Marquez tops Sepang FP1 as injured Martin cleared to race

MotoGP 2026

Round 19 – Sepang – Friday Morning

MotoGP FP1

All eyes were on Jorge Martin when pitlane opened for the first MotoGP practice session at Sepang at 1045 local time, as riders rolled out onto a dry but sultry circuit.

With just ten points separating Martin and championship leader Marc Marquez, the condition of the Aprilia rider’s fractured right wrist was always going to be one of the biggest talking points of the morning.

Conditions were hot and humid, with an ambient temperature of 30 degrees, the circuit at 37 degrees and humidity at 74 per cent.

The track surface itself is coming in for some criticism with parts very much the worse for wear and some areas actually breaking up.

As we outlined in our Malaysian Grand Prix preview, Martin had travelled directly to Malaysia following his Phillip Island Sprint crash, determined to salvage whatever points he could from a weekend that had looked almost certain to pass him by.

After a short opening run, Martin returned to the Aprilia garage and immediately began discussing the motorcycle’s behaviour with his crew, pointing at a circuit map and appearing more concerned with improving his comfort and feeling aboard the RS-GP than with his injured wrist.

MotoGP Medical Director Dr Angel Charte sat down with Martin shortly afterwards to enquire about his condition. From the outside looking in, there appeared little immediate cause for alarm.

Unfortunately, fellow Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez was not faring nearly so well.

The Trackhouse rider was seen shaking his injured right hand while still aboard his machine before removing his gloves for an inspection by the MotoGP Medical Director.

Fernandez subsequently began removing his leathers and disappeared out the back of the garage. Minutes later, he was officially declared unfit to continue.

His session had lasted just five laps. That was an unfortunate conclusion for the Spaniard, who had been hoping to race despite the fractured finger that had already compromised his Phillip Island weekend.

Meanwhile, Marco Bezzecchi had been the first rider to break into the 1m59s, recording a 1m59.386s just over six minutes into the session.

However, his stay at the top lasted less than forty seconds.

Marc Marquez crossed the line with a 1m58.912s on his third lap, just 6m49s after the session had commenced, and immediately established an advantage of almost half a second.

Nobody would get close enough to challenge him for the remainder of the 45-minute session.

The Ducati Lenovo rider was quickest through three of the four sectors, with Bezzecchi narrowly holding the advantage through the third sector.

Marquez’s best individual sectors combined to produce a theoretical 1m58.754s, further underlining the strength of his early pace.

His benchmark was also only 0.039 seconds outside the race lap record Alex Marquez established during last year’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

Fifteen minutes into the session, Marquez remained the only rider in the 1m58s, with Bezzecchi second and Pedro Acosta third.

Martin, meanwhile, continued working through his programme.

His first valid flying lap was a 2m02.861s before he improved to 2m01.285s on his second run.

With fifteen minutes remaining, he was still outside the two-minute bracket, but there was no evidence of Martin taking unnecessary risks in pursuit of a lap time.

Several of his laps were simply in-laps or out-laps, while others were interrupted by the red flag or included minor excursions beyond the circuit as he cautiously explored what he could manage with his injured wrist.

The red flag came out with twelve minutes remaining after the front mudguard on Iker Lecuona’s Gresini Ducati disintegrated in fairly spectacular fashion, scattering carbon-fibre debris across the circuit.

Marshals were required to retrieve the debris before proceedings could resume.

Martin was among the first riders back on track when the pitlane reopened and now appeared ready to push a little harder.

The Spaniard immediately improved from the foot of the timing screens to sixteenth, ultimately recording a 2m00.747s on his tenth lap.

That would prove his best time of the session, leaving him twentieth overall and 1.835 seconds behind championship rival Marquez. In total, Martin completed twelve laps, but only four were classified as valid timed laps.

After returning to the Aprilia garage, the only clear sign of discomfort came as he carefully removed the glove from his injured right hand.

The MotoGP Medical Director returned for another assessment, after which Martin put his helmet back on to take part in the practice starts held immediately after the session.

He needed assistance to put the glove back on his damaged hand, and this time the discomfort was much more apparent.

Nevertheless, Martin subsequently passed his medical checks and has now been cleared to race this weekend.

That marks an important hurdle cleared, though the bigger challenge will be finding the pace and endurance to compete with the championship’s leading riders over the Sprint and Sunday’s 20-lap Grand Prix.

KTM shows its hand while Michelin’s new rear comes under scrutiny

When the chequered flag fell, Marquez’s early 1m58.912s remained unbeaten.

