Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez has secured his eighth season pole (equalling the number scored by Max Biaggi and Loris Capirossi in the MotoGP era), and fourth in a row, in Qualifying for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix. His time of 2'00.011 came on the final lap in Q2 and marks a new pole record, breaking Lorenzo's time from 2012 (2'00.334) by 0.323s.
Teammate Dani Pedrosa, who has been one of the fastest all weekend, found traffic on track and was unable to make a perfect lap. His time of 2'00.692 places him 5th on the grid for tomorrow's 20 lap race.
Marc Marquez
“I'm really happy with this pole position, particularly as earning it was a little different to with my previous poles. At the start of qualifying there were two completely wet corners, which made it hard to put in a hot lap as we had to calculate the amount of risk - whilst still maintaining our speed. I knew that the final lap of the session would be definitive, because the surface was drying out and conditions were getting better by the minute. Things worked out for us and I set a time that I really wasn't expecting. Tomorrow will be a different story, because Lorenzo and Dani both have a great pace, so we shall see if we have a bit of good fortune and the conditions remain dry"
Dani Pedrosa
“Qualifying today was difficult to tackle, due to the rainfall, but in the end we all opted to go out on slicks. I was not able to clock the best time but I am happy with the pace that we have had during practice. Let's see if tomorrow we can get a good start in the race"
Repsol Honda press Release
