Jorge Martín has shattered Sepang’s track record to secure a stratospheric pole position, with Marc Márquez on the front row. The candidates for the flat tire title in Q2
Had a hectic Saturday at the Sepang circuit, with premature crashes, mistakes by the men who play for the championship and a rider who stood out from the rest: Jorge Martín. The Madrid man shattered time in Q2, breaking the track record twice and breaking the 1’58 limit on the Malaysian circuit for the first time. His time (1’57.790) was half a second faster than his closest rival, Enea Bastianini, leaving Ducati’s theoretical leader, Bagnaia, more than a second behind. Martin has not had a rival who always gives the best in one lap. In fact, a week ago he also took pole position in Australia, and it is the fourth he has had this season where victory continues to defy him.
Together with the two Ducatis of Martín and Bastianini, a Marc Márquez will be on the front row of the Malaysian starting grid, which he says would not finish that far ahead today. He crashed in the last free practice, had to get through Q1 and narrowly qualify for Q2 and then the magic happened. An aggressive lap, in the purest Márquez style and pushing an engine that is one step behind its rivals. You just have to see where the rest of the Hondas will come from (17th, 21st and 23rd). The third position in Sepang surprised even the main character, who had not expected to be so high on the grid. “I don’t understand it”, were his first words in the closed park as soon as he got off the bike. Then he tried to explain what a realistic position should be tomorrow. “I think they will put us in their place because we don’t have a rhythm, so it’s normal for me to finish seventh or eighth. Later it would be a gift.
There will be two races in Sepang, he will be up against everyone for the win and the podium, and the battle for the title is a matter of three. Especially as the three contenders appeared to be leaking on Saturday and will start from behind positions, albeit grouped together: Pecco Bagnaia will start in ninth, Aleix Espargaró in tenth and Fabio Quartararo in twelfth. The Italian, who will face his first championship ball on Sunday, was the best on the grid despite two crashes on Saturday at two key moments. The one in the morning, in the closing moments of FP3 when he wanted to qualify for the top 10. A crash that got him through Q1, which he saved without a hitch. Already in the last Q2 he crashed again when he tried to get closer to Martín’s time.
The good thing for him is that neither Espargaró nor Quartararo have had their best time. The Spaniard also crashed in Q2, moments after Bagnaia. While another fall from Fabio Quartararo, his in the last free practice session, conditioned qualifying. And it will be necessary to see what also conditions him in the race as initial reconnaissance revealed that he sustained a minor fracture in the middle finger of his left hand. The situation of the championship is as follows: Bagnaia has a margin of 14 points against Quartararo and 27 points against Aleix, so depending on the results it would be worth it that the Italian even finished fifth to be declared champion .
The Moto2 category is the most equal and all indications are that it will only be resolved in Valencia. Ai Ogura is three and a half points ahead of Augusto Fernández and he can only win the race and wait to become champion in Malaysia. For now the Japanese has done his share of the work as he has taken pole and when he has started from first position on a Moto2 grid he has won the race. Fernandez, for his part, has a lot of problems this weekend, where he has already had two crashes and will start from sixth. Ahead of the Balearic Islands is Arón Canet, third, who is looking to secure the same position in the championship if he loses his title options.
And in Moto3, with the championship already in favor of Izan Guevara, the tension is in the battle for second place, where Sergio García leads Dennis Foggia by two points. The Italian will start from pole in Sepang, Garcia will do it third. And in between the champion Guevara who has promised to work together to help his teammate between now and the end of the season. How far do you want to go? That can be seen from 6 a.m. on Sunday, when the action of the penultimate round of the season starts in Malaysia.
Source: La Verdad
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