Malaysian MotoGP: Top 5 quotes after Friday free practice
Marc Marquez ended the day topping the combined free-practice times classification.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Laps | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Marc Marquez |
Repsol Honda | 16 | 2'01.210 | |
| “In the morning I didn’t feel very well - I’ve had gastroenteritis for the last two days - but I was able to go out and ride even though I was not at 100%. After the session and the effort I put in, I began feeling worse, because gastroenteritis also dehydrates you. Looking at the track conditions, we decided not to go out. Tomorrow we’ll try to improve and I think it has been good for me not go out there, and to instead save myself for Saturday and especially Sunday.” | |||||
| 2 | Maverick Viñales |
Suzuki Ecstar | 16 | 2'01.478 | 0.268 |
| “The day has been difficult because of the weather conditions. In the morning, we could only do the last three laps while pushing a little, and in the afternoon I didn’t take any risks as it was too easy to make a mistake and incur some damage. The early impressions are positive, I feel we could find a good set-up and my times improved positively. The new tarmac gives some more grip, but I couldn’t quite understand how it behaves under wet conditions; the previous surface dried very quickly, while this one looks like requiring longer. At least today we could test the durability of the tyre, as, with the softer tyre, I felt confident in terms of performance and we have almost covered the race distance so that tomorrow we will be on a good starting point already to complete the preparation for the race in terms of consistency. Also, it’s good that I could make the best lap with a worn tyre.” | |||||
| 3 |  Scott Redding |
OCTO Pramac | 17 | 2'01.507 | 0.297 |
| “I'm happy for what we did this morning. It was a particolar situation with a new asphalt, but also due to a very dirty track. That’s why I went out a bit “timid” but I felt that the feeling was growing lap by lap. I set a good lap-time with the soft rear tire and this gives me so much confidence. Then in the afternoon the conditions changed and it was impossible to improve. Now we have to wait and see which conditions we’ll find tomorrow.” | |||||
| 4 |  Andrea Iannone |
Ducati Team | 17 | 2'01.521 | 0.311 |
| “It was a positive return: I expected to struggle a lot more, not really physically but in general in getting back up to speed, but already in the first practice session I had an excellent feeling with my bike and was feeling good. So in the end I am pleased with how this first day went after my long period away from the track. This afternoon we opted not to go out in the wet so as to avoid taking any unnecessary risks, but obviously if it continues to rain tomorrow we will start to get ready in case the race on Sunday is a wet one.” | |||||
| 5 | Valentino Rossi |
Movistar Yamaha | 18 | 2'01.611 | 0.401 |
| “This morning we were able to ride in the full dry, but anyway there were some wet patches that were very difficult and you have to stay very concentrated and careful because it‘s quite dangerous. We hope for the next days we have some clear conditions, full dry or full wet. The first feeling is not so bad, but for sure after today‘s rain the track needed too much time to dry out.” | |||||
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