Marc Marquez on front row at Malaysian MotoGP as Martin ruled out

File pic- Ducati’s Marc Marquez has a golden opportunity to increase his 10-point championship advantage over Martin after putting himself on the front row for Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s main race. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Marc Marquez capitalised on championship rival Jorge Martin’s injury withdrawal to sit on the front row for the Malaysian MotoGP as his brother Alex Marquez took pole position on Saturday.

Ducati-Gresini rider Alex clocked the fastest qualifying time of 1min 56.493sec, which was 0.070sec faster than older brother Marc.

Pedro Acosta came in third, followed by Japan’s Ai Ogura and Italian Marco Bezzecchi.

Ducati’s Marc Marquez has a golden opportunity to increase his 10-point championship advantage over Martin after putting himself on the front row for Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s main race.

His fellow Spaniard Martin arrived in Malaysia with a broken wrist and came through unscathed in Friday’s first practice session at Sepang.

But the Aprilia rider then only managed a limited number of laps in the afternoon and on Saturday morning.

He did not come out for qualifying.

Aprilia Racing team manager Paolo Bonora said the 2024 champion could not exert any force into his bike in the braking areas and will now return to Spain to assess his condition ahead of next week’s Qatar GP.