Pedrosa takes impressive pole; Marquez 7th despite early crash
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa took a fantastic pole position for tomorrow’s Malaysian GP—his third this year, his 31st in MotoGP, and the 49th in his career.
After struggling in the wet on Friday, Dani was able to consistently improve his pace in today’s sunny and hot conditions, setting the third fastest lap time in FP3 and the fifth quickest in FP4 before besting Johann Zarco and Andrea Dovizioso by 0.017” and 0.024”, respectively, in the last minute of an incredibly hard-fought qualifying session.
After ending FP3 in ninth place, Championship leader Marc Marquez found a good pace in FP4, securing the top spot. He also once again demonstrated his unbelievable bike control, saving a front-end slide in turn one, although he was subsequently unlucky in qualifying, crashing at turn 15 during his first flying lap, on which he had been setting the fastest lap as he entered the third sector.
He immediately returned to the garage, mounted his second bike, and recorded what at the moment was the third fastest time. He improved again on his last run, but not enough, and had to settle for the seventh spot on the grid despite having the pace and speed to run at the front.
Tomorrow’s race will begin at 3 p.m. local time.
