Álex Márquez’s leadership in the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix practice session. The Spanish rider was one of the fastest from the beginning and confirmed the first position, being one of the two to lap in 1m57s along with Jorge Martín. Miguel Oliveira was 19th.
After the first laps thrown, the lead was held by Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) ahead of brother Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) by just 44 thousandths. Positions reversed in the second attempts, while Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac/Ducati) became third, but was later beaten by compatriot Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha). Still in the first ten minutes, Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) crashed, without major consequences.
With just over 20 minutes elapsed, a new leader emerged: Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) was 0.182s faster than Álex Márquez. Moments earlier, Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) had reached the top five positions, where Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) would also later place.
About 15 minutes from the checkered flag, Zarco improved to be seven thousandths behind Martín and Quartararo moved up to third. But it was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) who was the fastest at this stage… for a short time, before Quartararo was 0.094s quicker. Not resigned, the South African regained the lead shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) suffered his fourth fall of the day.
The situation at the top did not last long, as Álex Márquez regained the lead. However, there was still a long way to go and it was only in the last two minutes that the best laps appeared. Martín was the first to break into the 1m57s, but it was ultimately Álex Márquez who set the pace by beating his compatriot by 0.174s.
The Red Bull KTM showed good performance, with Jack Miller in third and Brad Binder in fourth, while Viñales was fifth. Bagnaia, the championship leader, could only manage eighth place, but still secured a spot directly in the second phase of qualifying.
The last one to achieve this was Zarco, who finished in tenth just 84 thousandths ahead of Morbidelli. Among the riders relegated to Q1 are the two from Repsol Honda, Marc Márquez and Joan Mir, as well as Enea Bastianini (Ducati), Aleix Espargaró and Oliveira. The Portuguese rider couldn’t keep up with the pace of the fastest riders and ended up in 19th place.
