Scorching hot conditions in Sepang were no issue for Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo as they took sixth and 17th respectively as the weekend’s action began.
A productive first day at the Sepang International Circuit allowed the Repsol Honda Team to collectively complete 60 laps between Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo, the pair taking advantage of the dry track time to experiment with the settings of their Honda RC213V machines.
Friday morning in Sepang proved to be an eventful day for Marc Marquez who started with another trademark save at Turn 2. Ending Free Practice 1 in fourth with a 1’59.517, Marquez booked himself a provisional spot in Q2. Working on his race pace in FP2, the eight-time World Champion and his Repsol Honda Team were pleased with what they achieved on Friday. Alongside this, Marquez was also able to begin to experiment with options for the 2020 season.
Jorge Lorenzo returned to closing the gap to leaders, ending the day in 17th overall after improving his lap time by eight tenths in the afternoon. Free Practice 2 saw Lorenzo post more competitive times, one of several riders to improve despite the oppressively hot track in the afternoon. Lorenzo still believes there is more to come this weekend, confident he has time left to find.
Practice resumes at 10:50 local time ahead of qualifying for the Malaysian GP at 15:05 local time.