Pedrosa smashes lap record with Marquez

Dani Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa has taken an incredible pole position for tomorrow's Malaysian GP – his first since Catalunya 2014 – and with it broken the current lap record by over seven tenths of a second. His teammate, Marc Marquez, secured second place on the grid, celebrating the team's third 1-2 start of 2015 (also in Sachsenring, Indianapolis).

With most riders aiming to complete three exits in qualifying, Pedrosa decided on only two and waited before exiting the garage in order to have more space on track without traffic. He executed his plan perfectly, and on his first flying lap he broke the lap record with his time of 1'59.053 – beating the 2014 record by 0.738 seconds (1'59.791 – Marquez) – and six tenths faster than second place Marquez.

Marquez made a small mistake on his second run – lucky not to crash – and returned immediately to the garage. On his final run, he confirmed his second place on the grid bettering his time with 1'59.462 on his final lap. Pedrosa was unable to top his first time, but still managed an impressive 1'59.431 on his second run.

Tomorrow's race will begin at 3:00 local time.

Dani Pedrosa
"The team did a great job! We will have to concentrate a lot in the race, because the tires are suffering at this track so there is the possibility of making mistakes, and we must be attentive on every lap. I will try to ride as best I can, but I'm sure that the bike and tires will have a tough time. We will have to see how the track is tomorrow, because with so much heat we might not have as much grip as now; we will have to feel it out on the first few laps."

Marc Marquez
"Dani did a great lap, which was difficult to beat! We will try to give 100% from the start of the race, which I think will be tough physically, but I think we are good in terms of our race pace. I am finding things harder with fresh tires here – compared to other circuits – especially the front and that was seen when I came close to crashing! We have been doing quite well during the weekend; we're not totally comfortable but we're handling the situation well and finding our race pace."

Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time
1 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'59.053
2 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'59.462
3 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'59.726
4 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'59.737
5 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 2'00.199
6 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 2'00.224
7 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 2'00.423
8 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 2'00.478
9 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 2'00.652
10 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 2'00.724
11 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 2'00.724
12 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 2'00.794
13 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 2'01.223
14 BRADL Stefan 6 GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 2'01.346
15 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 2'01.367
16 MILLER Jack 43 AUS LCR Honda Honda 2'01.725
17 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 2'01.727
18 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL Pramac Racing Ducati 2'01.748
19 HAYDEN Nicky 69 USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 2'01.829
20 BAZ Loris 76 FRA Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 2'01.862
21 ELIAS Toni 24 SPA Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 2'02.415
22 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 2'02.460
23 DI MEGLIO Mike 63 FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 2'02.964
24 WEST Anthony 13 AUS AB Motoracing Honda 2'03.855
25 CUDLIN Damian 55 AUS E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 2'06.051