World championship leader Marc Marquez of Spain took his eighth pole position of the season on Saturday for Sunday’s Malaysian MotoGP.
The 20-year-old rookie, who is the youngest rider to lead a championship, came ahead of seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi and British rider Cal Crutchlow.
Marquez’ time of 2 minutes and 0.011 seconds breaks the Sepang track record of 2:00.334 set by Jorge Lorenzo last year.
The defending world champion and Yamaha rider will be starting in fourth place in the second row of the grid, next to Marquez’ Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa and Spain’s Alvaro Bautista.
Pedrosa was the fastest in free practice on Friday and won the Malaysian Grand Prix last year, when Lorenzo secured pole.
German rider Stefan Bradl, who ranks sixth in the championship standings, missed qualifying practice and will not participate in Sunday’s race after breaking his ankle when crashing in a corner during the fourth free practice session.
Qualifying took place after a light shower as more rain clouds loomed.
The 5.5km Sepang International Circuit is known for its extreme weather conditions with sweltering humid temperatures that can soar well above 30 degrees Celsius and torrential afternoon downpours that caused last year’s race to be cut short.
In 2011, MotoGP rising star Marco Simoncelli died in an accident during the race, while a Malaysian racer and marshal were killed in a crash late last month.
Race officials insist the circuit is safe.