Brad Binder produced a sensational final sector on his last lap of qualifying to snatch pole position from under the nose of Jorge Navarro at Sepang. The world champion climbed from sixth to first on his last lap to claim his sixth pole of the season despite a mid-session downpour seemingly bringing an end to proceedings midway through.
The session already started in wet conditions following a downpour during the lunch break and Navarro looked to have timed his run to perfection, clocking a 2:26.984 fifteen minutes in. Shortly afterwards, the notoriously tropical Sepang downpours returned, bringing out the red flags, and it appeared that Navarro’s benchmark time would remain unbeaten.
The newly resurfaced circuit has been providing tremendous grip all weekend though, even in the wet, and Francesco Bagnaia surprised everyone with five minutes to go, going a tenth faster than Navarro. The Spaniard responded shortly afterwards, returning to pole position, but Binder would have the last word with a 2:26.268 securing pole, despite trailing Navarro by over a tenth of a second heading into the final sector.
Bagnaia’s late improvement secured him a place on the front row of the grid while Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who was second fastest prior to the downpour, held onto fourth spot. Gabriel Rodrigo qualified fifth despite crashing late on while Niccolo Antonelli leapt up to sixth with his final effort.
Bo Bendsneyder will start seventh on the second Red Bull Ajo KTM ahead of Jorge Martin and Fabio Quartararo while Aron Canet completes the top ten on tomorrow’s grid.
Moto3 Shell Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (Qualifying Result)
[table id=1646 /]
