MOTOGP MALAYSIA MAIN PRACTICE: BAGNAIA LEADS, MARTIN SECOND
Francesco Bagnaia finished at the top of the main practice session in Sepang, following his lead in the initial practice session.
Bagnaia, currently 17 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin, set the fastest time on the Sepang track. Jorge Martin followed closely in second, just 0.050 seconds behind. Towards the end of the session, Martin crashed at Turn 1 and couldn’t complete his final lap. However, the Pramac rider had been leading the session’s times with used tires before the incident.
Bagnaia’s teammate and last year’s Sepang winner, Enea Bastianini, recorded the third-fastest lap, while Maverick Viñales from Aprilia posted the best time among the non-GP24 motorcycles. Alex Marquez, the 2023 Sprint race winner, secured fifth, and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo took sixth.
Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, and Marc Marquez were the last riders to earn direct entry into the Second Qualifying (Q2) session.
Among those who missed the top ten and will join Saturday’s Q1 session are Pedro Acosta, Marco Bezzecchi, Brad Binder, and Aleix Espargaro. Espargaro, Binder, and Bezzecchi also encountered crashes during the session.
