Qualifying report

MotoGP Malaysian GP: Bagnaia strikes back to claim pole, disaster for Aprilia

Bagnaia leads a Ducati 1-2-3 in qualifying, while the best Aprilia was only 14th

Francesco Bagnaia came through Q1 to score a surprise pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday, as Aprilia endured a difficult day at Sepang.

Opting for a single run midway through the session to preserve a set of soft tyres, the factory Ducati rider made the most of a clear track to post a 1m57.001s lap.

Although several riders posted fastest individual sectors, including Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, Bagnaia held on to clinch his third pole of the season by 0.016s.

The Italian’s closest challenger was Gresini’s Alex Marquez in second, while Franco Morbidelli completed an all-Ducati front row in third for VR46.

Pedro Acosta initially led the way in the 15-minute shootout, climbing to the top spot on the timesheets with a 1m57.363s.

Quartararo snatched the top spot soon after with a 1m57.195s, before Bagnaia moved the goalposts in his single run in the middle of the session.

The Frenchman appeared set to secure a last-gap pole in qualifying, having been significantly quicker than Bagnaia through the opening three sectors. But a poor final sector left him fourth on the grid, 0.194s off pole position.

Acosta couldn’t improve his early benchmark after crashing at Turn 1 and remounting on his bike, but he was still the top KTM in fifth place.

Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer had an eventual qualifying as he set the fastest time in Q1, only to crash twice later on - first at Turn 4 and then in the paddock as he tried to bring the bike back into the garage.

Switching to his secondary machine, he ended up sixth with a time that was slower than his Q1 flyer.

Honda’s charge was led by Joan Mir in seventh position, with LCR’s Johann Zarco finishing just two spots behind in ninth.

Fabio di Giannantonio separated the two Hondas in eighth on the VR46 Ducati, while Alex Rins rounded out the top 10 for Yamaha.

Jack Miller was classified 11th on the Pramac Yamaha, while KTM test rider Pol Espargaro was slowest of the Q2 runners in 12th.

FP2 pacesetter Luca Marini (Honda) narrowly missed out on advancing to Q2 after encountering yellow flags in Sector 1 when Aldeguer crashed at Turn 4.

Aprilia failed to get a single bike into the second part of qualifying, just a week after it dominated the Indonesian Grand Prix.

The best rider from the Noale marque was Marco Bezzecchi in 14th place, with Trackhouse duo Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura finishing 15th and 17th respectively. They were separated by the Pramac Yamaha of Miguel Oliveira.

Augusto Fernandez propped up the timesheets in 23rd on Yamaha’s V4 prototype, ending qualifying 2.3 seconds off the pace.

Q2 results:

Q2

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	4	1'57.001		170.552
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	7	+0.016 1'57.017	0.016	170.529
3	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	7	+0.158 1'57.159	0.142	170.322
4	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	7	+0.194 1'57.195	0.036	170.270
5	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	7	+0.362 1'57.363	0.168	170.026
6	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	7	+0.438 1'57.439	0.076	169.916
7	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	7	+0.439 1'57.440	0.001	169.914
8	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	7	+0.521 1'57.522	0.082	169.796
9	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	6	+0.530 1'57.531	0.009	169.783
10	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	6	+0.944 1'57.945	0.414	169.187
11	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	7	+0.948 1'57.949	0.004	169.181
12	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44	KTM	6	+1.173 1'58.174	0.225	168.859
View full results

Q1 results:

Q1

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	6	1'57.148		170.338
2	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	6	+0.042 1'57.190	0.042	170.277
3	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	7	+0.377 1'57.525	0.335	169.791
4	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	7	+0.401 1'57.549	0.024	169.757
5	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	7	+0.628 1'57.776	0.227	169.430
6	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	7	+0.746 1'57.894	0.118	169.260
7	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	7	+0.886 1'58.034	0.140	169.059
8	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	7	+1.035 1'58.183	0.149	168.846
9	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	7	+1.041 1'58.189	0.006	168.838
10	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	7	+1.475 1'58.623	0.434	168.220
11	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	7	+1.643 1'58.791	0.168	167.982
12	M. Pirro Ducati Team	51	Ducati	7	+2.107 1'59.255	0.464	167.328
13	A. Fernandez Yamaha Factory Racing	7	Yamaha	7	+2.234 1'59.382	0.127	167.150
View full results