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The weather is always an unknown in Malaysia. Rain once again conditioned proceeding in the second MotoGP session, with riders lapping around ten seconds slower than they did in the morning. Despite the wet weather, results remained the same, in that Andrea Dovizioso was once again out front, having set a best of 2’11”640.
In FP2, the Italian carried out a comparison test between the two fairings, making the most of the winged version, with sensations appearing positive. Marc Marquez, the first of the chasing pack, had to settle for finishing more than second back (+0.526).
The Ducati's potential is also confirmed by Jorge Lorenzo (+1.055) and Danilo Petrucci (+1.408), third and fifth respectively. We shouldn't underestimate the performance of the pair, who at this type of track could cause trouble for Marquez's Honda.
For Yamaha, Friday was also about playing catch-up. Maverick Vinales proved to be the quickest on the M1, closing in fourth place, almost two tenths from Lorenzo, while Valentino Rossi was sixth (+1.431), having moved up a step in the final stages. The Doctor will need to have the bit between his teeth tomorrow if he doesn't want to find himself outside the top ten.
In the afternoon session at Sepang, Alvaro Bautista also did well (+1.651), finishing just behind the M1 of Valentino, preceding the Suzukis of Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone, who finished within 0.067 of each other. A positive sign for the GSX-RR that is again inside the top ten, confirmed the growth seen in recent week. Sam Lowes on the Aprilia closes just behind them.
There were crashes on the wet Malaysian track for Karel Abraham and Johann Zarco, and also for Barberà who crashed after coming into contact with Vinales as he tried to avoid hitting Iannone. Disaster for Dani Pedrosa on the Honda. The Spaniard is eighteenth and almost three seconds from Dovizioso. Behind him is Michael van der Mark on the Yamaha Tech3.
