Fabio Quartararo

Rookie Fabio Quartararo took a stunning pole position in a hectic Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying that saw newly crowned MotoGP champion Marc Marquez crash heavily.

The Petronas Yamaha SRT rider put up a record lap to take pole with a 1:58.303s time while fellow Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales was 2nd.  Franco Morbidelli made it a Yamaha front-row lock-out with third on the second SRT bike.

Jack Miller will start from fourth, joined on the second row by Q1 pacesetter Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi.

Marquez high-sided in the final two minutes of the session while following Quartararo.

Mind games were on display with Marquez desperate to follow Quartararo as the pair began their final runs. 

But then suddenly the six-time MotoGP champion suffered a huge high side at Turn 2, which resulted in the Spaniard being thrown from his bike. He initially landed on his feet before face planting on the asphalt. 

Luckily Marquez was able to walk away from the incident but will start Sunday’s race from 11th on the grid.

“I’m ok, I’m in a lot of pain all over my body after a big crash," said Marquez.

Can Marquez win from 11th?

"We have a good setting for race rhythm, but we were struggling a little bit with one fast lap and especially looking for something more in the change of directions. The tyres were ready but I was maybe a little too aggressive in the change of direction. Honestly, I’m more disappointed starting 11th than with the crash itself. From 11th it will be difficult, even if we did have a good rhythm in FP4. This season we have had 17 almost perfect qualifying practices, but we will see what we can do tomorrow.”

Alex Rins, Petrucci and Johann Zarco secured the third-row spots in Q2.

Jorge Lorenzo, who has been destroyed by Repsol Honda teammate Marquez, will start a disappointing 18th after falling more than a second short of the Q1 pace.

Lineup

Pos	Rider	Team/Bike	Time	Gap
1	Fabio Quartararo	Petronas Yamaha	1m58.303s	0.000s
2	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	1m58.406s	0.103s
3	Franco Morbidelli	Petronas Yamaha	1m58.432s	0.129s
4	Jack Miller	Pramac Ducati	1m58.725s	0.422s
5	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	1m58.951s	0.648s
6	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1m59.000s	0.697s
7	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1m59.090s	0.787s
8	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1m59.097s	0.794s
9	Johann Zarco	LCR Honda	1m59.139s	0.836s
10	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1m59.173s	0.870s
11	Marc Marquez	Honda	1m59.178s	0.875s
12	Francesco Bagnaia	Pramac Ducati	1m59.640s	1.337s
13	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1m59.374s	Q1
14	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1m59.435s	Q1
15	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1m59.812s	Q1
16	Karel Abraham	Avintia Ducati	2m00.072s	Q1
17	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	2m00.205s	Q1
18	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	2m00.478s	Q1
19	Mika Kallio	KTM	2m00.644s	Q1
20	Hafizh Syahrin	Tech3 KTM	2m01.045s	Q1