- 2018-11-03
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ MotoGP Malaysia: Johann Zarco Takes Pole Position at Sepang, Marquez Receives 6-place Penalty
The Round 18 on MotoGP 2018, Malaysia Grand Prix ran Qualifying at Sepang International Circuit on November 3, 2018.
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) withdrew from this event due to injury.
Qualifying started around 1 hour half delayed due to track condition in a rain.
At the first, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) took pole position with 2m 12.161s, but he has lost pole position after being hit with a six-place grid penalty following an FIM Stewards investigation.
He will now start from seventh place on row three. The ruling was made after an incident at Turn 9 with Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar).
Finally, Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) moved up from 2nd place and took pole position. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) and Andrea Iannone moved up to 2nd and 3rd position, respectively.
Australia GP winner Maverick Vinales will start 11th on the fourth row.
Due to weather concerns after the heavy downpour seen before qualifying for the premier class, Sunday’s race times have been brought forward for every class.
The NEW SUNDAY SCHEDULE at LOCAL TIME (GMT +8) is as follows:
Moto3™ Warm Up – 07:40
Moto2™ Warm Up – 08:10
MotoGP™ Warm Up – 08:40
Moto3™ race – 10:00
Moto2™ race – 11:20
MotoGP™ race – 13:00
Johann Zarco said:
“I’m so happy. We had special qualifying today, a long wait in the box and I was happy to be straight into Q2 because I could analyse well what happened in Q1. First practice on wet conditions and I didn’t get a good feeling with the two soft tyres but immediately when I moved to the other ones, we had good control of the bike and we could do good lap times. So, Marc went so fast. I could maybe think about pole but I have too much of a gap to him and I can enjoy this second place with tricky conditions. I think it’s the best place to start tomorrow.”
Valentino Rossi said;
“In the wet I feel not so bad, but it’s difficult to say. In the dry, yesterday I was quite strong, today I worked with a used tyre and it looks like I’m not the strongest but my pace is strong, so it looks like I can do a good pace.”
“Today in the dry, Marquez and Viñales are stronger than anybody. After them, we have a group of riders, also with me, but we need the last half a second. So, we have to work hard tonight to understand and improve.”
Marc Marquez said:
“Then I was trying to keep pushing but unfortunately I lost the front at Turn 4, but the good thing is that I take the second bike, I go out and did a good lap time, so happy, but it looks like tomorrow we will have a dry race.
In there (dry), we are also in a good pace because we did a big change from yesterday and we improve a lot, and now the pace is much better and is very equal to (Andrea) Dovizioso and (Maverick) Vinales, but I think also (Johann) Zarco and Valentino (Rossi) are very strong also.
The most important is that we confirm what we did the whole year. In a circuit like Sepang, which is not one of the best ones for my riding style, for me I struggle every year, we are there and we are ready to fight for the podium.”
Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix Qualifying Results- Johann Zarco / Monster Yamaha Tech3 / 2m 12.709s
- Valentino Rossi / Movistar Yamaha / 2m 13.009s
- Andrea Iannone / Suzuki Ecstar / 2m 13.097s
- Andrea Dovizioso / Ducati Team / 2m 13.183s
- Jack Miller / Pramac Ducati / 2m 13.274s
- Danilo Petrucci / Pramac Ducati / 2m 13.413s
- Marc Marquez / Repsol Honda / 2m 12.161s
- Alex Rins / Suzuki Ecstar / 2m 13.463s
- Alvaro Bautista / Angel Nieto Team / 2m 14.185s
- Dani Pedrosa / Repsol Honda / 2m 14.443s
- Maverick Viñales / Movistar Yamaha / 2m 14.856s
- Aleix Espargaro / Factory Aprilia Gresini / 2m 15.340s
- Scott Redding / Factory Aprilia Gresini / 2m 13.786s
- Michele Pirro / Ducati Team / 2m 13.823s
- Xavier Simeon / Reale Avintia / 2m 13.971s
- Pol Espargaro / Red Bull KTM Factory / 2m 14.132s
- Bradley Smith / Red Bull KTM Factory / 2m 14.332s
- Thomas Luthi / EG 0,0 Marc VDS / 2m 14.843s
- Franco Morbidelli / EG 0,0 Marc VDS / 2m 14.994s
- Stefan Bradl / LCR Honda / 2m 15.364s
- Karel Abraham / Angel Nieto Team / 2m 15.679s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / 2m 16.558s
- Hafizh Syahrin / Monster Yamaha Tech3 / 2m 16.825s
- Jordi Torres / Reale Avintia / No Time
- source : MotoGP
