Alex Marquez, following a dramatic improvement, is now the closest challenger to “MM93”

Alex Márquez’s track record in Malaysia is littered with top results. Following two podium finishes in 2025 (albeit in the absence of his brother Marc and with his GP victory coming about due to a puncture suffered by Pecco Bagnaia) and the fastest overall time at the Sepang test, the Ducati rider was high up on all the Sepang lists despite sitting 8th in the World Championship standings.

This made it all the more surprising when ‘AM73’ failed to get off to a proper start in the event. In FP1, the Sepang specialist was never anywhere near the front-runners. His brother Marc was almost a second faster than Alex – 7th place despite good track conditions at Sepang, and still behind Franky Morbidelli and no fewer than three KTM riders.

This did not faze the Spaniard, who will be riding for KTM next year. As the second half of the one-hour qualifying session began, Alex Marquez staged an impressive comeback, capped by a final push that saw him finish second. The clock stopped at 1:57.1 minutes – meaning the baby-blue Ducati was a full 2.8 seconds faster than it had been that morning. He was now just 0.109 seconds off the fastest time.

Kam quer daher: Gresini-Pilot Alex Marquez

Foto: Gold and Goose

Consequently, the 30-year-old was in a relaxed frame of mind when speaking to the media at the sweltering Sepang circuit: “Things didn’t go at all well this morning – quite the opposite of what we’d expected. We had to make a lot of changes. Then, when we fitted the soft rear tyre, everything came together – and it all worked. The most important thing is that I felt confident with the pace this afternoon; it wasn’t a ride at the absolute limit.”

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Alex Márquez had little criticism of the track’s condition: “There was a lot of talk about the track in the run-up to the race, partly because of the Formula 1 event. But to be honest – I didn’t find it any different from a year ago. There are certainly a few sections of the track where the condition is borderline – but that’s how it’s always been in the past, and there’s nothing we can do to change it now. So we’re trying to adapt as best we can, and that worked well, at least in the afternoon.”

Marquez also used the lap time as a benchmark. “I ended up pretty much exactly where I’d expected, and there wasn’t much difference compared to last year,” said Alex Marquez on Friday in Sepang. By way of comparison: in 2025, Alex Márquez clocked a time of 1:57.0 mins; at the Sepang test last February, the limit was reached at 1:56.4 mins.