Lorenzo, who had been overshadowed by Dani Pedrosa in first practice as he focused on race pace, put on fresh tyres late on in FP2 and set a time of 2’00.246, less than half a second off the pole record of 1’59.571 set by Marc Marquez past year.
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Reigning world champion Marc Marquez has revealed he is “surprised” by the stunning attack launched on him by championship leader Valentino Rossi, but has not lost respect for the Italian because of it.
Finishing third-fastest of the day was Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda teammate Marc Marquez.
“I did the best race for my team and the most important thing for me is that I won”.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone suffered a crash during FP2, but got back on his bike and immediately set his best time, 0.240s back to take fourth place ahead of Rossi.
However, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SIC, Datuk Razlan Razali said Dorna Sports, the MotoGP commercial rights holder, wants the race to go on as they don’t believe the haze situation in Sepang is unsafe yet.
“Yes, it is the first chance”. He will need more luck than that if he is to clinch his seventh MotoGP title – and 10th in all – in Sepang. “I think it was a great start to the weekend because it’s always good to finish Friday on top… or even among the fastest riders”, said the 21-year-old Kent. With four slow corners following two long straights and ten medium to high-speed corners, the wide track is particularly favourable to overtaking manoeuvres and plenty of open throttle.
“Today was not so bad, we started this morning with a good pace and this afternoon we work well until the last exit”. The Swiss rider is hoping to return to the podium at the Malaysian GP for the first time since his win at Le Mans.
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa (26) and Marc Marquez (93).
Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi posted the fifth-fastest time of the combined practice sessions in Malaysia.
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Later on, Rossi clarified more on what he thought was going on during the race. “Although teams acquired a lot of bike setting data for this circuit from the pre-season tests in February, the track conditions for the race in October can be quite different to those in testing”. His lap from the morning was still good enough for fifth on the sheets.
