Fabio Quartararo led first practice for the Malayisan Grand prix at the Sepang International Circuit with a late flyer to deny team-mate Franco Morbidelli the top spot.
Quartararo remained relatively quiet for the majority of the 45 minute session, deciding instead to focus on non-headline grabbing times as he bedded himself in to the tricky Malaysian venue.
He began to push as the session entered its closing stages though, posting a 1:59.193 to decimate previous leader Valentino Rossi’s own effort by a mammoth seven-tenths.
Morbidelli then pipped his team-mate to the head of the times by just 0.083 seconds later, before Quartararo would hit back shortly after with a new lap record in the shape of a 1:59.027- 0.016 quicker than the previous best lap held by Dani Pedrosa.
Morbidelli would therefore have to settle for second behind his team-mate as the session came to an end, with Maverick Vinales tucked in just behind in third to make it a Yamaha 1-2-3 at the head of the field.
Vinales had led the field at several points during the session, posting several improvements across the test to head the field with a 1:59.955 as the first man to lap underneath the two minute barrier.
He was unable to match the satillite Petronas SRT bikes at the death though and eventually came up 0.191 short of Quartararo's leading benchmark.
Marc Marquez was fourth quickest for Honda despite breaking down early on and having to transfer to his second RC213-V, while Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top five on his Ducati GP19.
Alex Rins led Suzuki’s challenge in sixth position, while Aleix Espargaro continued to build on Aprilia’s recent encouraging form to snatch seventh and make it five manufacturers in the top seven places.
Rossi eventually slipped to eighth after having been relegated from first by Quartararo, while Australian GP podium finishers Cal Crutchlow and Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller rounded out the top ten.
Johann Zarco had a rather low-key start to the Malaysian GP weekend down in 16th on the second of the LCR Honda machines-albeit again ahead of Jorge Lorenzo in 18th-while the likes of Danilo Petrucci and Phillip Island star Andrea Iannone who could only muster 12th and 17th as the chequered flag flew.
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