MotoGP Malaysian GP: Pedro Acosta tops frantic…

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: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via 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.

FiP

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	18	1'57.559		169.742
2	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	17	+0.019 1'57.578	0.019	169.715
3	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	20	+0.281 1'57.840	0.262	169.338
4	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	18	+0.295 1'57.854	0.014	169.317
5	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	15	+0.309 1'57.868	0.014	169.297
6	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	18	+0.480 1'58.039	0.171	169.052
7	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	17	+0.482 1'58.041	0.002	169.049
8	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44	KTM	18	+0.496 1'58.055	0.014	169.029
9	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	19	+0.498 1'58.057	0.002	169.026
10	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	17	+0.558 1'58.117	0.060	168.940
11	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	20	+0.620 1'58.179	0.062	168.852
12	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	17	+0.647 1'58.206	0.027	168.813
13	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	15	+0.720 1'58.279	0.073	168.709
14	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	15	+0.741 1'58.300	0.021	168.679
15	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	20	+0.801 1'58.360	0.060	168.594
16	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	18	+1.022 1'58.581	0.221	168.279
17	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	19	+1.180 1'58.739	0.158	168.055
18	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	20	+1.217 1'58.776	0.037	168.003
19	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	17	+1.394 1'58.953	0.177	167.753
20	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	18	+1.405 1'58.964	0.011	167.738
21	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	18	+1.693 1'59.252	0.288	167.333
22	M. Pirro Ducati Team	51	Ducati	19	+2.182 1'59.741	0.489	166.649
23	A. Fernandez Yamaha Factory Racing	7	Yamaha	15	+2.415 1'59.974	0.233	166.326
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