Pedrosa captures pole at Malaysia

Sepang: Dani Pedrosa turned up the heat on his Honda team mate and current championship leader Marc Marquez, clinching the pole for the MotoGP’s Malaysian Grand Prix in a thrilling manner on a hot and muggy Saturday afternoon here. It was Pedrosa’s third pole this season and fourth at the Sepang circuit.

Sitting pretty with a sizeable lead of 33 points and the championship well in sights in the season’s penultimate race, Marquez was the favourite on the day too. He came up with the “save of the century” in Free Practice 4 only to see it all turn around in the qualifying session. In an incredible turn of events, the Spain rider crashed at the final turn of his first flying lap, forcing him to return to the pits. He recovered and eventually took the seventh position on the starting grid for Sunday’s race.

The front row was split by a mere 0.024 seconds with Pedrosa lapping up 1 minute 59.212 seconds for the pole. Following him were independent team rider Johann Zarco (+0.017) of Yamaha Tech 3 and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.024).

Italy’s Dovizioso — second in the overall standings behind Marquez with 236 points — appeared set to clinch the pole at one stage until Pedrosa emerged on top in some frantic action in the last few laps.

Italian great Valentino Rossi of Yamaha was fourth on the grid ahead of teammate Maverick Vinales. Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo will begin sixth.

Said Pedrosa, “I did a couple of mistakes still in my last run but I am very happy because (my) third pole of the year is quite positive. Normally, I don’t do so many poles so I am happy.”

“The track was improving so the lap times were every time faster because (of) no rain today. So we hope tomorrow again to have a dry race,” he added.

The day’s results mean Marquez will have to push hard in pursuit of his championship win. The Spain star, although under pressure, can still seal the title with a win in the morrow.

Marquez described it as a day where “everything was wrong”.

“Of course it (Sepang) is not one of the best tracks but it is true also that today everything was wrong,” he said later.

“After the first crash it was quite difficult. I struggled a little bit. It wasn’t the best qualifying, the worst of the season may be, but we know here is a circuit we struggle at.

“Also I did a not do a good lap, and for that reason we are seventh,” he added.

Meanwhile, Suzuki’s Alex Rins was eighth ahead of teammate Andrea Iannone, Cal Crutchlow and Jack Miller (both Honda).