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MotoGP Malaysian GP: Bagnaia sets early pace with FP1 scorcher

Francesco Bagnaia made an early statement in his bid to beat world championship leader Jorge Martin by setting the fastest lap time in Friday’s Free Practice 1 for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

In contrast to Pramac Ducati’s Martin, factory Ducati rider Bagnaia chose to run a soft front at the end of the session, a move that powered him to a time 1.647s better than Martin’s.

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) joined Bagnaia with late runs on soft rubber, and duly set laps good enough for second and third on the timesheets respectively. Vinales was however 0.743s in arrears of Bagnaia's chart-topping effort of 1m58.795s, with Bezzecchi over a second adrift.

Jack Miller (KTM) in fourth was quickest of the riders to take the more conventional approach to the session by simply running a medium front tyre throughout.

Tech 3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta was fifth behind the Australian and the only rider to drop his bike during the session, with a very late crash at Turn 9.

Martin was third-quickest of the riders to stick with the mediums and thus sixth overall. The Spaniard, who leads the championship by 17 points over Bagnaia with one round to go after Malaysia, made one small mistake during the session as he outbraked himself and ran wide at the final corner.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was seventh-fastest, followed by Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

Quartararo led much of the session before the likes of Bagnaia pitted for soft rubber. The Frenchman’s bike broke down with a few minutes remaining in the session, although he was able to coast it back to the garage.

MotoGP returnee Andrea Iannone broke into the top 10 for VR46 Ducati, where he is replacing the injured Fabio di Giannantonio. This ninth-fastest time was also courtesy of a late lap on a soft front, however.

Only five riders in total pulled the soft-rubber move, with Trackhouse Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori the fifth and slowest of these in 18th.

Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez completed the top 10, almost two seconds down on the pace-setting Bagnaia.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was 12th and Bagnaia’s factory Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini ended FP1 14th. The pair are battling for third in the world championship.

Track action at Sepang started in slightly damp conditions after rain earlier in the morning, which led to an FP1 that was largely cautious and uneventful. It can also be regarded as inconclusive given the varying tyre strategies at play.

   
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Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 15

1'58.795

  167.976 333
2 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 15

+0.743

1'59.538

0.743 166.932 326
3 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 17

+1.053

1'59.848

0.310 166.500 329
4 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 15

+1.452

2'00.247

0.399 165.948 329
5 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 15

+1.560

2'00.355

0.108 165.799 332
6 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 16

+1.647

2'00.442

0.087 165.679 330
7 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 17

+1.696

2'00.491

0.049 165.612 328
8 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 14

+1.789

2'00.584

0.093 165.484 330
9 Italy A. Iannone Team VR46 29 Ducati 16

+1.856

2'00.651

0.067 165.392 326
10 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 16

+1.915

2'00.710

0.059 165.311 328
11 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 17

+1.923

2'00.718

0.008 165.300 327
12 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 15

+1.974

2'00.769

0.051 165.231 327
13 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 17

+1.994

2'00.789

0.020 165.203 330
14 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 14

+2.021

2'00.816

0.027 165.166 333
15 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 19

+2.078

2'00.873

0.057 165.088 331
16 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 16

+2.163

2'00.958

0.085 164.972 329
17 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 14

+2.412

2'01.207

0.249 164.634 329
18 Italy L. Savadori Trackhouse Racing Team 32 Aprilia 15

+2.553

2'01.348

0.141 164.442 326
19 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 14

+2.719

2'01.514

0.166 164.218 329
20 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 17

+3.054

2'01.849

0.335 163.766 326
21 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 16

+3.058

2'01.853

0.004 163.761 328
22 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 12

+3.631

2'02.426

0.573 162.994 326
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