Jorge Martin can continue with his bid to keep his MotoGP championship chase alive, having been passed fit to race in the Malaysian Grand Prix with a broken wrist.
๐ The Core Development
But while he has cleared that first hurdle, his weekend got off to a mixed start in Friday morning practice at Sepang.
The good news was that he managed to complete the full session, covering 12 laps across multiple runs, and going back out again for the practice starts at the end of the session.
๐ Background & Sector Context
That mileage and his Aprilia team talking confidently about its strategy for Martin through the weekend immediately suggested he was expecting to pass the mandatory medical check after the session - which he duly did half an hour later.
Limiting the title fight damage looks tough, though. While Martin improved from being four seconds off the pace on his tentative first run, he was still 1.835s down and 20th fastest at the end of the session, so will need to find substantially more pace to have a shot at scoring significant points.
๐ Industry & Real-World Impact
And the identity of the pacesetter was bad news for Martin too, with his title rival Marc Marquez's Ducati a comfortable fastest by 0.474s over Martin's Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi.
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๐ฎ Strategic Outlook & What Lies Ahead
KTM's Pedro Acosta matched Bezzecchi's time in third, while Acosta's stablemates Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder used fresher tyres to go fourth and fifth at the end, just as sixth-placed Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) did.
While one of Aprilia's injured duo looks set to continue with the weekend, the other was ruled out during practice one.
