MotoGP title rivals all crash or struggle in wild qualifying

MotoGP’s main title contenders all faltered in a dramatic qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, as Jorge Martin delivered a stunning lap for pole.

Points leader Pecco Bagnaia crashed, as did Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, while Fabio Quartararo appeared to struggle badly with injury.

Relegated to Q1 by a Franco Morbidelli block and subsequent crash, Bagnaia progressed from the first segment with relative ease in a session in which Ducati may have interfered to maximize his chances.

He was followed by a group of six riders on his first run, but broke clear of nearest pursuer Marc Marquez, firing in a lap to put him four tenths of a second clear.

And after a consultation within the Ducati garage, it was Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller heading out first and enticing a number of riders including Marquez to follow him while Bagnaia remained in the garage.

Miller then aborted his first flying lap after a slightly scrappy entry into Turn 4, leaving his rivals without a reference, and then eased off significantly before winding up for one final attempt.

This was potentially what led to him high-siding at Turn 2, as the rear tire may have been cold, and it doomed him to a Q1 exit – while Bagnaia, who did come out of the pits for a second time but didn’t even need to do a lap, headed to the pole shootout.

A nasty off-throttle highside for @jackmilleraus!

He’s up and OK but he loses his Q2 place! #MalaysianGP pic.twitter.com/bb6Em6a70J

— MotoGP (@MotoGP) October 22, 2022

However, in the pole shootout itself, Bagnaia buckled. Having set what was then the sixth-fastest time on a used rear tyre, he then crashed at Turn 4 on a fresh one.

Remarkably, despite placing ninth in the end, he still qualified ahead of his two main title rivals.

DOWN AGAIN!

On course for the first 1:57, @PeccoBagnaia has dropped it! @FabioQ20 has a HUGE chance to capitalize! #MalaysianGP pic.twitter.com/UqbG8vo8Q7

— MotoGP (@MotoGP) October 22, 2022

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro fell at Turn 8 on his final attempt and ended up one place behind Bagnaia, while Quartararo was last in the session, having spent the lead-up to Q2 grimacing in pain.

@FabioQ20’s back in the garage and seems to have some pain in his left hand #MalaysianGP pic.twitter.com/CErJL82VGw

— MotoGP (@MotoGP) October 22, 2022

The Frenchman had crashed in FP4 – as had Martin and many others – and ran with strapping on his left hand in qualifying, in clear pain and ultimately unable to string together a clean final lap.

Amid all the title contender drama, the pole battle took a relative back seat – this also helped by the fact it wasn’t much of a battle, with Martin again spectacular.

For the second weekend running, the Pramac Ducati man smashed the existing pole record, doing so twice over this time as he completed the session with a 1m57.790s that left him nearly half a second clear.

Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini, who retains the faintest outside chance of the title, placed second, while Marquez – a crasher in FP4 like Quartararo – completed the front row after progressing through Q1.

VR46 Ducati duo Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini will be either side of Suzuki’s Alex Rins on row two. Morbidelli will lead off row three in seventh, his best qualifying result of the season by a massive margin.

However, Morbidelli will serve a double long-lap penalty in the race for his FP3 infraction.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales will line up ahead of Bagnaia and Espargaro, while Suzuki’s Joan Mir will be right behind them.

KTM rider Brad Binder overhauled the crashing Miller late on in Q1, but could only take 13th, beaten by two tenths by Marquez – who was right in Miller’s wheeltracks when the latter fell, yet managed to complete a Q2-worthy lap over the remaining 13 corners

Several potential Q2 contenders were left disappointed in Q1, with Marquez’s team-mate Pol Espargaro only 17th after having had his third crash of the day in FP4, Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco only 18th – having also fallen in FP4 – and Binder’s works KTM team- mate Miguel Oliveira 19th.

Both Marquez brothers make mistakes on their fast laps!

But @marcmarquez93 should get around for one more lap! #MalaysianGP pic.twitter.com/1VqPy40z9O

— MotoGP (@MotoGP) October 22, 2022

Miller aside, there were Q1 crashes for Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM), Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) and Darryn Binder (RNF Yamaha), all ending up 20th or lower.

qualifying results

position	Surname	team	bike	group 1	group 2
1	Jorge Martin	Pramac Racing	Ducati		1m57.79s
2	Enea Bastianini	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati		1m58.246s
3	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1m58.878s	1m58.454s
4	Marco Bezzecchi	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati		1m58.49s
5	Alex Rins	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki		1m58.575s
6	Luca Marini	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati		1m58.579s
7	Franco Morbidelli	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha		1m58.654s
8th	Maverick Vinales	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia		1m58.766s
9	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati Lenovo team	Ducati	1m58.645s	1m58.862s
10	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia		1m58.935s
11	Joan Mir	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki		1m59.145s
12	Fabio Quartararo	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha		1m59.215s
13	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1m59.053s
14	Jack Miller	Ducati Lenovo team	Ducati	1m59.064s
15	Cal Crutchlow	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	1m59.256s
16	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	1m59.278s
17	Pol Espargaro	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1m59.363s
18	Johann Zarco	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1m59.69s
19	Miguel Oliveira	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1m59.699s
20	Remy Gardner	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1m59.803s
21	Alex Marquez	LCR Honda Castrol	Honda	2m0.008s
22	Raúl Fernández	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	2m0.077s
23	Tetsuta Nagashima	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	2m0.803s
24	Darryn Binder	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	2m10.717s