Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/404410
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2014 Sport 53 MOTOGP Superb Sepang pole time from record breaker Marquez Marc Marquez claimed a record 13th MotoGP pole position of the season in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang THE Spaniard, who reclaimed his MotoGP title earlier this month with a second-placed finish at the Japanese MotoGP, beat Rep- sol Honda Team team-mate Dani Pedrosa to first place with a time of one minute 59.791 seconds. Pedrosa, who topped the time sheets during Friday's rain-affect- ed practice session, was 0.182secs adrift in second, while Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was a fur- ther 0.230s back in third to make it a Spanish top-three. LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl will start the race in fourth place, ahead of Ducati's Andrea Dovizio- so in fifth and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in sixth. NGM Forward Racing's Aleix Espargaro beat British pair Cal Crutchlow (Ducati) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech) to seventh, while Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) rounds off the top 10. Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar) brought up the rear by finishing 11th in final qualif ying - more than 10 seconds adrift of Marquez's winning time. Marquez and Pedrosa were the only riders to break the two- minute barrier at the Sepang International Circuit and the champion is looking forward to renewing his duel with his fellow Spaniard in Sunday's race. "It will be a good race with Dani as he has a good rhythm," he told w w w.motogp.com. "Jorge will be there at the start, but Dani is very strong over race distance. If it's wet we'll see, any- thing could happen." Marquez added: "I'm also happy to have broken the record. "Maybe pole positions are some- what insignificant because they don't give you any points, but you achieve them by being the fastest rider over a single lap. "That doesn't mean that you will be the fastest in the race, of course, so the most important thing is what happens today." Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev. 1 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 327.4 1'59.791 2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 329.1 1'59.973 0.182 / 0.182 3 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 324.8 2'00.203 0.412 / 0.230 4 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 327.6 2'00.472 0.681 / 0.269 5 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 327.3 2'00.703 0.912 / 0.231 6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 322.0 2'00.740 0.949 / 0.037 7 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA NGM Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 315.1 2'00.801 1.010 / 0.061 8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Ducati Team Ducati 325.6 2'01.119 1.328 / 0.318 9 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 325.4 2'01.263 1.472 / 0.144 10 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 322.5 2'02.294 2.503 / 1.031 11 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Drive M7 Aspar Honda 313.4 2'10.568 10.777 / 8.274 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha SHELL ADVANCE MALAYSIAN MOTORCYCLE GP Pol Espargaro's Sepang race fitness to be assessed today MONSTER Yamaha Tech3's Pol Es- pargaro suffered a heavy fall in the closing minutes of FP3 at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, which resulted in him fracturing the head of the second metatarsal in his left foot. Therefore, the young Spanish rider decided to sit out FP4 as well as the Q2 session - which he still qualified for, due to scoring 10th position over- all after FP3. The high side occurred in the first corner while Espargaro was looking to post a fast lap. A small piece of glass damaged the oil radiator of his Yama- ha machine and formed a small hole - causing a very fine oil leak, which was not visible to the rider. The 23 year-old still hopes to con- test Sunday's 20-lap battle in Malay- sia and the final decision will be made after his physical condition has been examined before the Warm Up. If he is fit he will start from 12th on the grid. The rider from Barcelona said, "I am feeling sore after the heavy fall, but we must move on and I still hope to be able to compete in the race. I saw Dovizioso and Redding pointing to let me know something wasn't right on the rear, but I couldn't see anything wrong with the bike as the oil leak was so small. Therefore I continued riding normally as the bike felt the same and there was no reduction in power on the straight, but then I hit the brakes and fell at the first corner as oil had slipped onto the rear tyre." "If I can race, I hope to be in a posi- tion to try and use the Warm Up to make further adjustments to the bike, but the most difficult aspect to deal with will be changing the gears. We have to forget about today now. I have never ridden in this condition, but we will see how I recover overnight."