MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez completed a clean sweep of Friday practice at Sepang, as Jorge Martin withdrew from the afternoon session after three laps.
๐ The Core Development
Martin, who broke his wrist in a crash last Saturday at Phillip Island but has foregone rest for now in favour of trying to keep his title chances alive, did 12 laps in the morning but had to end his day early.
"Together with the doctors, we decided all together to not continue and wait tonight and see tomorrow morning, because, at the moment, if he [Martin] wants to make the laptime, to make the time attack, it's for him difficult to manage the force," Aprilia team manager Paolo Bonora explained to MotoGP.com.
๐ Background & Sector Context
"So it's better to take no risk, absolutely, and we decided all together, together in particular with the doctors, Dr. [Angel] Charte, that we don't go forward during the session."
Q2 by virtue of a top-10 spot would have been a monumental longshot for Martin anyway, whereas for Marquez it looked a foregone conclusion - despite him crashing at the final corner in the early phase of the session.
๐ Industry & Real-World Impact
He bounced back from this to head his Sepang-specialist brother Alex by 0.109s at the conclusion of the session, despite sacrificing the opportunity of one final run on a fresh soft rear.
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๐ฎ Strategic Outlook & What Lies Ahead
Trackhouse Aprilia rider Ai Ogura had looked off for much of the day but uncharacteristically came alive when it came to single-lap attempts, moving up to third, ahead of the lead KTM of Pedro Acosta and VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM), Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM), Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) and the returning Joan Mir (Honda) picked up the remaining Q2 spots.
