Practice report

MotoGP Malaysian GP

MotoGP Malaysian GP: Alex Marquez outpaces Martin in FP2

Gresini rider Alex Marquez led second practice for the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix on his year-old Ducati from Pramac’s Jorge Martin.

Lewis Duncan

Edited: Nov 10, 2023, 1:24 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing

In a reverse of Friday morning’s FP1 session, Marquez led Martin by 0.174 seconds after posting a 1m57.823s on his final flying lap.

KTM duo Jack Miller and Brad Binder trailed the Ducati pair, while Maverick Vinales was fifth on his factory Aprilia as team-mate Aleix Espargaro crashed three times.

Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia was eighth and secured a place directly into Q2 for Saturday’s qualifying.

The hour-long second practice session took place under grey skies at the Sepang International Circuit, but the rain stayed away.

Marc Marquez set the early pace on his factory Honda at 1m59.515s before younger brother Alex edged ahead with a 1m58.705s just over five minutes in.

This would stay as the reference lap for a while, before Martin posted a 1m58.523s with around 38 minutes to go.

With just under 15 minutes to run, Bagnaia took over from Martin with a 1m58.493s, only to be immediately deposed by Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

Quartararo’s 1m58.399s didn’t keep him top for long, as KTM’s Binder edged ahead with a 1m58.310s before Martin fired in a 1m58.227s with just under 11 minutes to go to return to top spot.

Martin moved to cement his position with a 1m57.997s on his final flying lap, but would be denied by 0.174s by Alex Marquez.

Miller jumped ahead of Binder at the chequered flag with a 1m58.232s, with VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini shadowing Vinales in sixth.

Quartararo ended up seventh at the chequered flag, but was left livid with his Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli when the Italian got in the way of his final flying lap.

Bagnaia, Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) and Pramac’s Johann Zarco completed the top 10 to secure the last direct Q2 spots.

Morbidelli was just 0.084s outside of the top 10 in 11th after a late moment on his Yamaha, while Enea Bastianini on the factory Ducati will join him in Q1.

Both factory Honda riders will also face Q1 on Saturday morning, with Marc Marquez 15th and Joan Mir 16th.

A crash for Raul Fernandez left the RNF Aprilia rider down in 18th, while Aleix Espargaro was 20th after tallying his fourth fall of the day.

Ducati wildcard Alvaro Bautista was 2.547s off the pace in 22nd.

MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix - FP2 results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

Driver Info

Main Information Additional Data

Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap 1 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 19

1'57.823

169.362 2 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 20

+0.174

1'57.997

0.174 169.112 3 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM RC16 KTM 20

+0.409

1'58.232

0.235 168.776 4 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM RC16 KTM 19

+0.484

1'58.307

0.075 168.669 5 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia RS-GP Aprilia 17

+0.489

1'58.312

0.005 168.662 6 Italy L. Marini Team VR46 10 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 21

+0.511

1'58.334

0.022 168.631 7 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha YZR-M1 Yamaha 19

+0.576

1'58.399

0.065 168.538 8 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 20

+0.597

1'58.420

0.021 168.508 9 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 21

+0.627

1'58.450

0.030 168.466 10 France J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 16

+0.664

1'58.487

0.037 168.413 11 Italy F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21 Yamaha YZR-M1 Yamaha 19

+0.748

1'58.571

0.084 168.294 12 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 19

+0.782

1'58.605

0.034 168.245 13 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 Gas Gas RC16 KTM 20

+0.855

1'58.678

0.073 168.142 14 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 15

+0.886

1'58.709

0.031 168.098 15 Spain M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93 Honda RC213V Honda 19

+0.965

1'58.788

0.079 167.986 16 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda RC213V Honda 19

+1.079

1'58.902

0.114 167.825 17 Spain P. Espargaro Tech 3 44 Gas Gas RC16 KTM 17

+1.151

1'58.974

0.072 167.724 18 Spain R. Fernández RNF Racing 25 Aprilia RS-GP Aprilia 15

+1.201

1'59.024

0.050 167.653 19 Portugal M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88 Aprilia RS-GP Aprilia 16

+1.327

1'59.150

0.126 167.476 20 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia RS-GP Aprilia 9

+1.903

1'59.726

0.576 166.670 21 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda RC213V Honda 22

+1.932

1'59.755

0.029 166.630 22 Spain A. Bautista Ducati Team 19 Ducati Desmosedici GP23 Ducati 21

+2.547

2'00.370

0.615 165.778 23 Spain I. Lecuona Team LCR 27 Honda RC213V Honda 22

+2.628

2'00.451

0.081 165.667 View full results

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article MotoGP Malaysian GP: Martin edges Marquez in first practice

Next article Espargaro admits Honda 2024 approach but will remain KTM MotoGP test rider

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

2 h

Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

Formula 1

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

MotoGP

Qatar GP

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

6 h

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

Feature

Discover prime content

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

MotoGP

Qatar GP

By Rachit Thukral

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

MotoGP needs to heed the warning signs as riders drop like flies

MotoGP

Qatar GP

By Richard Asher

MotoGP needs to heed the warning signs as riders drop like flies

Five things we learned at MotoGP's controversial Qatar Grand Prix

MotoGP

Qatar GP

By Richard Asher

Five things we learned at MotoGP's controversial Qatar Grand Prix

Why MotoGP's handling of the Qatar Grand Prix could alienate an entire generation of fans

MotoGP

Malaysian GP

By Richard Asher

Why MotoGP's handling of the Qatar Grand Prix could alienate an entire generation of fans

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts