Bagnaia leads early while Martin grabs P6 in Malaysia.

The Italian got off to a good start at the Malaysian Grand Prix, boosting his confidence by finishing in front of Viñales and Bezzecchi while Martin claimed P6.

MotoGP™ came to life as a crucial weekend began at the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) adjusted well to the changing conditions, taking the lead by clocking a fast 1:58.795 with fresh tires. On Friday morning, the Italian rider showed an impressive performance, securing a significant 0.743s lead ahead of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing). The #12 had a solid FP1, choosing new tires and doing a late time attack in the session. At the same time, Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) secured third place with a strong performance in the #72, recording a time of 1:59.848.

During the opening session of the weekend, Jack Miller completed 15 laps on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing RC16, finishing in fourth place. Despite crashing at Turn 9, the rookie Pedro Acosta from Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 showed early pace and was ahead of The Australian. Acosta completed the top five, crossing the finish line before Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), who secured sixth place at the beginning of a challenging weekend – trailing Bagnaia by 1.647s. During the session, Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) secured seventh place, finishing ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), who encountered a problem.

Andrea Iannone finally made his anticipated comeback to MotoGP™ by filling in for Fabio Di Giannantonio at the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team. ‘The Maniac’ moved up to ninth place with fresh tires, finishing in front of Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) who completed the top 10. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) was in 12th place, with Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Brad Binder from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing filling out the top 15 positions.

The crucial MotoGP™ Practice begins at 15:00 local time (UTC +8) on Friday, as premier class stars compete for a place in Q2 during #TheRematch. Stay tuned on motogp.com for all the updates!