Oct 30 (Reuters) – Ducati’s MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez topped the timesheets in Malaysian Grand Prix practice despite a crash on Friday while title rival Jorge Martin lasted only three laps due to his wrist injury.
Marquez dusted himself off after an early tumble at turn 15 to set the fastest time at 1:57.000, edging out his brother Alex by 0.109 seconds.
“The crash made me a little upset as it ended up limiting our track time. It’s true that it was our first lap with the soft rear tyre, which made the front push a little more,” Marc Marquez said.
“The pace is excellent, but the important thing is not to overdo it. The time attack is where I struggle a little more, but when the tyre grip drops, I feel really good.”
MARTIN SET FOR BUSY SATURDAY
While Marquez directly advanced to Saturday’s Q2 qualifying session, Spanish compatriot Martin — 10 points behind in the championship — will have to tackle Q1 as he continues to recover from a wrist fracture he suffered at the Australian Grand Prix.
With Marquez showing strong pace, the reigning champion appears well-positioned to extend his points advantage in Malaysia.
Martin had admitted to reporters on Thursday that he could not even brush his teeth with his right hand but was hoping to ride at the weekend.
Although he had been medically cleared for practice on Thursday, Aprilia decided the best course of action was to give him time to recover.
“We decided together with the doctors not to continue, wait this night and see his condition tomorrow morning,” Aprilia’s team manager Paolo Bonora said. “It’s better to take no risk.”
Martin will return for the Free Practice 2 session on Saturday ahead of qualifying and the sprint.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair and Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Ed Osmond)
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