On the grounds of his Malaysian team Petronas Yamaha SRT, Fabio Quartararo took his fifth top position in the premier class on Saturday, improving on the new Sepang track record he had set the day before.
This Sunday (departure at 8:00 am French time), the tuning fork firm will monopolize the first row of the Malaysian GP grid.
And it is once again the Yam’ M1 hit by the number 20 who will start in the lead. Already imperial 24 hours earlier, when he had erased Dani Pedrosa’s record, the 20-year-old enfant terrible de la baie des Anges surpassed himself in Q2 to establish a new reference mark (1’58”303) on his last fast lap.
“It’s really incredible,” Fabio Quartararo commented. “Fifth pole in MotoGP! We just had a fantastic day. The sensations are excellent. I get great times even on used tires. I am very happy for the SRT team who are playing at home this weekend.”
Untouchable on his cloud, the best rookie 2019 beat the Spanish rider of the official Yamaha team Maverick Vinales, 2nd at 0”103, and his teammate Franco Morbidelli.
Marc Marquez? The world champion was violently ejected into the scene by his Honda when he tried to “suck” the wheel of Quartararo at the end of qualifying.
He will start from 11th place, behind Johann Zarco from Cannes, who is in the top 10 (9th) for his second experience on the Honda of the LCR team.