure from the Avintia team effectively ending the championship fight, points leader Sandro Cortese could be very relaxed about qualifying third ahead of the race that will, barring disaster, mark his coronation.

Behind fourth-placed Louis Rossi, Luis Salom was fifth quickest. But he will be demoted to 10th on the grid as a penalty for crashing into Folger during the Motegi lead battle last weekend.

That will elevate Miguel Oliveira, Efren Vazquez, Brad Binder, Alex Rins and Adrian Martin.

Motegi winner Danny Kent was only 11th quickest on the third Ajo bike.

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                Time       Gap
 1.  Zulfahmi Khairuddin  Ajo KTM                  2m13.885s
 2.  Jonas Folger         Aspar Kalex-KTM          2m14.151s  + 0.266s
 3.  Sandro Cortese       Ajo KTM                  2m14.599s  + 0.714s
 4.  Louis Rossi          Germany FTR-Honda        2m14.681s  + 0.796s
 5.  Luis Salom           RW Kalex-KTM             2m14.817s  + 0.932s
 6.  Miguel Oliveira      Monlau Suter-Honda       2m15.316s  + 1.431s
 7.  Efren Vazquez        Laglisse FTR-Honda       2m15.366s  + 1.481s
 8.  Brad Binder          RW Kalex-KTM             2m15.469s  + 1.584s
 9.  Alex Rins            Monlau Suter-Honda       2m15.814s  + 1.929s
10.  Adrian Martin        Laglisse FTR-Honda       2m15.858s  + 1.973s
11.  Danny Kent           Ajo KTM                  2m15.897s  + 2.012s
12.  Niccolo Antonelli    Gresini FTR-Honda        2m15.913s  + 2.028s
13.  Alessandro Tonucci   Italia FMI FTR-Honda     2m15.915s  + 2.030s
14.  Jakub Kornfeil       Ongetta FTR-Honda        2m16.087s  + 2.202s
15.  Alberto Moncayo      Laglisse FTR-Honda       2m16.108s  + 2.223s
16.  Niklas Ajo           TT Motion KTM            2m16.142s  + 2.257s
17.  Romano Fenati        Italia FMI FTR-Honda     2m16.229s  + 2.344s
18.  Isaac Vinales        Ongetta FTR-Honda        2m16.394s  + 2.509s
19.  Jack Miller          Caretta Honda            2m16.404s  + 2.519s
20.  Alan Techer          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  2m16.633s  + 2.748s
21.  Arthur Sissis        Ajo KTM                  2m16.650s  + 2.765s
22.  Toni Finsterbusch    Germany Honda            2m16.828s  + 2.943s
23.  Josep Rodriguez      FGR Honda                2m16.877s  + 2.992s
24.  Alex Marquez         Ambrogio Suter-Honda     2m16.979s  + 3.094s
25.  Danny Webb           Mahindra                 2m17.545s  + 3.660s
26.  John McPhee          Caretta KRP Honda        2m17.558s  + 3.673s
27.  Giulian Pedone       Ambrogio Suter-Honda     2m17.732s  + 3.847s
28.  Kenta Fujii          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  2m17.926s  + 4.041s
29.  Armando Pontone      Ioda Italia              2m18.817s  + 4.932s
30.  Luca Amato           Aspar Kalex-KTM          2m18.975s  + 5.090s
31.  Riccardo Moretti     Mahindra                 2m21.960s  + 8.075s

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