{"id":4681,"date":"2026-10-31T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=4681"},"modified":"2026-10-31T11:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T14:43:20","slug":"malaysian-motogp-2026-starting-grid-alex-marquez-on-pole-marc-second-acosta-third","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/motogp\/malaysian-motogp-2026-starting-grid-alex-marquez-on-pole-marc-second-acosta-third\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysian MotoGP 2026 starting grid: \u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez on pole, Marc second, Acosta third"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">News Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>\u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez will start the 2026 Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix from pole position<\/strong> after beating brother Marc M\u00e1rquez by just 0.070s in qualifying at Sepang.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pedro Acosta completes the front row<\/strong> after qualifying third and subsequently winning Saturday&#8217;s sprint, while Ai Ogura, Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio occupy the second row.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jorge Mart\u00edn will miss Sunday&#8217;s race because of his arm injury<\/strong>, leaving championship leader Marc M\u00e1rquez with a 19-point advantage and an opportunity to extend it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez will lead the field into Sunday&#8217;s (November 1) Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix after securing pole position at Sepang with a lap of <strong>1:56.493<\/strong>. The Gresini Ducati rider edged older brother Marc M\u00e1rquez by 0.070s, with Pedro Acosta completing an all-Spanish front row just 0.084s behind the pole-sitter. The race will take place without Jorge Mart\u00edn, who withdrew from the weekend because of the injury sustained at Phillip Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The starting grid also sets up another confrontation between the M\u00e1rquez brothers and Acosta, who <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/motogp\/acosta-wins-malaysian-motogp-sprint-as-marc-marquez-extends-championship-lead\/\">won Saturday&#8217;s Malaysian MotoGP sprint ahead of Marc M\u00e1rquez and Marco Bezzecchi<\/a>. \u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez had led the opening stages of the shorter race before crashing, while the KTM rider recovered to claim victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez leads all-Spanish front row at Sepang<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez secured his <strong>first pole position of the 2026 MotoGP season<\/strong> with a decisive late improvement during Q2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Gresini rider initially established the fastest time with a 1:56.697, but the battle intensified during the final minutes as several riders improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bezzecchi briefly moved into first place with a 1:56.668 before Ogura responded with a 1:56.617 for Trackhouse Aprilia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marc M\u00e1rquez then produced a 1:56.563, moving ahead of the field and appearing set to claim pole position for Ducati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, \u00c1lex responded with <strong>1:56.493<\/strong>, improving by 0.204s over his earlier benchmark and denying his brother the top starting position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result gave the younger M\u00e1rquez his third career MotoGP pole and his first since the 2025 Catalan Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00c1lex also arrives with a strong record at Sepang, having won the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marc will start second, looking to strengthen his position in the championship, while Acosta lines up third after demonstrating competitive pace throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The front-row trio was separated by less than one tenth of a second, suggesting another closely contested race if all three make clean starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Acosta targets another victory after winning Malaysian sprint<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acosta enters Sunday&#8217;s Grand Prix with momentum after claiming his <strong>second sprint victory of the 2026 season<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The KTM rider defeated Marc M\u00e1rquez by 0.578s in Saturday&#8217;s ten-lap contest, while Bezzecchi completed the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sprint initially appeared to favour \u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez, who maintained the lead from pole position before crashing at Turn 14 on lap three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His retirement promoted Ogura into first place, but the Japanese rider subsequently came under increasing pressure from Acosta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Spaniard made his decisive move with three laps remaining, briefly losing the lead again before completing another overtake and escaping the chasing group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marc also passed Ogura to secure second place, while Bezzecchi moved into third during the closing stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Acosta&#8217;s victory makes him one of the principal contenders for Sunday&#8217;s race<\/strong>, particularly given his position on the front row and KTM&#8217;s competitive performance around Sepang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the longer Grand Prix will place greater emphasis on tyre management, consistency and the ability to maintain pace over the full race distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Malaysian circuit&#8217;s high temperatures and humidity can make tyre degradation particularly significant, especially during the second half of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ogura, Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio occupy second row<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second row features three riders representing different teams and manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ai Ogura qualified fourth with a 1:56.617<\/strong>, just 0.124s behind \u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez, continuing an encouraging we<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez starts Sunday&#8217;s Malaysian Grand Prix from pole ahead of championship leader Marc M\u00e1rquez and sprint winner Pedro Acosta. Jorge Mart\u00edn is absent through injury, while Marco Bezzecchi starts fifth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020318863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"\u00c1lex M\u00e1rquez","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Michelin","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_ai_content_disclaimer":"","42wp_is_ai_content":false,"42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":7,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_hide_from_automatic":false,"42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[164,964,104,32],"42wp_author":[7],"class_list":["post-4681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motogp","tag-alex-marquez","tag-malaysian-grand-prix","tag-marc-marquez","tag-motogp","42wp_author-victor-martins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4682,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4681\/revisions\/4682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020318863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4681"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=4681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}