- Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) starts from pole for the third time in 2017 and for the first time since the Catalan Grand Prix. This is the first time in five years that Pedrosa has had more than two poles in a season. Pedrosa missed the Malaysian Grand Prix last year due to injury, but has won at Sepang three times in the previous four years.
- Pedrosa is aiming for his 54th GP victory, all of which have been taken with Honda. Securing the win would equal Mick Doohan’s record number of GP wins riding Honda machinery.
- Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) starts from the front row for the third successive race and for the fifth time in his rookie season in MotoGP. Zarco won the Moto2™ race in Sepang in both 2015 and 2016.
- Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) starts from the front row for just the fourth time in 2017. He has had two wins and a third place finish from his previous three front row starts this year.
- Heading the second row is Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) who has nine podium finishes, including four wins, from his eleven starts at Sepang on-board Yamaha.
- Fifth on the grid is Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), who could equal Dani Pedrosa’s record of winning in all three classes at Sepang, having won the 125cc race at this circuit in 2011 as well as the Moto2™ race in 2014.
- Completing the second row is Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team), who has finished on the podium at Sepang on his last six appearances. However, he has never had a race victory at this circuit in the MotoGP class.
- After a crash in qualifying, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) heads the third row of the grid. This is just the second time in his 88 starts in the premier class that he has failed to qualify on either the first or second row; the other occasion was when he qualified 13th at Mugello in 2015. Furthermore, Marquez has not had a race win on the five previous occasions he has failed to qualify in the top five in MotoGP™.
- Alex Rins (Team Suzuki ECSTAR) starts eighth on the grid – his best qualifying result so far in his rookie season in the MotoGP™ class.
- Taking the final place on the third row is Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki ECSTAR), who has not completed a race at Sepang during his four years competing in MotoGP™.