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Practice report

Sepang MotoGP: Dovizioso fastest in FP1, Lorenzo struggles

Ducati MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso topped first practice for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix by less than a tenth of a second from Valentino Rossi.

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Dovizioso grabbed the advantage with just two minutes to go in the 45-minute session amid a late flurry of quick times at Sepang, posting a 1m59.697s to knock fellow Ducati user Jack Miller off the top spot.

Miller had been the first rider to break the two-minute barrier just a few minutes earlier, but his best time of 1m59.941s by both factory Yamaha riders late on.

Valentino Rossi managed to set a time just 0.070s slower than Dovizioso to slot into second, while Phillip Island winner Maverick Vinales slotted into third ahead of Miller a further 0.161s behind.

Danilo Petrucci brought a third Ducati into the top five with a time two tenths slower than Pramac teammate Miller, while Alex Rins led the Suzuki charge in sixth after Thursday's pitlane fire.

Completing the top 10 were Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Alvaro Bautista (Nieto Ducati), Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Marc Marquez, who as per usual did not use new tyres at the end of the session on his factory Honda.

The new and five-time world champion ended the session 1.104s off the pace of Dovizioso, finishing up a place ahead of the second Suzuki of Andrea Iannone.

Marquez's teammate Dani Pedrosa was 16th fastest, just behind LCR stand-in and Honda test rider Stefan Bradl, who is replacing the injured Cal Crutchlow.

Jorge Lorenzo ended up 24th and slowest as he returned to MotoGP action for the first time since first practice two weeks ago in Motegi, his best time of 2m03.204s leaving him 3.5s off the pace.

The Spaniard was reported to still be in pain from his left wrist that he fractured in a crash in Thailand last month, with the same injury forcing him to sit out the following race in Japan after an abortive run in FP1.

Ducati test rider Michele Pirro is on standby should Lorenzo be forced to withdraw again.

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Xavier Simeon (Avintia Ducati) was the one and only rider to crash during the session, going down at the long Turn 14 right-hander at the very end of the session.

Session results:

Pos. No. Rider Bike Time Gap
1 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati 1'59.697  
2 46 Italy Valentino Rossi  Yamaha 1'59.767 0.070
3 25 Spain Maverick Viñales  Yamaha 1'59.928 0.231
4 43 Australia Jack Miller  Ducati 1'59.941 0.244
5 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci  Ducati 2'00.182 0.485
6 42 Spain Alex Rins  Suzuki 2'00.241 0.544
7 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro  Aprilia 2'00.552 0.855
8 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista  Ducati 2'00.664 0.967
9 5 France Johann Zarco  Yamaha 2'00.726 1.029
10 93 Spain Marc Marquez  Honda 2'00.801 1.104
11 29 Italy Andrea Iannone  Suzuki 2'00.973 1.276
12 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami  Honda 2'01.199 1.502
13 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli  Honda 2'01.209 1.512
14 38 United Kingdom Bradley Smith  KTM 2'01.230 1.533
15 6 Germany Stefan Bradl  Honda 2'01.313 1.616
16 26 Spain Dani Pedrosa  Honda 2'01.320 1.623
17 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin  Yamaha 2'01.419 1.722
18 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding  Aprilia 2'01.690 1.993
19 44 Spain Pol Espargaro  KTM 2'01.825 2.128
20 12 Switzerland Thomas Luthi  Honda 2'01.922 2.225
21 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham  Ducati 2'02.097 2.400
22 10 Belgium Xavier Simeon  Ducati 2'02.101 2.404
23 81 Spain Jordi Torres  Ducati 2'02.451 2.754
24 99 Spain Jorge Lorenzo  Ducati 2'03.204 3.507

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