Alex Marquez left it late to clinch pole position for the Malaysia MotoGP weekend after edging out his brother Marc Marquez in qualifying.
Marquez became the ninth different polesitter of the 2026 season by setting a 1:56.493s to claim top spot at one of his most successful tracks.
All eyes were on the Aprilia garage waiting to see whether Jorge Martin would emerge for qualifying after setting just a handful of lap times throughout practice.
After discussions before the session began with MotoGP medical director Dr. Angel Charte, it was decided that Martin would withdraw from the remainder of the weekend due to his injuries.
In the fight for pole position on track, five riders topped the session at different stages – with Alex Marquez coming out fighting but eventually getting displaced to fifth after some fast laps in the midpart of qualifying.
However, after building up for his final lap, the Gresini rider responded to the marker set by his elder brother and snatched pole position by just 0.070s, his first since the 2025 Catalan GP.
Marc Marquez took second, and towed Pedro Acosta to the line to allow the KTM rider to complete the front row in third.
The remaining Aprilia riders were bumped off the front row after showing their cards, with Ai Ogura fourth and 0.124s off the pole time and Marco Bezzecchi narrowly behind in fifth.
Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the second row in sixth, with Enea Bastianini taking seventh and Johann Zarco progressing from Q2 to eighth.
Franco Morbidelli took the chequered flag to qualify ninth, while Francesco Bagnaia also came through Q1 to complete the top 10.
Joan Mir qualified 11th ahead of Maverick Vinales, who completed the fourth row in 12th.
Luca Marini missed out on progressing to Q2 by just over a tenth of a second, which saw him head the fifth row in 13th alongside Diogo Moreira in 14th and Brad Binder in 15th.
Jack Miller qualified 16th and was joined on the sixth row by the factory Yamaha pair, with Alex Rins in 17th outqualifying 18th-placed Fabio Quartararo.
The two replacement riders rounded out the standings, with Iker Lecuona continuing to deputise for Fermin Aldeguer in 19th, and Augusto Fernandez in for Toprak Razgatlioglu to the end of the season in 20th.
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