Marc Marquez overcame an early crash to lead Friday afternoon’s practice session for the 2026 Petronas Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang International Circuit, putting Ducati Lenovo Team ahead of a one-two finish.
The reigning world champion and current championship leader clocked 1:57.000 to finish nearly four tenths of a second ahead of younger brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing). Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP) took third with an improved performance late in the session.
Marc’s session was interrupted by a crash at Turn 15, where he lost the front end of his Ducati. However, he returned to the track and recovered from eighth place to set the fastest time with just over 15 minutes of practice remaining.
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM), Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) completed the top six, followed by KTM Tech3 duo Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales. Franco Morbidelli (VR46) was ninth, while Joan Mir marked his return to action with 10th place for Honda HRC.
KTM also secured three direct Q2 places for the first time since last year’s Hungarian GP. There was disappointment for Francesco Bagnaia, who crashed at Turn 1 in the closing stages and finished 12th. Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) also fell at Turns 7 and 8, ending the session 11th. Both will have to go through Q1 in Saturday’s qualifying.
Alex Rins was the fastest Yamaha rider in 14th, while Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) finished 13th after a front-end save at Turn 15 cost him the chance to improve. Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) completed just three laps before withdrawing from the session.
Martin suffered a non-displaced fracture of the distal radius in his right arm during a crash at the Australian MotoGP. The 2024 world champion will reassess his condition in Saturday morning’s FP2, but his limited running leaves him facing Q1 if he continues for the rest of the Malaysian GP weekend.
Saturday’s programme at Sepang will see riders return for FP2 before qualifying and the Sprint race, with Marc Marquez heading into the weekend’s next phase as the rider to beat. The Malaysian MotoGP is currently running on the weekend of November 1 and 2 at Sepang International Circuit.
