SEPANG, Malaysia – Fabio Quartararo led an impressive day for Petronas Yamaha SRT on Friday by topping MotoGP practice at the Sepang Int’l Circuit.
Quartararo started the day by pacing the opening practice with a track record time, but that turned out to only be a tease as he did even better during the second practice.
His 1:58.576 lap during the second practice reset the track record a second time on Friday and put him more than half a second clear of his Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate Franco Morbidelli on the practice charts.
Andrea Dovizioso was third fastest on the day, but he was. 630 seconds off the blistering pace set by Quartararo.
Maverick Viñales was fourth fastest for Monster Energy Yamaha, followed by his teammate Valentino Rossi in fifth. Marc Marquez was an uncharacteristic sixth fastest, nearly a full second behind Quartararo.
Johann Zarco and Andrea Iannone both crashed during the second practice, but were uninjured.