WATCH Marc Marquez’s huge high-side in Malaysian MotoGP qualifying

Marc Marquez paid a high price for his somewhat desperate attempts to out-fox rival Fabio Quartararo as he crashed heavily while attempting to shadow him for his final flying lap in Malaysian MotoGP qualifying.

Marquez high-sided heavily at turn two as he was winding up for a fast final lap but it occurred after an uncomfortable out-lap in which he slowed to walking pace just so he wouldn’t go past the Yamaha rider, the Spaniard hoping to use him as a reference point.

Earlier in the session, Marquez backed out of his first qualifying run in an effort to wait for Quartararo – who was on lap record pace in free practice – but found himself wanting when the Petronas SRT rider managed to scamper away and out-perform him by almost a second.

As such, Marquez tracked him into the pit lane and waited to join him on track for the final flyers, a tactic that didn’t go unnoticed as Quartararo slowed right down in an effort to stop his rival shadowing him.

However, while it didn’t work, Quartararo crucially managed to jump Danilo Petrucci on the run to the line, forcing the trailing Marquez to make a deep pass on the Italian into turn one.

When he tipped back over for turn two though, the rear snapped – most likely because the slow pace wasn’t enough to get sufficient heat into the tyres – flicking him into a high-side that caused him to land heavily on his feet, wrist and face.

With Quartararo going to snatch pole position, Marquez will start down in 11th position having since confirmed he escaped serious injury in the smash.