Bezzecchi finished second on 1m59.386s, with Acosta recording an identical time to finish third, the pair 0.474 seconds behind Marquez.

Enea Bastianini improved to fourth with a 1m59.688s on his fifteenth lap, while Brad Binder completed the top five with a 1m59.737s.

That put three KTMs in the top five, an encouraging start for the Austrian manufacturer at a circuit where Acosta finished runner-up last year.

Marquez completed all three runs using the same Soft front and Medium rear tyres, setting his outright benchmark early but continuing to produce laps in the 1m59s later in the session.

His final two flying laps were 1m59.975s and 1m59.983s, despite those tyres having already completed the majority of his fifteen recorded laps.

Bezzecchi followed a similar approach, using the same Soft-front/Medium-rear combination throughout his seventeen laps.

Acosta took a different route.

The KTM rider initially used the Soft front and Hard rear before fitting a fresh Hard rear for his second run, on which he produced his best lap of 1m59.386s.

He then switched to the new Medium rear for his final run and managed a 1m59.481s, only 0.095 seconds slower than his best time on the Hard.

Bastianini also switched from the Hard rear to the Medium for his final run, recording his fastest time on the new compound.

Binder used a fresh Soft-front/Medium-rear combination for his final outing and improved to fifth.

This is particularly interesting given Michelin’s unusual allocation for Sepang.

The 2025 Medium has become this year’s Hard, while the new symmetric Medium was originally developed in anticipation of circuit resurfacing work that never took place.

The early evidence suggests both rear options can deliver competitive lap times, although the differing tyre ages, run plans and changing track conditions prevent direct conclusions about which will ultimately prove the better race tyre.

Brad Binder also topped the speed trap figures with 339.6 km/h, ahead of Acosta and Francesco Bagnaia, who both recorded 337.5 km/h.

Morbidelli impresses as Bagnaia struggles

Franco Morbidelli was sixth for VR46 Ducati after setting his best lap of 1m59.795s on his seventeenth and final lap, using a fresh Soft front and Hard rear.

Alex Marquez, the defending Malaysian Grand Prix winner, was seventh on 1m59.901s, with his best lap coming on a fresh Hard rear during his second run.

Johann Zarco was the leading Honda in eighth, followed by Fabio Di Giannantonio and Diogo Moreira, who completed the top ten.

Alex Rins was the fastest Yamaha in eleventh, just 0.054 seconds ahead of Jack Miller.

The Australian finished twelfth with a 2m00.324s, improving substantially after switching from a Medium-front/Hard-rear combination to fresh Soft-front/Medium-rear tyres for his second run.

Miller recorded a maximum speed of 329.2 km/h, some 10.4 km/h slower than Binder’s KTM, underlining the straight-line performance challenge Yamaha faces at a circuit with two lengthy straights.

Francesco Bagnaia could manage only thirteenth on a circuit where he has previously enjoyed considerable success. The Italian completed twelve laps, recording his best of 2m00.330s on lap nine, leaving him 1.418 seconds behind Ducati team-mate Marquez.

Joan Mir marked his return to action with fourteenth, while Fabio Quartararo was fifteenth, followed by Maverick Viñales, Fernandez, Luca Marini, Ai Ogura, Martin, Augusto Fernandez and Lecuona.

Only seven riders managed to break the two-minute barrier.

Marquez has certainly laid down an early marker, KTM has reason for optimism, and Martin has at least cleared the medical hurdles required to remain in the championship fight.

That’s the morning form guide, but it is still early days as riders find their feet at Sepang.

The real answers won’t come until the dying minutes of Practice later this afternoon, when direct passage to Q2 is on the line, and tropical rain could complicate matters further. Watch this space…

Sepang MotoGP FP1 Results

Moto2 FP1

Senna Agius made an encouraging start to his Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, finishing 13th after setting his fastest lap on his final lap.

The Australian recorded a 2m04.961s, just under a second off the Friday morning benchmark, but the bigger story was Izan Guevara’s outstanding pace as the Moto2 title contender finished more than half a second clear of the opposition.

Conditions were dry for the 40-minute session, with an ambient temperature of 28 degrees, the circuit at 32 degrees and humidity of 79 per cent.

The early benchmark changed hands several times before Guevara took the lead with a 2m04.846s on his third lap, just over seven minutes into the proceedings.

Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez matched that time within 0.018 seconds on his fourth lap, but Guevara’s early benchmark remained unbeaten until the final runs.

