03:38
Bezzecchi, in eighth, has now put 14 laps on the same soft rear. The most laps of any rider.
Pedro Acosta, Alex Marquez, 2025 Malaysian MotoGP
2025 Malaysian MotoGP, Sepang: Sprint reaction - LIVE UPDATES
Live updates from Saturday’s Sprint race at the 2025 Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang.
MotoGP arrives at Sepang in Malaysia fresh from an Aprilia double at Phillip Island - courtesy of Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez - but with Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin and Maverick Vinales still sidelined by injury.
Marc Marquez is again being replaced by Ducati test rider Michele Pirro, Martin by Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori and Vinales by KTM test rider Pol Espargaro.
Alex Marquez is comfortably on course to wrap up a historic Marquez one-two in the world championship this weekend, holding a 97-point advantage over next-best Bezzecchi. Just 74 points will remain after this weekend.
The Gresini rider is a former Sprint winner at Sepang and topped February’s official pre-season test.
Last year’s Sepang pole and grand prix winner Francesco Bagnaia has faded to fourth overall on his factory Ducati after back-to-back misery at Mandalika and Phillip Island.
Martin won last year’s Sprint and was runner-up to Bagnaia in the grand prix, after a thrilling early duel between the then title rivals.
Meanwhile, Augusto Fernandez is back this weekend to give the new Yamaha V4 its second wild-card appearance of the year, after a 14th place at Misano in mid-September.
Pedro Acosta and KTM set the pace on an unpredictable Friday, ahead of Johann Zarco and Jack Miller.
Bagnaia came from Q1 to take a surprise pole, as Ducati took a step on Saturday morning.
Saturday schedule:
10:10am (local) / 03:10am (UK) - MotoGP FP2
10:50am (local) / 03:50am (UK) - MotoGP Qualifying
3:00pm (local) / 8:00am (UK) - MotoGP Sprint
25 Oct 2025
03:34
Tenth-place Pedro Acosta is back out, on a new medium rear. He won't use the soft in this session.
03:33
Top 10 with 7 mins to go:
- Luca Marini
- Franco Morbidelli
- Francesco Bagnaia
- Joan Mir
- Fermin Aldeguer
- Fabio Quartararo
- Alex Marquez
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Johann Zarco
- Pedro Acosta
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03:32
Franco Morbidelli laps just 0.007s behind Marini for second, Joan Mir is ahead of Aldeguer for fourth (behind Bagnaia).
03:31
Luca Marini puts Honda fastest, by 0.170s from Francesco Bagnaia.
03:30
Luca Marini moves into second for Honda, with a fresher soft rear (4 laps).
Aldeguer is now on the soft rear.
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03:29
Joan Mir has now switched to soft-soft rubber.
The only riders not now on soft tyres, front and rear, are Aldeguer (medium rear), Acosta (medium front), Bastianini (medium front), Espargaro (medium rear) and Chantra (medium rear).
No surprise the KTMs are doing a lot of work on the mediums after their recent tyre wear issues.
03:27
Order after 15mins, halfway stage of final practice:
- Francesco Bagnaia
- Fermin Aldeguer
- Fabio Quartararo
- Alex Marquez
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Luca Marini
- Pedro Acosta
- Raul Fernandez
- Brad Binder
- Enea Bastianini
- Franco Morbidelli
- Fabio di Giannantonio
- Joan Mir
- Johann Zarco
- Jack Miller
- Miguel Oliveira
- Alex Rins
- Ai Ogura
- Pol Espargaro
- Lorenzo Savadori
- Augusto Fernandez
- Michele Pirro
- Somkiat Chantra
03:24
After putting close to ten laps on the rear tyre, most riders have pitted.
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03:24
Bagnaia is back out and goes fastest.
03:22
Marco Bezzecchi puts Aprilia into fourth. Friday wasn't a good day for the RS-GP but this is a promising start to Saturday.
03:21
Aldeguer, Quartararo and Alex Marquez are the only riders in the 1m 58s. Tyre drop was a big concern on Friday, but so far (after 5 laps) the red sectors are continuing.
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03:20
Crash
Meanwhile, it's bad news for another Yamaha rider, wild-card Augusto Fernandez, who falls from the new V4 at Turn 1.
03:19
Quartararo responds to splits the Gresinis again, the Frenchman had been hoping more rubber on track would help the Yamahas.
03:19
Alex Marquez (soft-soft) makes it a Gresini one-two with second behind Aldeguer.
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03:18
Fabio Quartararo climbs to second, 0.073s behind Aldeguer, on soft-soft tyres.
03:17
Crash
Ai Ogura falls at Turn 1, the rookie remounts and continues.
03:17
Of those, Aldeguer is the outlier on the medium rear, and Acosta on the medium front.
Bagnaia pits.
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03:16
3 laps in and it's Fermin Aldeguer fastest from Luca Marini, Pedro Acosta, Francesco Bagnaia and Brad Binder.
03:13
Soft tyres are the most popular choice for the start of final practice. Joan Mir is the only rider on the hard front tyre with Mir, Somkiat Chantra, Pol Espargaro and Fermin Aldeguer on the medium rear.
03:12
Weather conditions are a cloudy 28 degrees - 32 degrees ground temp - that's cool for Sepang.
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03:10
FP2 begins
FP2 begins and the riders pour out of pitlane.
03:06
This was the order on Friday afternoon, with the top ten going straight to Qualifying 2:
- Pedro ACOSTA
- Johann ZARCO
- Jack MILLER
- Joan MIR
- Fabio QUARTARARO
- Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO
- Franco MORBIDELLI
- Pol ESPARGARO
- Alex MARQUEZ
- Alex RINS
- Luca MARINI
- Francesco BAGNAIA
- Fermin ALDEGUER
- Ai OGURA
- Marco BEZZECCHI
- Raul FERNANDEZ
- Brad BINDER
- Miguel OLIVEIRA
- Enea BASTIANINI
- Somkiat CHANTRA
- Lorenzo SAVADORI
- Michele PIRRO
- Augusto FERNANDEZ
03:00
Next up is the 30-minute MotoGP final practice session, where riders will be working on long runs for the races.
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02:58
The chequered flag waves for the Moto2 class with Jake Dixon fastest from Aron Canet.
Title rivals Diogo Moreira and Manuel Gonzalez are 13th and 14th respectively.
