Source: Supplied.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was fastest in FP1 at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, heading to the top late in FP1 in the dry and the championship contender backed it up in a wet FP2 to again head the time-sheets.

Key rival Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), who goes into the weekend 33 points clear of the Italian, was fifth in FP1 in the dry and second to Dovizioso in the wet.

Second overall after a last dash in FP1 was Alvaro Bautista (Pull&Bear Aspar Team), followed by Rookie of the Year Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3). Zarco suffered a crash in the afternoon, but it was a low-side after which the Frenchman was soon on his feet. Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was fourth, ahead of Marquez.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) took sixth in the dry, ahead of an impressive first day for Karel Abraham (Pull&Bear Aspar Team) and Hector Barbera (Reale Avintia Racing). Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) took ninth after an early clutch problem that significantly dented track time for him, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) completing the top 10.

Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) was 11th ahead of compatriot Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), with Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Australia’s Jack Miller (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) locking out the fastest fifteen.

It was a notable day for Michael van der Mark as he rode a MotoGP bike for the first time, putting the Monster Yamaha Tech3 machine in P19 in both sessions. In the dry he was only 2.8 seconds off Dovizioso at the top of the time-sheets in FP1.

Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was quickest out the blocks in Moto2, topping FP1 in the dry and FP2 then wet. Oliveira was only 0.073s ahead of points leader Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), with his title challenger Tom Lüthi (CarXpert Interwetten) within the same tenth in third.

Tight at the top was a similar story in the afternoon in the wet, as Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) took P1 – 0.034 ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward Racing Team) and 0.065 ahead of Oliveira. Remy Gardner (Tech3 Racing) was P17 overall.

Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) was quickest on the combined Moto3 time-sheets, with FP1 dry and FP2 a complete turnaround to full wet. The Majorcan was quickest in FP1 and with the weather changing remained unthreatened, with home hero Adam Norrodin (SIC Racing Team) second.

It was an impressive opening day for the Malaysian rider – riding for the Sepang International Circuit Team – as he also showed top pace in the wet in FP2, just ahead of Mir. On combined times however, Livio Loi (Leopard Racing) made it two Leopard Racing machines in the top three as he took third.