Marc Marquez bravely secured fourth place on the grid in a wet QP at the Sepang Circuit today, missing a front row start by a mere 87 thousandths of a second.

After sitting out FP2 on Friday due to stomach illness and despite not being at full strength today either, Marc returned to action in a dry FP3 session and improved his pace enough to set the second-best lap time and transfer directly to QP2. Afterward, he led the way in FP4, which took place soon after a heavy midday downpour and therefore in fully wet conditions.

Qualifying also was held on wet tyres, as the track hasn’t had time to dry off. Marc chose to go with the hard front and rear compounds and stayed out the whole session in order to have more chances to improve his lap times, but when was closing his flying lap in an expected front row position he ran slightly wide at turn 15, the final corner, and finally had to settle for fourth.

Hiroshi Aoyama set the seventh fastest lap time in a wet QP1, meaning that he will start tomorrow’s Malaysian GP from the sixth row in 17th position.


Marc Marquez - 4th

“Today has been a good day; I feel rather better than yesterday, thanks to the doctors, and that's important. I am gradually regaining strength and I’m sure tomorrow I will be better still. In the morning, in the dry, I felt good. In the afternoon, as we missed yesterday’s session in the wet, we felt it a little. However, in FP4 I felt pretty good, although for Q2 I still wanted to do better and for that reason we made a couple of changes to the setup – which didn’t end up working as we were hoping for. Anyway I think that in both dry and wet conditions we are ready to fight for the podium.”

Hiroshi Aoyama - 17th

“I had hoped the two sessions today would be dry but in the end, like yesterday, we had mixed conditions. In the dry we are a little less comfortable than in the wet, but in both cases I feel the same: I need some more confidence with the front. We will work to improve on this aspect, and for this we will try out some things in the warm-up. Today we have progressed from yesterday and tomorrow we will try to continue in this way to keep improving.”


1   - DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 2'11.485
2   - ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 2'11.731
3   - LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 2'11.787
4   - MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 2'11.874
5   - CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 2'12.558
6   - IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 2'12.598
7   - ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 2'12.869
8   - VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 2'12.981
9   - BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 2'13.325
10 - BAZ Loris 76 FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 2'13.452
11 - ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 2'13.707
12 - BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 2'13.973
13 - SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 2'12.898
14 - MILLER Jack 43 AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 2'12.907
15 - PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 2'13.776
16 - BRADL Stefan 6 GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 2'13.850
17 - AOYAMA Hiroshi 7 JPN Repsol Honda Team Honda 2'14.179
18 - REDDING Scott 45 GBR Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 2'14.433
19 - LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati 2'14.769
20 - HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati 2'14.786
21 - RABAT Tito 53 SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 2'15.894