Pedro Acosta Leads Sprint Qualifying

In the morning's FP1, Fermín Aldeguer was the fastest, ahead of Pecco Bagnaia, Joan Mir, and Pol Espargaró, who is substituting for the injured Maverick Viñales. The session was interrupted in the final minutes by a typical Malaysian downpour, prompting most of the grid to take a few laps on wet tyres, as rain is always a threat at the Sepang circuit, as demonstrated in the afternoon practice.

The crucial Friday session determines the ten riders who qualify directly for Q2 and those who must go through Q1 repechage. This hour of practice is usually split into two parts: the first for bike setup ahead of Sunday, and the final minutes for a time attack on soft tyres. The issue in Malaysia is the unpredictable weather, which started sunny and cloudy but turned ominous and threatened rain midway through the session.

With 24 minutes remaining, rain flags began to wave, and light rain started in the pit lane, causing all riders to pit for tyre changes and advance their time attacks. The first to arrive secured a lap, but most were caught in the downpour mid-track, like Álex Márquez, who crashed under pressure. The top 10 seemed set, yet Sepang offered another chance.

The rain was shorter than expected, the sun emerged, and the tropical heat quickly dried the track, opening an unexpected dry window with less than five minutes remaining. Most riders managed a couple of laps on soft tyres on a very delicate surface, which drained perfectly.

In this mini-qualifying, Pedro Acosta was the fastest on his KTM, despite an early practice crash without consequences. The Murcian was 19 milliseconds ahead of Johann Zarco, with Jack Miller in third. Joan Mir finished fourth, and Fabio Quartararo fifth, meaning two Hondas and two Yamahas in the top 5. The best Ducati was Fabio Di Giannantonio's in sixth, ahead of teammate Franco Morbidelli. Pol Espargaró impressively secured eighth, again qualifying directly for Q2, while Álex Márquez and Álex Rins completed the top 10, granting access to Saturday's decisive session.

There were many surprises among those who couldn't qualify directly for Q2. All winners of the last three races and sprints didn't make the cut: Pecco Bagnaia 12th, Fermín Aldeguer 13th, Marco Bezzecchi 15th, and the last winner in Australia, Raúl Fernández 16th. They all must go through Q1 to secure one of the two spots available for the front four rows of the grid.

The other major focus in this final part of the season is the Moto2 category, where the title is still up for grabs with only two points separating leader Manu González and Diogo Moreira, who has been gaining momentum in recent races. The Madrid rider aims to stop the points bleed this weekend, starting in the best way with the fastest time in the afternoon practice and a record lap to assert dominance. The Brazilian could only manage tenth, 445 milliseconds behind his rival, and both will face off in Q2. Also in the mix is the championship's third-place contender, Arón Canet, seventh on Friday, though the Valencian needs to recover 35 points in these last three races.

And not letting up even on a Friday is the already crowned Moto3 world champion, José Antonio Rueda, who set the fastest time in a session dominated by Spaniards, with Álvaro Carpe, Bryan Uriarte, and Ángel Piqueras in the top four positions.