Bouncing back and casting his Indonesia and Australia woes to one side, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) did it the hard way by snatching pole position after going through Q1. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) missed out on pole by 0.016s whilst Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) makes it a Ducati front row lockout.
Q1: a heavyweight battle to graduate
The three most-recent winners found themselves in Q1 as Bagnaia, Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) all looked to lock in their Q2 spot. Third place in the standings, Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) also vied to move through along with FP2’s fastest rider Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), one of the strongest Q1s of the season taking shape. With the first run done, Marini set the fastest lap of the weekend but at the start of his second run, Pecco took over top spot. It was only brief as Aldeguer went P1 but then crashed on his final flying lap at Turn 4, bringing out the yellow flags. This neutralised the state of play, with the #54 being joined by Bagnaia in Q2; Marini starts 13th, ahead of Bezzecchi and Fernandez.
Q2’s POLE BATTLE: Quartararo opens strong, Bagnaia revitalised
Now, the pole shootout. The opening efforts were strong and by the end of the first run, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) had fired in a 1’57.195 but there was still time to find, with it being slower than Aldeguer’s Q1 effort. Pedro Acosta was in P2 whilst Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) made it three different manufacturers on the provisional front row. Heading out on track at the start of the second half of the session, Bagnaia was on a different strategy to everyone else; his first lap time was a strong one, with a belting final sector slotting him into provisional pole and the fastest lap of the weekend.
With less than three minutes to go, Acosta crashed at Turn 1 but remounted in a quest to improve his pole hopes. Aldeguer’s opening lap in his second run placed him in the top five whilst teammate Alex Marquez was just 0.016s shy of Bagnaia’s time in P2. It wasn’t all done yet however, as ‘El Diablo’ was having one last role of the dice. Up after three sectors, he ran wide at the final corner and in the end, couldn’t improve.
BACK ON TOP: Pecco unleashes brilliance at Sepang
Finishing the flyaway tour just as he started, Pecco bagged pole for a third consecutive season at Sepang and whilst not dipping under the 1’57 bracket, his 1’57.001 was good enough to give him a clear view into Turn 1 for the Sprint and Grand Prix on Sunday. Alex Marquez’s P2 welcomes him back to the front row for the first time since Misano, whilst Franco Morbidelli rounded out the front row and confirmed his Sepang pace from Friday, clinching a second front row of 2025, his first since Aragon. Quartararo was forced to settle for P4 and the head of the second row alongside Acosta, whilst Aldeguer salvaged a second row start in sixth.
Top Honda honours went the way of Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol), less than half a second off of pole and just under a tenth ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team). Back in the top nine for the first time since Barcelona, Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) lines up ninth whilst Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) repeats his top ten qualifying effort of 12 months ago at Sepang with 10th, ahead of Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) and KTM super-sub Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Tech 3).
MotoGP qualifying results from Sepang!