Malaysia – Qualifying: Bagnaia puts Martin under pressure

Free Practice 2:

• The Saturday of the Malaysian Grand Prix is ​​a more than important day for two of the twenty-two drivers of MotoGP, since after the Qualifying, Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia will compete in the penultimate Sprint of the season.
• The intensity increases a notch, and this is felt from Free Practice 2. The two men refuse to follow each other, and do not hesitate to abort their attempt when their rival places himself behind. However, they stick together on the track, and play with each other's nerves.

This sprint should be fun later 😎#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/9gmdussKMV

- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) November 2, 2024

• During FP2, Bagnaia ran out of fuel. On the scoreboard, the Italian, who nevertheless finished the session one tenth ahead of the Pramac driver. fabio quartararo completes the top three, three thousandths behind Jorge Martin.

MotoGP Malaysia – Qualifying Results

Qualification 1:

• Martin and Bagnaia then take a moment of respite to make way for Q1. This one welcomes big customers, since two Ducatis and three KTMs take part.
• Brad Binder, Marco Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta are the favourites, but only two places are allocated in Q1 at the end of the session. The South African ensures his passage thanks to a mark of 1:57.800, which everyone agrees. The VR46 driver then seems to distance himself from Acosta. The young rookie, however, gets ahead of him before the checkered flag thanks to a final effort in 1:57.839.
• Neither of these two men will ultimately qualify for Q2. Anonymous at the start of the session, Johann Zarco crosses the finish line in 1:57.635, to put a tenth in the sight of Brad Binder with his Honda, and take the lead of this Q1 on the wire. Thanks to this unexpected feat, the Frenchman joins his compatriot, Fabio Quartararo in Q2.

ZARCOOOO! 🔥

Honda's superhero strikes again! 🤯#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/PB9k5HLY1R

- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) November 2, 2024

• Andrea Iannone, who spent most of the session in his teammate's wheel to perfect his learning of these new bikes, finished Q1 in seventh position (seventeenth on the starting grid).

Qualification 2:

• Things get more serious in Q2, and the battle for pole position between Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia promises to be more than tight. At the end of the first attempts, which the drivers made in a group, Jorge Martin takes the lead. The Pramac driver laps in 1:56.996. Two tenths better than his opponent who completes a lap in 1:57.191.
• The Spaniard, however, dealt his opponent another blow in the following round, setting a new benchmark of 1:56.553.
• With two minutes to go in the session, Bagnaia repositioned himself with a time of 1:56.337, two tenths better than Martin. He then called on his rival to respond one last time. However, the #89 was unable to improve. Bagnaia therefore started the weekend in the best possible way, by snatching pole position for the Malaysian GP. He will have to confirm this in the Sprint, which will take place at 8:00 am in France.
• Behind the two protagonists, Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli complete the top four, ahead of Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini, who fell during his last attempt.
• Behind this panel of Ducatis, Jack Miller is ranked seventh, ahead of the two Yamahas of Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins.
• Johann Zarco completed Q2 in eleventh place, an almost unexpected result for Honda, which suffered greatly from its acceleration and turning problems this Friday.

Rankings: MotoTiming