Alex Marquez clocks flying lap to pip brother Marc to Sepang pole

In MotoGP qualifying for the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia today, brothers Alex and Marc Marquez secured a 1-2 start at Sepang. Alex Marquez, riding for BK8 Gresini Racing, set the pace by recording a lap time of one minute and 56.493 seconds, marking his first pole position since last year's Catalan GP. Marc Marquez, riding for Ducati Lenovo, claimed the second position, just 0.070 seconds behind his brother.

Red Bull KTM's Pedro Acosta rounded out the top three with a time 0.084 seconds slower than Marc. Alex expressed his surprise at his performance, stating, "I really was not expecting this. The first time attack was really good and then I pushed again, and could not believe it when I saw the time." He emphasized that everything was working well for his team and urged them to maintain this level of performance for the rest of the weekend.

Other riders finishing in the top ten included Ai Ogura (+0.124 seconds) from SuperFile Trackhouse, Marco Bezzecchi (+0.175 seconds) from Aprilia Racing, and Fabio Di Giannantonio (+0.349 seconds) from Pertamina Enduro VR46. However, the day ended with the unfortunate withdrawal of injured MotoGP sprint race participant Jorge Martin, who has a fractured wrist. His absence left the second row of the grid vacant.