SEPANG: Less than a tenth of a second separated MotoGP championship contenders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin on the opening day of the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia.
Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) topped both the practice sessions at Sepang today.
The two-time defending champion topped the afternoon session after clocking one minute and 57.679 seconds. Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) was second, just 0.050s adrift, while Bagnaia's teammate Enea Bastianini (+0.198s) rounded out the top-three.
Martin suffered a crash late in the afternoon session but was able to walk away.
Bagnaia said he was happy with the track conditions at Sepang today. Both sessions were in the dry.
He is currently second in the overall rider standings, 17 points adrift of Martin.
"I love this track and I know when the track is going this well, it is easier to go fast," said the Italian.
"Even in the morning session, when we started with the hard rear tyre - which is not even performing that well - the pace was still good and the feeling was also good.
"I think it is important to start with the toughest situation (settings) and try to remain competitive (nevertheless) because we know that the consumption (degradation) of the rear tyres here is very high."
Martin, who crashed at turn one, is feeling confident as they head into the business end of the weekend.
"I was quite okay with my times but I wanted to improve a bit more but pushed just a bit too much at the first turn," said Martin.
"But I take it as a positive. It was good that I crashed today so I can know the limit and understand why it happened.
"I am feeling as competitive as always and am confident with my work. I just want to continue doing things as I normally do.
"I don't want to change anything just because we are fighting for the championship."
Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) placed fourth (+0.462s) while Alex Marquez was fifth (+0.617s). Fan favourite Marc Marquez rounded out the top-10 (+0.683s)