Francesco Bagnaia bounces back with Malaysian MotoGP pole: “It’s a rollercoaster”
Francesco Bagnaia is propelled back to the front of the MotoGP field with pole position at Sepang.
Francesco Bagnaia’s “roller-coaster” season took another dramatic swing as the factory Ducati rider stormed to pole position for the Malaysian MotoGP.
Bagnaia arrived at Sepang without a single point since his flawless Motegi double victory, where a switch back to older GP24 parts (briefly) transformed his fortunes.
But after finishing only twelfth on Friday, he faced a battle just to make it through to Qualifying 2.
The Italian edged out Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi in Q1 to join Fermin Aldeguer in the pole shootout.
With only one fresh set of soft tyres remaining, Bagnaia sat out the opening run, then leapt from last (12th) to first on his opening flying lap, where he remained to secure his third consecutive Sepang pole.
Yamaha’s qualifying ace Fabio Quartararo looked set to deny Bagnaia but fell short in the final sector, leaving an all-Ducati front row of Bagnaia, Alex Marquez (Gresini) and Franco Morbidelli (VR46).
“Difficult to explain, and like you said, it's a rollercoaster,” Bagnaia smiled in parc ferme.
“So I'm happy, but I don't want to be too calm, and I know that this afternoon will be tricky.
“The condition is very hot, so it will be important to remain calm and try to understand the situation.
“But this morning we did a good job. We tried different things and it helped a bit, not just me, all the Ducatis, because yesterday we were more in trouble.
“So it’s an improvement and we just need to continue like this.”
Bagnaia’s pole time of 1m 57.001s was significantly slower than last year’s record 1m 56.337s, even though the soft tyre spec remains unchanged for this weekend.
Pre-season Sepang pace-setter Alex Marquez rediscovered form at one of his strongest circuits to join Bagnaia on the front row.
“It looks like everything has happened to us this weekend. We had some issues on the box, later on I was not feeling 100% with the bike like we did in the past or in the pre-season here,” said the Gresini rider.
“Still I'm not feeling 100%, I'm not feeling ready. But the rhythm was not bad this morning. So we'll try our best in the Sprint and see where we are.”
Alex is on course to wrap-up second in the world championship this weekend, while Bagnaia is currently eight points behind Bezzecchi in a battle for third.
The final practice long runs suggest Bagnaia, Marquez, Luca Marini, Morbidelli, Bezzecchi, Aldeguer, Joan Mir and Quartararo could all be Sprint contenders.
Bezzecchi, who will start just 14th, impressed with consistent pace on very worn soft tyres, completing a full grand prix distance on his front tyre during FP2.
The 10-lap Sprint begins at 3pm local time.
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