In the first two practice sessions for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday, South African Brad Binder set the quickest time as rain threatened to derail Francesco Bagnaia’s championship defense.
The Ducati rider’s competition, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, was eighth throughout both sessions, while MotoGP title leader Bagnaia was just 11th overall.
In dry opening practice at Sepang, Binder set the fastest time for Red Bull KTM with a lap of one minute and 59.479 seconds.
The Australian winner from the previous weekend, Alex Rins, finished 0.097 seconds behind Binder on his Suzuki. Marc Marquez, a six-time world champion, finished third ahead of Enea Bastianini.
After almost an hour of significant rain-related delays in the afternoon session, the riders were unable to go forward quicker due to the challenging circumstances.
Italian competitor Bagnaia came in second place to Carl Crutchlow, although the Englishman’s winning time of two minutes, 05.710 seconds was far slower than the morning timings.
For the weekend, including race day on Sunday, there is a prediction for further rain and perhaps thunderstorms.
In the last race of the season, if Bagnaia prevails and France’s Quartararo finishes outside the top three, he will win his first world championship.
Otherwise, Valencia, Spain will host the championship match in two weeks.
Friday’s top overall practice times were:
1:59.479 by Brad Binder (RSA/KTM), 2. At 0.097 seconds, Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki). 3. Marc Marquez (0.144) for ESP/Honda 4. Italian rider Enea Bastianini (Ducati-Gresini) 0.396, 5.472 Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki), Jorge Martin (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) sixth, 0.487 0.7 Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha), 8. Italian Ducati-Gresini rider Fabio Di Giannantonio 1.073, 9. Luca Marini of Italy on a Ducati-VR46 1.254, 10. Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46) 1.288
Selected:
Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati), 11th, 1.291