Marquez dominates Moto2™ Friday action in Malaysia

Spaniard tops both FP1 and FP2 to end the day 0.030 clear of Quartararo on the combined times

Friday at the Shell Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix in the Moto2™ class belonged to Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) after he topped both FP1 and FP2 in dry Sepang conditions. The Spaniard managed to top Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) at the end of FP2 by 0.030 after setting a 2:06.928 on his final lap, with Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) third – 0.161 back.

The track conditions were tricky for the opening minutes of the session but with the rain clouds clearing, the Moto2™ field were able to get a good dry stint on Friday afternoon. At the end of play, it was Marquez who emerged quickest as he and Quartararo were the only two riders to venture into the 2:06s, the latter improving from a P13 finish in the morning. Running in tandem, Marini was able to get the better of teammate and Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia on his final lap of the day to leapfrog his fellow Italian into P3, so it was P4 on the combined times for Bagnaia after ending the opening session in third.

Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) led the session by over a second at the one point, the Italian eventually settled for fifth on the combined times – a solid day for Pasini who ended FP1 in P2. The first of the KTMs on the timesheets was Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors) in P6, 0.387 the gap between the British rider and Marquez, with fellow KTM rider and title contender Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) ending Day 1 at Sepang in eighth. The Portuguese rider improving from a P11 finish in the morning.

Pons HP40’s Lorenzo Baldassarri completes Friday in P8, with Remy Gardner (Tech 3 Racing) kicking off his weekend with a solid P9 on the combined times – the Australian consolidating a top ten place after ending FP1 in P7. Completing the top ten was Australian GP winner Brad Binder on board his Red Bull KTM Ajo machine.

Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) had a late crash in FP2 at Turn 15 – rider ok.

It’s tight at the top in the intermediate class with Saturday and qualifying now on the agenda. FP3 is first though, so tune into that at 09:55 local time (GMT +8).

Click here for the full results!

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