Brad Binder was fastest out the blocks for KTM in the opening practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, the KTM man heading Suzuki’s Alex Rins by 0.097s.
The Sepang International Circuit seemed to be lacking grip throughout the test as the rider’s struggled to breach the 2:00 barrier as time continued to tick down on the 45-minute-outing, Fabio Quartararo leading the way for the bulk of the duration on his Yamaha.
The Frenchman fired in a 2:00.579s effort as part of a long-run in the early to mid-part of the session, a 2:00.543s coming later in the run to extend his leading advantage.
Jorge Martin later moved to the head of the times with a 1:59.966s before Marc Marquez smashed this effort with a 1:59.623s as the field began to hit their stride, with Binder then managing to find good track space just behind the Honda man and new series leader Francesco Bagnaia to string together a 1:59.479s at the death.
This would prove to secure the South African opening session honours just ahead of Australian GP victor Rins, who managed to improve to within just a tenth-of-a-second of him with a final flyer of his own.
Marquez’s effort therefore left him third ahead of Gresini’s Enea Bastianini on the fastest of the Ducati entries, with Joan Mir on the second Suzuki GSX-RR completing the top five.
Martin ended up sixth on his Pramac-entered Ducati ahead of Quartararo and the sister Gresini machine of Fabio Di Gianantonio, while VR46 Ducati duo Luca Marini and freshly-crowned rookies champion Marco Bezzecchi rounded off the top ten – the latter shrugging off an early crash at Turn 1.
Bagnaia ended the opening stanza in 11th overall just ahead of the second Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli, with Jack Miller on the other factory Ducati claiming 14th.
Also further down the timesheet’s to start the weekend was the second Pramac Desmosedici of Johann Zarco in 15th, as were both the Aprilia RS-GP’s of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro, who were able to capture only 19th and 20th on the timesheets respectively.
The latter’s test was compromised by an early crash on entry to Turn 8 after losing the front of his machine, while a technical problem with his spare bike relegated him to the garage for a significant portion of FP1.
