Marc Marquez collected his eighth pole of the season ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Image: MotoGP.com.

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has secured pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix, taking his pole tally to eight and extending his current streak to four in a row.

While it was his factory Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa who led all three free practice sessions, Marquez was the man to shine come qualifying, with his stunning 2m00.011 lap breaking the record of Casey Stoner set in 2008.

Second on the timesheets went to Valentino Rossi, with the Yamaha Factory Rider enjoying a strong run in the Q2 session to register his highest grid placing in over three years.

Rossi lapped 0.325s off the pace of Marquez, while Monster Tech3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow completed the front row with an impressive third place effort on the satellite M1.

Jorge Lorenzo will head off row two tomorrow, uncharacteristically demoted from the spot of top Yamaha qualifier he regularly holds.

Pedrosa could only muster a time good enough for fifth after falling away from the pace he showed earlier, while the GO&FUN Gresini of Alvaro Bautista snared the final spot on the second row.

Monster Tech3’s Bradley Smith ran a strong seventh, with factory Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso eighth before Aleix Espargaro on the category-leading CRT.

Andrea Iannone claimed the final spot in the top 10 on the Pramac Ducati, while Nicky Hayden languished close to three seconds off the pace on the second factory Desmosedici.

A man who will be absent from the grand prix at Sepang and most likely Phillip Island is LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl.

Bradl suffered a minor low side crash upon entry to a corner but snagged his foot on a piece of artificial grass installed on the side of the track as he slid, resulting in a fractured ankle.

Aussies Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Gresini Honda CRT) and Damian Cudlin (Paul Bird Motorsport CRT) maintained their final free practice session placings from yesterday, finishing 22nd and 24th respectively.

Tuenti HP 40’s Esteve Rabat remains unchallenged at the top of the timesheets at the conclusion of the second day of Moto2 track activity, qualifying his Kalex machine 0.018 seconds clear of Interwettn Paddock Moto2’s Thom Luthi.

Pol Espargaro made it two Tuenti HP machines on the front row with third place, while the second row will consist of Johann Zarco (Came Iodaracing), Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) and Takaaki Nakagami (ItalTrans Racing); fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Points leader Scott Redding faced another challenging session, qualifying his Marc VDS mount in 10th, 0.907s off Rabat’s pace.

Aussie Ant West will start his 200th grand prix from 23rd on the grid on the QMMF Racing Team machine.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Luis Salom took pole position in the Moto3 class, his third of the season, heading off Ongetta-Rivacold’s Alexis Masbou and GO&FUN Gresini’s Niccolo Antonelli.

Miguel Oliveira qualified fourth from Alex Marquez in fifth and Alex Rins in sixth, while Aussie Jack Miller heads up row three after a solid qualifying effort for seventh.

Arthur Sissis will start from 19th on his Red Bull KTM after another tough qualifying showing.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round 15 – Sepang, Malaysia

MotoGP qualifying:
1. Marc MARQUEZ 2m00.011
2. Valentino ROSSI 2m00.336
3. Cal CRUTCHLOW 2m00.359
4. Jorge LORENZO 2m00.578
5. Dani PEDROSA 2m00.692
6. Alvaro BAUTISTA 2m00.974
7. Bradley SMITH 2m01.306
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 2m01.635
9. Aleix ESPARGARO 2m02.151
10. Andrea IANNONE 2m02.536
11. Nicky HAYDEN 2m02.900
12. Colin EDWARDS 2m02.858
13. Claudio CORTI 2m03.175
14. Hector BARBERA 2m03.212
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA 2m03.418
16. Yonny HERNANDEZ 2m03.651
17. Randy DE PUNIET 2m03.805
18. Michael LAVERTY 2m04.198
19. Danilo PETRUCCI 2m04.310
20. Luca SCASSA 2m05.199
22. Bryan STARING (AUS) 2m06.038
24. Damian CUDLIN (AUS) 2m06.273

Moto2 qualifying:
1. Esteve RABAT 2m07.063
2. Thomas LUTHI 2m07.081
3. Pol ESPARGARO 2m07.161
4. Johann ZARCO 2m07.430
5. Mika KALLIO 2m07.637
6. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 2m07.748
7. Alex DE ANGELIS 2m07.793
8. Xavier SIMEON 2m07.798
9. Jordi TORRES 2m07.888
10. Scott REDDING 2m07.980
11. Dominique AEGERTER 2m07.998
12. Marcel SCHROTTER 2m08.036
13. Sandro CORTESE 2m08.075
14. Nicolas TEROL 2m08.128
15. Simone CORSI 2m08.173
16. Danny KENT 2m08.359
17. Julian SIMON 2m08.424
18. Hafizh SYAHRIN 2m08.441
19. Mattia PASINI 2m09.098
20. Axel PONS 2m09.217
23. Anthony WEST (AUS) 2m09.712

Moto3 qualifying:
1. Luis SALOM 2m13.867
2. Alexis MASBOU 2m13.985
3. Niccolò ANTONELLI 2m14.006
4. Miguel OLIVEIRA 2m14.067
5. Alex MARQUEZ 2m14.329
6. Alex RINS 2m14.342
7. Jack MILLER 2m14.436
8. Efren VAZQUEZ 2m14.438
9. Maverick VIÑALES 2m14.590
10. Jonas FOLGER 2m14.781
11. Jakub KORNFEIL 2m15.029
12. Philipp OETTL 2m15.082
13. Romano FENATI 2m15.236
14. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 2m15.474
15. Niklas AJO 2m15.509
16. Livio LOI 2m15.515
17. Eric GRANADO 2m15.571
18. Isaac VIÑALES 2m15.574
19. Arthur SISSIS 2m15.587
20. Ana CARRASCO 2m15.645

Click here for detailed results