Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (KTM) will start in 19th place for the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix, the 19th and penultimate race of the season, to be held in Sepang on Sunday.
Oliveira was the 15th fastest in all three free practices, so he had to get through the first qualifying phase, Q1.
There, the Portuguese rider managed only the ninth record, namely in 1.59.699 minutes, 1.054 seconds behind the fastest, Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), championship leader, who also had to pass through Q1.
Bagnaia and Spaniard Marc Márquez (Honda) were fastest in this stage and progressed to Q2, noting some nervousness in the Italian rider, who could become world champion for the first time on Sunday.
The Ducati rider had to go to Q1 after setting exactly the same time as Italian-Brazilian Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) in the third session. Morbidelli had the advantage on the second fastest lap and moved him into Q2.
At this stage, Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) proved to be a smasher for the opposition and captured the pole position with a new record on the Malaysian circuit.
Martin set the best lap in 1.57.790 minutes, 0.513 seconds faster than the previous record, which since 2019 belonged to Frenchman Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha). The Spaniard was thus the first and only to drive in 57th.
Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati) was second at 0.456 seconds, Spaniard Marc Márquez (Honda) third at 0.664 seconds.
Francesco Bagnaia fell and got no further than ninth place, in a race in which he must be in the top five to have mathematical ability to win the title.
Fábio Quartararo, second in the championship, 14 points behind Bagnaia, did even worse, finishing 12th.
Spaniard Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) finished 10th after also falling in the last attempt.
In the Drivers’ World Cup standings, with only two races left to play, Bagnaia has 233 points, against 219 for Quartararo and 206 for Espargaró.
Source: DN
