MotoGP News: Bagnaia bags pole at Sepang

Shaking off his recent struggles in Indonesia and Australia, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) clawed his way through Q1 to claim pole position the hard way. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) came agonizingly close, missing out by just 0.016s in second, while Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) sealed a Ducati front-row sweep in third.

Q1: A Fierce Fight for Survival

It was a star-studded scrap in Q1, pitting the three most recent race winners—Bagnaia, Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team)—against third-in-the-championship Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and FP2 pace-setter Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol). The session quickly lived up to its billing as one of the season’s strongest.

Marini lit up the timing screens first, posting the weekend’s quickest lap on his initial run. But as the second efforts began, Bagnaia (#54) surged to the top—only for Aldeguer to snatch P1 moments later. Disaster struck Aldeguer on his final flying lap, crashing at Turn 4 and triggering yellow flags that froze the field. In the end, Bagnaia and Aldeguer advanced to Q2, leaving Marini to start 13th ahead of Bezzecchi and Fernandez.

Q2: Quartararo Strikes First, But Bagnaia Roars Back

The pole battle ignited in Q2 with blistering early laps. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) set the tone, firing in a 1m57.195 to lead the first run—though it trailed Aldeguer’s Q1 benchmark. Pedro Acosta slotted into P2, and Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) crashed the party for a multi-manufacturer provisional front row.

Bagnaia flipped the script on the second-half push, opting for a contrarian strategy. His opener was a stunner, capped by a scorching final sector that vaulted him to provisional pole and the weekend’s fastest time.

Drama unfolded with under three minutes left: Acosta tumbled at Turn 1 but remounted in a desperate bid to challenge. Aldeguer cracked the top five on his restart, but it was teammate Marquez who nearly stole the show, landing P2 just 0.016s adrift. Quartararo rolled the dice one last time, lighting up the first three sectors before running wide at the final corner—unable to bridge the gap.

Pecco’s Sepang Mastery: Pole for the Third Straight Year

Bookending the flyaway swing with dominance, Bagnaia nailed pole at Sepang for the third consecutive season. His 1m57.001 didn’t crack the 1m57 barrier but secured a commanding view into Turn 1 for Sunday’s Sprint and Grand Prix.

Marquez’s runner-up spot marks his first front-row return since Misano, while Morbidelli backed up Friday’s promise with a third-place lockout—his second front row of 2025 and first since Aragon. Quartararo settled for P4 at the head of row two, joined by Acosta in fifth, as Aldeguer salvaged sixth for a second-row start.

Honda’s best came from Mir in seventh, less than half a second from pole and edging Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) by a whisker in eighth. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) broke back into the top nine for the first time since Barcelona, lining up ninth ahead of Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) in 10th—mirroring his Sepang qualifying from a year ago. Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) and KTM wildcard Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) rounded out the top 12.

Full MotoGP qualifying results from Sepang!