The tightest assault on the title: Bagnaia 9th, Espargaró 10th and Quartararo, 12th starting

The fight for the MotoGP crown is well served and tight.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
22 October 2022 Saturday 02:33
11 Reads
The tightest assault on the title: Bagnaia 9th, Espargaró 10th and Quartararo, 12th starting

The fight for the MotoGP crown is well served and tight. In what could be the last round of the World Championship, at the Malaysian GP, ​​the three candidates made life difficult: Pecco Bagnaia will start 9th, Aleix Espargaró 10th and Fabio Quartararo, 12th, after a dire Saturday for the three with fallen paths. A record-setting Jorge Martín, author of the second pole followed by him, dominated the qualifying session with an iron fist. He is accompanied in the first row by Marc Márquez, third.

Pecco Bagnaia, who will have his first chance to be champion in Malaysia, had to go through Q1, like Marc Márquez, Jack Miller or Johann Zarco, who did not have good performances in the two dry practice sessions.

The Italian from Ducati scored a stratospheric 1m58s645, which left his rivals very far away, and served to warm up to fight for pole. Second place for Q2 was achieved by Márquez, while Miller and Àlex Márquez suffered crashes.

In the top 10 qualifying session (Q2), Bagnaia set the first reference time, but was soon overtaken by the Ducati army, by Marini and above all by an explosive Jorge Martín who put a new track record on the table , a brutal 1m58s021, three tenths less than Quartararo's 2019 pole.

On the last lap, the rider from Madrid doubled his offer with an insulting time, 1m57s790, which was 456 thousandths away from Bastianini, second. In third position, closing the first row of the grid, Marc Márquez slipped in, who pulled off a beautiful turn on his last attempt.

“I don't understand anything, we were where we expected until FP4; the most important thing is that we only lost 3 tenths, above all we are gaining confidence, the important thing is not how you start, but how you finish”, commented the 93 surprised to return to the front row.

“I had all the riders behind me, but I said I have no choice but to push, and that's what I did. I have given everything. The pace is very good and we have a good chance in the race”, commented Jorge Martín after his fourth pole of the year.

The Italian leader of the World Cup at the end will start 9th, after suffering a crash with 2m45s to go until the end of the session. Eight riders sneaked in -Martín, Bastianini, Márquez, Bezzecchi, Rins, Marini, Morbidelli and Viñales-. While Fabio Quartararo, with obvious discomfort in his left hand due to a fall in the last training session, signed a very discreet 12th place, last of Q2, which will force him to redouble his efforts to avoid the Bagnaia title.

Aleix Espargaró, the third contender for the title, also fell. The Aprilia rider, who has had intestinal problems all weekend, crashed on the last qualifying lap when he was 9th. He finished tenth. He is forced to come back and a feat if he wants to get to Valencia with options.

Pecco Bagnaia can already be champion in Malaysia if he adds 11 points more than Quartararo. For this, he would have enough winning the race and that the Frenchman does not get on the podium, no matter what Aleix Espargaró does. If the Ducati rider was 2nd, he would need Fabio to finish 7th or worse, and Aleix 3rd or worse.

1. Jorge Martin (Ducati)

2. Enea Bastianini (Ducati)

3. Marc Marquez (Honda)

4. Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati)

5. Alex Rins (Suzuki)

6. Luca Marini (Ducati)

7. Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha)

8. Maverick Vinales (Aprilia)

9. Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)

10. Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia)

11.Joan Mir (Suzuki)

12. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha)

13. Brad Binder (KTM)

14. Jack Miller (Ducati)

15. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha)

16. Fabio Di Giannatonio (Ducati)

17. Pol Espargaro (Honda)

18. Johann Zarco (Ducati)

19. Miguel Oliveira (KTM)

20. Remy Gardner

21. Alex Marquez (Honda)

22. Raul Fernandez (KTM)

23. Testsuta Nagashima (Honda)

24. Darryn Binder (Yamaha)