MotoGP: Bagnaia Grabs Pole Position

SEPANG, Oct 25 (Bernama) -- Ducati Lenovo Team rider Francesco Bagnaia solidified his status as the defending champion of the Malaysian MotoGP race last season after emerging as the fastest rider in the 2025 season qualifying round at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) today.

In the Qualifying 2 (Q2) session today, the Italian rider sounded a warning ahead of tomorrow's real race when he recorded a time of 1 minute 57.001 seconds (s), leaving BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP rider Alex Marquez, who will start in second place after recording a time of 1:57.017s.

Meanwhile, Franco Morbidelli of Pertamina Endruo VR46 Racing Team will start in third place (1:57.159s).

For the record, in the 2024 MotoGP, Bagnaia started on the pole with a time of 1:56.337s to win the championship in Sepang, beating Jorge Martin who was then representing the Prima Prama Racing team, to second place while Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) came in third.

Ducati Lenovo Team rider Marc Marquez, however, has confirmed the 2025 season championship after collecting 545 points, followed by his brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) with 379 points while Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) is third with 274 points.

MotoGP 2025 has two more races left, in Portugal and Valencia respectively.

-- BERNAMA