Dani Pedrosa looks the overwhelming favourite for victory in this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix after dominating Friday Practice at Sepang. The Spaniard was half a second quicker than his nearest rival with Marc Marquez best of the rest on the other Repsol Honda, three places better off than his only remaining championship rival Jorge Lorenzo.
Pedrosa topped the morning session and although Marquez led midway through the afternoon, Dani returned to finish 0.534s ahead while also demonstrating an ominous turn of pace over long runs. Speaking after session, Pedrosa was pleased with his day’s work although he did encounter some physical discomfort.
“Today went well; we had two good practice sessions and were able to ride in dry conditions in both the morning and afternoon. In the second session it looked like the track was going to be wet after a brief rain shower in-between FP1 and FP2, but it dried out quickly and we were able to continue working on our setups. When sitting on the bike I have quite a lot of pain, as the seat is very hard, so we shall see if a few more anti-inflammatories can help to alleviate the issue. We might also add a small cushion underneath my leathers, in order to absorb the bumps that we get when riding”.
Behind the Repsol Honda 1-2, Cal Crutchlow led the chasing pack albeit 0.869s in arrears with factory Yamaha teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo fourth and fifth respectively. Alvaro Bautista recovered from a crash at turn four to finish sixth quickest ahead of Stefan Bradl with the factory Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso next up.
Bradley Smith holds the final automatic place in Q2 overnight although he will feel he must improve in FP3 on Saturday morning with Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone close behind.
 SHELL ADVANCE MALAYSIAN MOTORCYCLE GP – FRIDAY PRACTICE CLASSIFICATION |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOP TEN AUTOMATICALLY ADVANCE TO QUALIFYING 2 | ||||
| POS | RIDER | CONSTRUCTOR | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 |  DANI PEDROSA |
HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 2:00.554 |
| 2 | MARC MARQUEZ |
HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 2:01.087 |
| 3 |  CAL CRUTCHLOW |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 2:01.423 |
| 4 |  VALENTINO ROSSI |
YAMAHA | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING | 2:01.538 |
| 5 | JORGE LORENZO |
YAMAHA | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING | 2:01.623 |
| 6 | ALVARO BAUTISTA |
HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 2:01.659 |
| 7 |  STEFAN BRADL |
HONDA | LCR HONDA MOTOGP | 2:01.727 |
| 8 |  NICKY HAYDEN |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 2:02.373 |
| 9 | ANDREA DOVIZIOSO |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 2:02.487 |
| 10 | BRADLEY SMITH |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 2:02.551 |
| 11 | ALEIX ESPARGARO |
ART | POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR | 2:02.610 |
| 12 | ANDREA IANNONE |
DUCATI | ENERGY T.I. PRAMAC RACING TEAM | 2:02.819 |
| 13 | HECTOR BARBERA |
FTR | AVINTIA BLUSENS | 2:03.225 |
| 14 | COLIN EDWARDS |
FTR KAWASAKI | NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING | 2:03.574 |
| 15 |  YONNY HERNANDEZ |
DUCATI | IGNITE PRAMAC RACING TEAM | 2:03.780 |
| 16 |  RANDY DE PUNIET |
ART | POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR | 2:03.922 |
| 17 |  HIROSHI AOYAMA |
FTR | AVINTIA BLUSENS | 2:04.273 |
| 18 | CLAUDIO CORTI |
FTR KAWASAKI | NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING | 2:04.703 |
| 19 | DANILO PETRUCCI |
IODA-SUTER | CAME IODARACING PROJECT | 2:04.965 |
| 20 | MICHAEL LAVERTY |
ART | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | 2:05.319 |
| 21 | LUCA SCASSA |
ART | CARDION AB MOTORACING | 2:05.598 |
| 22 |  BRYAN STARING |
FTR HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 2:06.538 |
| 23 |  LUKAS PESEK |
IODA-SUTER | CAME IODARACING PROJECT | 2:07.024 |
| 24 | DAMIAN CUDLIN |
PBM | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | 2:07.122 |
