Marc Marquez destroyed the MotoGP field to claim his sixth pole position of 2018 by over half a second in wet conditions around the Sepang International Circuit.

Monsoon like conditions during Q1 and a subsequent red flag meant the qualifying session was delayed by over an hour. Against all odds, the rain relented and allowed Q1 and both Q2 to take place without rain falling from the sky.

Marquez was quick to go to the top of the timing sheets with a 2:13.6 on medium tyres, he was over half a second ahead of the Pramac Ducati duo of Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller.

Marquez then took over a second out of his own lap time to produce a 2:12.161, which was then over 1.2 seconds from the chasing pack. Despite losing the front end and crashing at the up hill turn four, Marquez’ time was never beaten and saw him claim the pole position by over half of a second.

Johann Zarco was the final man over the line and the closest rider to Marquez, albeit 0.548 seconds behind the Spaniard. Zarco’s last second lap also bumped Valentino Rossi to the outside of the front.

Changing for fresh rubber halfway through the session, Rossi’s final lap was a 2:13.009, which was enough to see the factory M1 get on the front row by just 0.88 seconds.

Andrea Iannone will start from fourth and will feel aggrieved after seeing his best lap hampered by Marquez, with the Repsol Honda man not spotting the factory Suzuki on his out lap. Andrea Dovizioso will join his compatriot on the second row, starting from fifth position. The factory Ducati looked like he had the pace to get on the front row, however a mistake saw him crash out on his final lap.

Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci will start from sixth and seventh, despite their early pace. Neither Pramac man could find substantial gains on their second runs and will be forced to start from the second and third row respectively.

Alex Rins and Q1 fastest man Alvaro Bautista will join Petrucci on the third row of the grid, with an all-Spanish fourth row of Dani Pedrosa, Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro rounding out the Q2 participants.