Bagnaia takes Malaysian MotoGP pole after smashing lap record

Ducati’s reigning world champion, and current championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia secured pole position for the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix as he broke the lap record.

How qualifying unfolded…

Q1

The field quickly peeled out onto the pit lane when the qualifying session was given the green light. All riders of Q1 were out on the Malaysian circuit on the medium compound tyres on both the rears and fronts.

Alexis Espargaro was the first to set the benchmark time with a 1:58.482. This was soon beaten by some riders as Ducati’s Enea Bastianini went to the top with a 1:58.169.

GASGAS’s Pol Espargaro was the first rider to crash in qualifying as the Spanish rider came off his bike at turn 9. The GASGAS rider was able to return to the pits. After a brief lull, as the field of riders returned to the pits, they started to filter back out on track for their final runs of Q1 – this included Pol Espargaro.

Aprilia’s Alexis Espargaro put in a blistering lap to go to the top of the timing boards, a tenth faster than Bastianini, with just under three minutes left to go. However, the times continued to tumble as Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio went even faster by two-tenths.

Marc Marquez was the last to crash out of Q1 as the Repsol rider hit a slight bump on the apex of turn seven which unsettled the bike and Marquez slipped off the bike as he and his machinery slid towards the gravel trap.

Q2

In a similar fashion to Q1, the Q2 field of riders quickly peeled out onto the circuit as the session went green once more. In addition, all the riders continued to opt for the medium tyres on the rear and front wheels. Fabio Quartararo was the first rider to set a lap time but this was immediately beaten by Alex Marquez who went even faster with a 1:57.924.

However, Mooney VR46’s Luca Marini and Prima’s Jorge Martin went faster as the two went into first and second, respectively, as the former put in a 1:57.787. Only a hundredth of a second separated the two riders on the timing boards. On the second time around, Martin improved his time and went to the top of the timing board with a 1:57.549, two-tenths faster than Marini.

Di Gianantonio and Marini were the first two riders to crash out, in order, as the two riders crashed out at the final and ninth corners respectively. Martin soon joined this list, at turn four, as he tried his best to improve his standing on the timing boards.

At the last time of asking, the reigning world champion and championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati, went to the top of the timing boards as the Italian rider put in a blistering 1:57.491, five-hundredths faster than Martin.

Top 3:

1. Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati
2. Jorge Martin, Prima
3. Enea Bastianini, Ducati

That’s it for the article; Bagnaia takes Malaysian MotoGP pole after smashing lap record!

Read more MotoGP here:

• Bagnaia in a class of his own as he secures Austrian GP MotoGP win
• Alex Marquez to stay with Gresini Racing in 2024
• MotoGP Japanese GP: Miller fastest in only Friday practice
• MotoGP Japan GP: Preview
• Moto2 AragonGP: Acosta heads all-Spanish podium
• Spanish Catalan Grand Prix: Celestino Vietti wins on last lap

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.