With just over five minutes remaining, Guevara produced a superb 2m04.005s on his eleventh lap, putting himself well clear of the field. He followed with another flying lap, 2m04.387s.

CFMOTO Aspar team-mates David Alonso and Daniel Holgado finished second and third, both recording an identical 2m04.568s. Alonso set his fastest time on his final lap, while Holgado had produced his matching time on lap eleven.

Joe Roberts was fourth ahead of Collin Veijer, Filip Salac, Celestino Vietti and Alex Escrig.

Gonzalez finished ninth, having been unable to improve upon his early benchmark, while Tony Arbolino completed the top ten.

Behind Guevara’s substantial advantage, the field was very tight. Just two-tenths separated fourth-placed Roberts from Agius in thirteenth, with the top thirteen riders covered by less than a second.

Agius had shown consistent improvement through both runs, and his combined best sector times suggested that more speed was available. His theoretical ideal lap of 2m04.741s would have put him just 0.220 seconds behind the second-placed pairing.

Fellow Australian Jacob Roulstone, substituting in the Marc VDS squad, finished 26th with a 2m07.009s. He improved substantially from his first flying lap of 2m12.633s but remained three seconds from Guevara.

Luca Lunetta did not record a classified lap.

With only 5.5 points separating Gonzalez and Guevara at the top of the Moto2 championship, the latter’s early advantage at Sepang was a particularly encouraging start to what promises to be another pivotal weekend in their title battle.

Sepang Moto2 FP1 Results

Moto3 FP1

The track was mainly dry when the pitlane opened for the opening practice session for Moto3 at 0900 at Sepang with an ambient temperature of 28 degrees, a track temperature of 31 degrees, and 82 per cent humidity.

Australia’s Joel Kelso was immediately competitive aboard the GRYD Racing Honda and ultimately finished sixth, just 0.256 seconds away from the benchmark. The Darwin rider was particularly strong in the opening sector, recording the fastest T1 split of the entire field.

The fastest overall lap changed hands regularly during the opening exchanges, before Maximo Quiles and Alvaro Carpe emerged as the principal pace-setters.

Quiles lowered the benchmark to 2m12.278s on his fourth lap, but Carpe responded with a 2m12.160s on lap five. That remained the time to beat through the middle stages.

With just over four minutes remaining, newly crowned Moto3 World Champion Quiles produced a 2m11.714s to reclaim top spot, but Carpe was not finished.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider delivered a 2m11.585s on lap twelve to take top honours, edging Quiles by 0.129 seconds.

Interestingly, Carpe did not record the fastest individual time through any of the four sectors, instead combining them more effectively to produce the best complete lap.

CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar rider Marco Morelli was another late improver, posting a 2m11.720s on his twelfth lap to take third, just six thousandths behind team-mate Quiles.

Veda Pratama was fourth for Honda Team Asia, with Malaysian rider Hakim Danish fifth, giving the local fans something to cheer about.

Kelso improved to sixth with a 2m11.841s on his final lap. His ideal lap, combining his best individual sectors, was a 2m11.732s, which would have ranked fourth on the theoretical timesheets.

Rico Salmela completed the top seven, with just 0.280 seconds covering those riders.

The tight margins and the substantial improvements late in the session suggest qualifying will be closely contested if conditions remain dry.

Sepang Moto3 FP1 Results

2026 MotoGP Calendar

Rnd	Date	Event	Circuit
1	01 Mar	Thai	Chang International Circuit
2	22 Mar	Brazil*	Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna
3	29 Mar	US	Circuit of the Americas
4	26 Apr	Spain**	Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto
5	10 May	France	Le Mans
6	17 May	Catalonia	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
7	31 May	Italy	Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
8	07 Jun	Hungary	Balaton Park Circuit
9	21 Jun	Czech	Automotodrom Brno
10	28 Jun	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen
11	12 Jul	Germany	Sachsenring
12	09 Aug	GB	Silverstone Circuit
13	30 Aug	Aragon	MotorLand Aragon
14	13 Sep	San Marino	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
15	20 Sep	Austria	Red Bull Ring-Spielberg
16	04 Oct	Japan	Mobility Resort Motegi
17	11 Oct	Indonesia	Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit
18	25 Oct	Australia	Phillip Island
19	01 Nov	Malaysia	Petronas Sepang International Circuit
20	08 Nov	Qatar	Lusail International Circuit
21	22 Nov	Portugal	Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
22	29 Nov	Valencia	Circuit Ricardo Tormo

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