MADRID, 21 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
South African Brad Binder (KTM), in MotoGP; the Spanish Augusto Fernández (Kalex), in Moto2; and the Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda), in Moto3, were the fastest this Friday on the first day of free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, the nineteenth and penultimate round of the Motorcycle World Championship.
In the premier class, Binder surprised the favorites to set himself the best time on Friday at the Sepang International Circuit, thanks to the 1:59.479 of the morning session, which he achieved at the wheel of Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) and that no one could improve due to the rain that weighed down the drivers in the afternoon.
In this way, the South African closed the day ahead of two Spaniards, Alex Rins (Suzuki), winner last week in Australia and who was one tenth behind, and Márquez himself. Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati) finished fourth, with Joan Mir (Suzuki) fifth and Jorge Martín (Ducati) sixth.
Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who lost the lead at Phillip Island with a crash, started the Grand Prix with a seventh place overall, while the leader, Italian Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati), could only be eleventh and will try to improve on Saturday to take advantage of his first ‘match ball’ for the title.
Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), much further away in the fight for the championship, was hampered by technical problems and ended the day twentieth, while Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda), sixteenth, was penalized with three places on the starting grid after that the Race Direction considered that he rejoined the track in an unsafe manner in an action with Johann Zarco (Ducati) during the first free practice sessions.
For his part, the Spaniard Augusto Fernández (Kalex) was proclaimed dominator of the day in the Moto2 category after leading FP1 and the times in Free Practice 2 were not improved, where the red flag waved for more than an hour because of the rain.
The Spaniard asserted his 2:06.816 in the morning to lead the combined classification ahead of Pedro Acosta (Kalex) from Murcia and Tony Arbolino (Kalex) from Italy, with Manu González (Kalex) fourth despite being the fastest in the second free practice.
Thus, Augusto, second overall, takes advantage of his main rival for the championship, the Japanese Ai Ogura (Kalex), who snatched the lead in Phillip Island by 3.5 points and who this Friday closed the ‘Top 5’ .
In addition, Albert Arenas (Kalex) finished seventh, Fermín Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) completed the ‘Top 10’, ahead of Arón Canet (Kalex), and Jeremy Alcoba (Kalex) was thirteenth.
In Moto3, the Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda) presented his candidacy for the runner-up position by setting the fastest time in the two sessions in Sepang to be crowned, with a time of 2:12.348, as the fastest of the combined, ahead of the Japanese Ayumu Sasaki (Husqvarna) and the Spanish David Muñoz (KTM).
Foggia, third overall with 223, thus takes advantage over his main rival for second place, Sergio García Dols (GasGas) (225) from Castellón, who was saved by 85 thousandths and entered the provisional cut, fourteenth. The already world champion, Izan Guevara (GasGas), was eighth this Friday.
In addition, Jaume Masià (KTM) entered the ‘Top 5’, fourth, while Iván Ortolá (KTM) finished as the sixth best of the day. Dani Holgado (KTM) finished thirteenth, ahead of García Dols and Xavi Artigas (CFMoto), who no longer entered the ‘Top 14’ that gives direct pass to Q2.
