Rins fastest from Marquez as Lorenzo struggles at Sepang
Alex Rins takes top spot honours at the end of Friday practice at Sepang on his final flying lap, while Jorge Lorenzo struggled for speed on his injury comeback.
Full Malaysia MotoGP FP2 results from Sepang
Alex Rins has grabbed top spot honours at the end of Friday practice at Sepang on his final flying lap ahead of 2018 MotoGP champion Marc Marquez, while Jorge Lorenzo struggled for speed on his injury comeback.
The Suzuki rider produced a 1m 59.608s at the end of FP2 to set the fastest time as conditions remained dry despite the threat of rain which allowed Rins to edge out Marquez by just one one-tenth of a second.
Marquez, who made no fewer than four saves with his elbows in the second session while pushing for the limits of grip on his factory Honda, also demonstrated impressive long run pace using a hard front and soft rear Michelin tyre.
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Jack Miller, another to produce a late blitz on the times, bolted up to third place for Pramac Ducati with his late time attack to edge Phillip Island race-winner Maverick Vinales into fourth place on the Movistar Yamaha.
Danlio Petrucci rounded out the top five for Pramac Ducati with Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso shuffled into fifth and sixth respectively – while both produced strong long run pace earlier in the session.
Johann Zarco’s late lap saw him move up to eight place on the combined times to take a provisional Q2 spot on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 as Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) rounded out the top ten.
But Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro holds on to the final provisional Q2 spot thanks to his fast FP1 effort.
It turned out to be a tough comeback for Lorenzo who ended both practice sessions bottom of the times. The Ducati rider ended FP2 with just nine laps to his name struggling with his recently-operated left wrist.
Michele Pirro remains on standby for Ducati if Lorenzo is unable to race this weekend in Sepang.
