Friday Practice Opens at Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix
Izan Guevara set the pace during Friday morning practice at the Sepang International Circuit ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix, leading the Moto2 field with a lap time of 2 minutes, 4.005 seconds.
Guevara and Salač Pace the Moto2 Opening Session
Guevara opened the weekend nearly half a second clear of the chasing pack, holding the position of the second-man in the championship standings and trailing the leader Gonzalez by only 5.5 points. David Alonso secured the second-fastest time, matching the exact 2:04.568 mark of his teammate Daniel Holgado to tie for second position, with a gap of 0.563 seconds behind the leader. Joe Roberts finished fourth with a time of 2:04.758, trailing by 0.753 seconds, and Collin Veijer rounded out the top five with a 2:04.800 lap. Czech rider Filip Salač opened his weekend with the sixth-fastest time, clocking a 2:04.807 to finish 0.802 seconds back.
The morning session brought trouble for several contenders as Daniel Holgado, Celestino Vietti, and Manuel Gonzalez all suffered crashes during the practice. Gonzalez initially struggled to return to his feet following the incident but later appeared recovered. The grid also featured substitute riders as teams adjusted to recent injuries; Matteo Ferrari stepped in for Sergio Garcia, while Jacob Roulstone replaced Aron Canet. Both of those replacement riders already possess previous years of experience from world championship motorcycle grand prix racing. Meanwhile, Alex Escrig carried an injury from Australia and still walks with a crutch, yet despite those difficulties, he nonetheless entered the race weekend in Malaysia and placed eighth with a time of 2:04.863.
Alvaro Carpe Leads Moto3 Practice in Malaysia
In the Moto3 category, Alvaro Carpe claimed the top spot in the opening free practice session with a lap of 2:11.585, after earlier holding the session’s fastest lap at 2:12.160 midway through the morning when he led Maximo Quiles by 0.079 seconds. Maximo Quiles finished second, trailing Carpe by 0.129 seconds with a 2:11.714 mark, with Marco Morelli taking third place just 0.135 seconds off the benchmark at 2:11.720. Veda Pratama took fourth in 2:11.819, and Hakim Danish completed the top five in 2:11.834, sitting 0.249 seconds behind the leader. Joel Kelso finished sixth with a 2:11.841 time, while the gap between the first and sixth position riders stood at 0.653 seconds at that earlier stage. Rico Salmela finished eighth as the last rider within a single second of the leader, clocking 2:11.865. Brian Uriarte took ninth place with a 2:12.273 lap, trailing by 0.688 seconds after experiencing the class’s very first crash of the day. David Almansa recorded the seventeenth-fastest time at 2:12.706, significantly slowed down by a mechanical malfunction that forced him to visit the pits, and Casey O’Gorman finished eighteenth overall at 2:12.813. Ryusei Yamanaka took thirteenth position with a 2:12.397 lap, trailing by 0.812 seconds, and Adrian Cruces completed the timesheet in twenty-fifth place with a 2:13.443 lap, 1.858 seconds back. Action continues at Sepang under dry track conditions with an ambient temperature of 26 degrees Celsius, track temperature of 28 degrees Celsius, and 87 percent humidity as teams prepare for subsequent qualifying and practice sessions.
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