The temperature rose i♊n Malaysia, anꦫd not just because of the next title shot for Pedro Acosta piling pressure on Tony Arbolino.

The hot, sticky conditions continued to become more difficult, leading to the best laps being set early in qualifying for the Moto2 Malaysian gra𓆉nd prix, round eighteen of the championship.

The Speed Up rider’s bes༺t, a 2m 05.288s lap, came on just his second run around the track and first flying lap. Timed to perfection, the Boscoscuro rider held a gap of over half a second over the rest to claim his third consecutive pole position.

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Celestino Vietti was the ⛦best of the rest, 0.502s behind. The Fantꦐic rider crashed out late on pushing on to try and better his time and get closer to the Spaniard.

The final front row slot went💎 to Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago yamaha VR46 Team) his first time the✨re since the Indonesian round, showing the #18 is back to his best.

Aron Canet was fourth fastest but a spill from his Pons bike at turn four while Vietti was already in the gravel is expected to pick up a penalty. The incident was already under iꦯnvestigation before the conclusion of the session.

Marcos Ramire🔥z continued his upturn in form with the fifth best time for American racing.

Acosta’s title shot to launch from sixth.

Pedro Acosta had not been firing ahead on his arrival in Sepang, maybe und✃erstandable considering his last appearance at the track saw him convert eighth on the grid to a DNF.

Tꦺhe Re♋d Bull KTM Ajo rider still holds all the cards, able to finish as low as fourth even if Tony Arbolino goes on to win the race.

Arbolino himself made h🌳ard work of getting in through, wit♓h his sixth visit to Q1 needed to get to the second session for the chance of a grid advantage.

A determined run on the Elf Marc VDS bike saw him become one of the last to improve, moving into seventh just behind Acosta.The Italian can take heart from his performance at Sepang in 2022, where༒ he converted second on the grid to a win.

Jake Dixon also made his inde GasGas Aspar work hard to move up from twelfth to eighth as the 🐬clock ticked down.

Somkiat Chantra placed ninth for Idemitsu Team Honda, well ahead of his teammate Ai Ogura ,who was a l🀅acklustre 13th. Joe Roberts progressed through Q1 to complete the top ten.

Sam Lowes was pushed back to eleventh on the second Marc VDS bike, with Sergio Garcia the best of the roo🎶kies f🎀or Pons Wegow Los 40 in twelfth.

Alonso Lopez again couldn’t do with the Boscoscuro what his po꧅le-sitting teamate managed, leaving him down in 15th.

A crash for Filip Salac saw him unable to progress ജpast 18th for G𓆉resini.

What happened in Q1?

Arbolino eased through with the second fastest time of the weekend. The Italian was joined in Q2 by Albert Arenas, Taiga Hada (17th) and Joe Roberꦺts.

Dennis Foggia was in a position to climb out of fifth for Italtrans, but found himself behind his teammate Joe Roberts, who pulled out ahead aꦉs the rider sat in fourth, unwilling to give him the help into Q2 to take his place.

Zonta van den Goorbergh fell in the se🍷ssion, leaving him sixth, for 20th on the grid.

Rory Skinner continued his difficult transitio🧔n from BSB with American Racing in 26th.

Injuries and replacements

Izan Guevara sufꦬfered a nasty fall, right at the start of P3, brining out the red flag. The Aspar rider left the track on a stretcher, holding his arm and was taken to the medical centre for a check-up.

The Spaniard lined up for🔯 Q1, placing eleventh 🔯in the session for 25th.

The same session saw a seco🤡nd red flag, to repair the air fence after Darryn Binder ended up sending his Kalex flying into it at turn one. The South African was sent to the medical centre for checks on his right hand after he barrel rolled through the gravel alongside his bike.

Binder did not return for qualifying.

Alberto Surra is the only regular rider ou😼t in Malaysia. He is replaced by Sean Dylan Kelly (♓27th) at the Forward Team.

There are two additional wildcard riders on the grid for home grand Prix ༒rides. Debutant Helmi Azman (31st) and Azroy Anuar (29th) are the extra riders,  both for Petronas MIE Racing RW.