Pedro Acosta topped a chaotic practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday, as both Marco Bezzecchi and Francesco Bagnaia were relegated to Q1.
Rain briefly struck the Sepang Circuit with around 15 minutes remaining, prompting riders to retreat to the pit lane and seemingly bringing the session to an early close.
However, the conditions never worsened, and as the track dried rapidly, a late surge of fast laps completely reshuffled the order on the timesheets.
None of the four KTMs were in the top 10 when rain hit the track, but Acosta took advantage of the conditions to shoot to the top of the charts, setting a time of 1m57.559s.
He was closely shadowed by LCR rider Johann Zarco, who led Honda’s charge in second with a time that was just 0.019s down on Acosta’s benchmark.
Jack Miller was again quick in mixed conditions as he took a solid third on the Pramac Yamaha ahead of Joan Mir, who made it two Hondas inside the top four.
Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo led the way before the late rain shower and was demoted to fifth in the final reckoning, despite improving his time in the final minutes.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Steve Wobser / Getty Images
VR46 duo Fabio di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli ended up sixth and seventh respectively as the highest-placed Ducatis, leading the Tech3 KTM of Pol Espargaro.
Alex Marquez recovered from two crashes on Friday to set the ninth fastest time and earn a direct entry into Q2 – something that had looked unlikely previously as he sat 14th when the arrived.
Factory Yamaha rider Alex Rins held on to 10th place despite crashing late on in the session.
A number of leading contenders who had looked strong earlier in practice were shuffled outside the top 10 amid the late flurry of laps.
Bagnaia, who had looked rapid all day in practice, wound up 12th behind Honda’s Luca Marini, while early pacesetter Fermin Aldeguer could only finish 13th.
None of the Aprilia bikes made it directly into Q2, with Trackhouse duo Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez classified 14th and 16th respectively, sandwiching the factory bike of Bezzecchi.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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