Pedro Acosta topped the timesheet in the final minutes of the session with his best lap time of 1:57.559. The #37 was followed by Johann Zarco and Jack Miller as track conditions at the Malaysian Grand Prix went from dry to wet once again. In fact, the top five riders of the MotoGP Practice session did not belong to an Aprilia or Ducati constructor team. Find out how the rest of the field shaped up in preparation for the upcoming qualifying sessions at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit.
Rain Threats Rush Riders to Push on Early Laps
After the rain in the Free Practice 1 session and prior delays due to oil on the track, it added a more pressure to set critical lap times of the weekend. With eyes on the skies, riders came out on a dry track. But Acosta had made it quite clear earlier how hard it was going to be to get out of the gravel in the wet.
However, the #37 had another front-end washout, similar to his morning incident on a dry circuit. The tyre choice for the Practice session was the soft compound on both the front and rear. This set-up allowed riders to get early time attacks pencilled in case the rain returned. Aldeguer was first to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:58.279 within the first ten minutes. Eleven riders had set times within a second of each other, a third of the way through the one-hour session, as the sky got darker.
Frustrations Run High With Reliability Issues and Costly Mistakes
Fabio Quatararo had a shaky moment coming into the final corner, causing him to pull back from starting a flying lap. The #20 ducked back into the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP garage, clearly agitated as he talked with the team for nearly two minutes. Further down the pit lane in the Ducati Lenovo Team box, Francesco Bagnaia also took a long time coming out for his second run. The #63 seemed to have finally found his stride, staying with the top three. However, a wobble in Turn 14 brought him back to debrief with his team again.
Somkiat Chantra had his own incident in Turn 15, running into the gravel before meeting the escape road. Raúl Fernández ran off into the same corner, but also managed to save himself from dropping his Aprilia in the kitty litter. HRC Honda looked on as Joan Mir wrangled with his bike in the first corner.
High Risk Brings High Rewards
Despite the imminent threat of another monsoon rain storm at the halfway mark, there had been no time improvements or shake-ups in the order. That was until Ai Ogura started a lap that jumped him up a few places, just as the rain flags came out. The other team switched on to the weather radar was the Factory Yamaha, with Álex Rins setting a crucial lap. However, one rider who has proved phenomenal in the wet, Zarco, dropped the hammer on a cracking time attack to jump up to the top spot. It wasn’t long before fellow compatriot, Quartararo, put his problems behind him and took first place. However, it was a disaster for Álex Márquez, who had a slow crash coming into Turn 2, returning to the BK8 Gresini Racing garage with his second bike not prepared. Meanwhile, Bagnaia was called back to the box to swap bikes.
Final Flying Lap Shoot Out
With fifteen minutes left, the rain intensified and the chance to set a final flying lap in favourable conditions diminished. Less than ten minutes remained, and all riders had returned to the pit lane. But who would take the risk and head out first? That honour went to Fabio Di Giannantonio as a reprieve of sunshine lit up the main straight. The wait paid off for Á. Márquez, setting a stunning lap, but was quickly followed by the rest of the grid.
Augusto Fernández crashed on Turn 9, the wildcard on the V4-powered Yamaha, finishing any further chances of collecting data on the prototype. Rins also came down at Turn 2, but hung onto advance straight into Q2. Some big names, however, find themselves in Q1 for Saturday, including Marco Bezzecchi, Aldeguer, and Bagnaia.