Marc Marquez leads Sepang MotoGP Practice after crash, Jorge Martin pulls out
Marc Marquez topped Practice on Friday afternoon at Sepang
MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez was fastest in Practice at the Malaysian Grand Prix despite an early crash, as chief title rival Jorge Martin pulled out.
After fracturing his wrist in a crash at Phillip Island, Aprilia’s Martin was cleared to ride on Thursday at Sepang and declared fit again after completing FP1 on Friday morning.
But the 2024 world champion only managed a few minutes of the hour-long Practice, suffering a scare at Turn 12 while on a push lap.
He boxed soon after this moment and didn’t return to the session.
Championship leader Marquez on the factory Ducati then brushed aside a crash at Turn 15 to lead the session with a 1m57.000s.
Alex Marquez was second-fastest on the Gresini Ducati, 0.109s behind, while Ai Ogura led the Aprilia charge in third.
Martin’s withdrawal from the session means he will face Q1 on Saturday morning if he does elect to continue with the Malaysian Grand Prix.
He will join Pecco Bagnaia in the first segment of qualifying, after the Ducati rider finished 12th because of a late crash.
Fabio Di Giannantonio led the way after the first 10 minutes of running on his VR46 Ducati, with the Italian posting the first 1m57s of the weekend on a 1m57.982s.
With 44 minutes to go, Marc Marquez fell at the final corner. While he escaped injury, the spill left him with just one bike for the rest of the session.
Di Giannantonio’s lap would stand as the benchmark until the final 15 minutes of action, when the field began to switch to fresh soft rubber.
LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira used a tow from KTM’s Pedro Acosta to go fastest with a 1m57.913s.
But this was quickly beaten by Marquez, who produced a 1m57.000s that put him almost a second clear of the field at the time.
That advantage was whittled away as the session drew to a close, but no one was able to topple the reigning champion, who didn’t fit fresh rubber for his final run.
Alex Marquez posted a 1m57.109s late on, while Ai Ogura was 0.167s off the pace in third ahead of Acosta and Di Giannantonio.
Marco Bezzecchi was 0.475s off the pace in sixth on the factory team Aprilia, while Tech3 KTM duo Enea Bastianini - who had a late crash - and Maverick Vinales secured Q2 places in seventh and eighth.
That marks Vinales’ first Q2 appearance since the 2025 German Grand Prix, where he injured himself.
Franco Morbidelli was ninth on the sister VR46 Ducati, while the returning Joan Mir completed the top 10 for Honda.
A late crash for LCR’s Johann Zarco stopped him from getting into the top 10, with the Frenchman left in 11th, as team-mate Moreira faded to 13th.
