Team Suzuki Press Office – October 21st
Alex Rins: 2nd – 1’59.576 (+ 0.097)
Joan Mir: 5th – 1’59.951 (+ 0.472)
MotoGP has finally returned to Malaysia for the first race weekend at Sepang International Circuit since 2019, and Friday’s sessions were ‘in at the deep end’ as the riders experienced a dry and quick FP1, and a perilously wet FP2.
Alex Rins and Joan Mir were straight down to business in the morning, setting solid times and keeping themselves firmly in contention. The pair popped into the Top 5 with plenty of time still on the clock, with Rins shooting up to second place a few minutes from the end. Mir was close by, taking fourth at the flag, less than half a second from the top.
There was a long delay to the start of FP2 after a huge downpour and thunderstorm struck Sepang during the Moto2 session. When the riders eventually got underway, the track was still extremely wet and the utmost caution was necessary. Rins and Mir took time to gain some feeling in the conditions, putting in stints on the wet tyres and gradually moving up the order, choosing not to switch to slicks in the limited window at the end of the session when the track had dried a little. They closed FP2 with Mir eighth and Rins 12th, but the faster morning times are what they’ll take into tomorrow.
Alex Rins:
“Today was a bit tricky and we needed to be focused. Despite the fact we weren’t expecting rain for the afternoon, we gave it everything in FP1 just in case, and it paid off. I was able to be pretty strong, with second place, and I feel happy with that because quite often on a Friday I don’t have pace immediately. FP2 was difficult to manage because of the drying track with wet patches, so I decided to stay out on wet tyres. At the moment we don’t know if tomorrow will be dry or wet, it looks 50/50, so we have to wait and see what we can do in terms of qualifying, but if we can go directly to Q2 it will definitely help.”
Joan Mir:
“Things seem to be positive for us in both wet and dry conditions right now, although the track is challenging due to the low grip even when it’s dry, so it’s a bit complicated. We couldn’t really add to the grip today by putting rubber down because of it being so wet, so it seems likely that tomorrow will also be tough. But either way I feel fairly strong, and my FP1 session was nice. Let’s see how things are tomorrow, but I’m aiming high.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“Another positive day for us. This morning in the dry both riders immediately went quickly, so we’re happy with the current set-up in dry conditions so far. Then the FP2 session was very strange, because it started very wet, but then the circuit started to dry rapidly towards the end. The riders opted not to switch to slicks, but their confidence in the wet was pretty good, which gives us confidence. Overall it seems that whatever the weather, we have potential, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
GRAND PRIX OF MALAYSIA DAY 1 CLASSIFICATION:
1 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’59.479
2 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’59.576 0.097 0.097
3 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’59.623 0.144 0.047
4 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’59.875 0.396 0.252
5 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’59.951 0.472 0.076
6 Jorge MARTIN Prima Pramac Racing 1’59.966 0.487 0.015
7 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 2’00.543 1.064 0.577
8 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 2’00.552 1.073 0.009
9 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 2’00.733 1.254 0.181
10 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 2’00.767 1.288 0.034
11 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 2’00.770 1.291 0.003
12 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 2’00.771 1.292 0.001
13 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL 2’01.015 1.536 0.244
14 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 2’01.034 1.555 0.019
15 Johann ZARCO Prima Pramac Racing 2’01.048 1.569 0.014
16 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team 2’01.200 1.721 0.152
17 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2’01.247 1.768 0.047
18 Cal CRUTCHLOW WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 2’01.251 1.772 0.004
19 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing 2’01.328 1.849 0.077
20 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 2’01.654 2.175 0.326
21 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 2’01.704 2.225 0.050
22 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 2’01.831 2.352 0.127
23 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 2’01.831 2.352 325.3
24 Tetsuta NAGASHIMA LCR Honda IDEMITSU 2’02.866 3.387 1.035
