KUALA LUMPUR – Jorge Martin did not only place his Prima Pramac Racing bike at the front of the grid for tomorrow’s MotoGP main race, but has also broken the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) lap record.
In the qualifying session today, the Spanish rider’s time of 1m 57.790s was the first time a bike had gone under 1m 58s at SIC.
The previous lap record was held by current world champion and this year’s title contender Fabio Quartararo, who set a time of 1m 58.576s during the 2019 Malaysian GP.
Martin repeats his pole position start similar to last week in Australia, where he crossed the finish line in seventh.
“The weather today was really hot, so I wasn’t expecting to get that lap time.
“I thought the rest of the guys could improve on their pace, so I tried my best and set a better time.
“Now I’m really looking forward to looking at the data to see how I did it because I was on the limit,” Martin said.
All eyes were on championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, whose time of 1m 58.645s in the first qualifying session got him through to the second session.
However, it was not smooth sailing for the Italian as a crash in the final minutes of the second qualifying session at Turn 4 saw Bagnaia fall down the grid, eventually ending up in ninth place, ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, who also crashed during the session.
2021 MotoGP world champion and title contender Fabio Quartararo also had a poor session, leaving him in 12th for tomorrow’s grid with his time of 1m 59.215s.
Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini starts in second place tomorrow ahead of six-time world champion Marc Marquez in third.
Earlier this year during the MotoGP Official Test here at SIC, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro broke the unofficial lap time record of 1m 58.571s, only for it to be broken again by Enea Bastianini, who clocked 1m 58.157s. – The Vibes, October 22, 2022
