Dani Pedrosa snatched pole for the Malaysian Grand Prix in a stunning MotoGP qualifying, while team–mate Marc Marquez was left a season–worst seventh after an early crash.
Having topped the final free practice session, championship leader Marquez came out of the blocks swinging when Q2 got underway. Set to go top of the pile after his first lap, the Honda rider crashed at the final corner.
Twitter: Marquez has crashed at the final corner on his first flying lap!
#RiderOK he’s back in the pits #MalaysianGP https://t.co/mol6g4J3Gj (@MotoGP)
Marquez was unscathed, but his plans to do a two–stop time attack strategy were scuppered. Meanwhile, Pedrosa, Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo and Tech3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco traded provisional pole.
Marquez rejoined the action with seven minutes to go and immediately jumped up to third despite the opening sector of his lap being littered with small moments.
A final flurry of laps once again saw top spot swap hands in rapid succession. Third practice pacesetter Valentino Rossi laid the gauntlet with a 1m59.498s, which stood for all of 20 seconds as Andrea Dovizioso – who trails Marquez by 33 points ahead of Sunday’s race – deposed his compatriot with a 1m59.236s.
The Ducati rider appeared to have secured his first pole of 2017, but blistering final sectors from Zarco and then Pedrosa shuffled the Italian back to third, while Pedrosa nabbed top spot with a 1m59.212s.
Rossi was knocked back from provisional pole to fourth at the chequered flag ahead of Yamaha team–mate Maverick Vinales, while a last–gasp effort from Lorenzo lifted him up to the back of the second row.
This demoted Marquez to seventh, which is his worst qualifying result of the season and just the second time in his MotoGP career he has not qualified inside the top two rows.
Alex Rins, who topped Q1, took a career–best eighth ahead of Suzuki team–mate Andrea Iannone, while Cal Crutchlow completed the top 10 having crashed on his final run at Turn 7.
Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro – who was left with just one KTM after a crash at the end of Q1 – rounded out the top 12.
A mistake at the final corner on his last lap denied Danilo Petrucci the chance to progress through to Q2 – the Italian only a tenth ahead of Pramac team–mate Scott Redding, who is suffering with a nasty bout of the flu.
Alvaro Bautista will line up 15th on his Aspar Ducati ahead of Bradley Smith and Loris Baz, who was on course to challenge for the top two when he crashed at Turn 11 following Q1 pacesetter Rins.
A fast crash at Turn 5 left MotoGP rookie Michael van der Mark last on the grid for his maiden premier class race on Sunday.
