KUALA LUMPUR – Hitting the track after a sudden downpour, RNF Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow emerged as the fastest rider during the second Malaysian GP practice session today.
At the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), riders were back on track after heavy rain saw the Moto2’s second practice session red flagged, but Crutchlow battled slippery conditions to storm to the lead.
The home team’s rider set a time of 2m 5.710s, almost a second ahead of current championship leader Francesco Bagnaia in second.
Italy’s Bagnaia, who races for Ducati, improved on his time from the first session, which saw him drop down the time sheet as he opted to not switch to a fresh set of rubber.
Alex Marquez placed his LCR Honda in third with a time of 2m 6.896s, with Ducati’s Jack Miller coming in fourth as his quickest lap of the session was 2m 7.553s.
Although Johann Zarco showed a promising pace for most of the session, he eventually fell several spots down the standings and settled in fifth place, a full second behind Miller.
Title contender and defending MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo dropped two spots compared to his finish in the morning’s practice session.
His time of 2m 9.753s was only good to land him in ninth place, two spots below his earlier practice session.
The Frenchman will have to squeeze all the pace he has if he wishes to bring the title fight to the last race of the season in Valencia, Spain as Bagnaia could win his maiden championship this weekend if he wins the race and Quartararo finishes fourth or lower.
In the first practice session, it was Brad Binder that brought his KTM bike with fresh tyres to the top spot, with Alex Rins and Marc Marquez finishing behind him.
At SIC today, it was also announced that hometown rider Syarifuddin Azman will be racing with the Moto3 MT Helmets-MSi team for the 2023 season. – The Vibes, October 21, 2022
