Malaysian GP Practice Results

The reigning MotoGP World Champion led the first two practice sessions at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, and ended the day with a time of 1:57.679. That was just 2 tenths off the circuit record that he himself had set last season. In second place was Jorge Martín, the leader of the World Championship, who was top of the timesheets until a crash in the final minutes prevented him from continuing to improve.

Third was the winner of the last Grand Prix, Enea Bastianini. Behind them were Maverick Viñales, Álex Márquez, Fabio Quartararo, Franco Morbidelli, Álex Rins, Jack Miller and Marc Márquez, who will go directly into Q2.

First adjustments for Luca Marini and Joan Mir in Sepang

The Repsol Honda Team riders did not have an easy first day. In Free Practice 1, with the track initially wet due to the rain that had fallen in the previous hours, Joan Mir and Luca Marini finished in nineteenth and twentieth place, respectively.

In Practice, the afternoon session that gives access to Q2, Marini was eighteenth, 1.6 seconds off the best time. Although Mir managed to improve his time by two seconds, he finished in twentieth place, 0.160s behind his teammate.

Saturday sees the second day of practice for the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix, with the qualifying and the sprint race.

2024 Malaysian GP Practice Results

Statements

Joan Mir:

“Today, and I think this weekend overall, has been very useful for us to compare our situation to the test. Times are of course different because the conditions during the test are better, but still we can assess how our feeling and performance has changed. An average day at the office for us, we still have the limitations of the last few rounds. We have to check a few things we’ve done during the season; it’s going to be an important weekend for this.”

Luca Marini:

“Today we were very busy, trying a new frame and preparing everything for the weekend. The frame was not a clear benefit so we will go to the spec we have been using in the previous races. We also need to work to understand the rear trye better because here it’s different to other races. Corner entry is an area we need to work on more because normally we are stronger there. Some work to do tonight because I am not satisfied, we keep going to do our best like always.”