Maverick Vinales bided his time at the start of the morning session, keeping an eye on the timing screens to get a complete understanding of the track conditions.
Twenty-five minutes into the session, the Yamaha rider set off to gradually work his way up to fourth position, with the help of a soft rear tire in the final minutes.
In the afternoon, the Spaniard used the opposite tactic in the wet. He quickly left his box in order to have as much time as possible to work on the settings of his motorcycle in rain configuration.
A small collision with Héctor Barbera at turn #15 forced him to make an unplanned mechanical stop after 10 minutes. Lucky to have escaped a fall, he was able to leave without losing too much time, eager to make up for lost time. He once again ended up in fourth place in the ranking, 1.238s from the top.
Like all other MotoGP riders, his morning time was used to establish the combined ranking.
Maverick Vinales : “Today I felt good, both in the dry and in the wet. I think we have the right potential here in Malaysia. We still have to work on the bike setup. Sepang is a completely different track to Australia. We really need to understand tires well, even though the weather keeps changing. We need to understand tires to be able to choose the best option for racing. I don't know exactly what happened with Barbera, I tried to turn the corner and saw him go straight. We were lucky not to crash into each other, only my clutch lever broke, but I didn't see all the action, I just felt it on the bike. I was able to raise my bike a little and I didn't fall. Anyway, I felt good in FP2, I'm happy and we'll see tomorrow. I have good confidence that we can succeed in all conditions. »
Massimo Meregalli : “The start of Friday was a bit tricky because this morning the track was half dry, half wet. In these circumstances, it is never easy for the pilots. Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of the last 20 minutes of FP1, working on the bike settings for the dry. In the afternoon we reversed the work by focusing on the wet. Maverick and Vale are making progress in the wet, which verifies the step forward we made in Australia and confirms that we are working in the right direction, although there is always room for improvement. Maverick was hit by Héctor Barberá, but fortunately he did not fall. He looked good and felt confident. So far, we are confident that we can take another step forward tomorrow in FP3, regardless of the conditions. »
#MalaysianGP MotoGP J.1 Ranking: Chronos
| 1 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 2'00.671 | ||
| 2 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 2'00.742 | 0.071 / 0.071 | |
| 3 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 2'00.807 | 0.136 / 0.065 | |
| 4 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 2'00.903 | 0.232 / 0.096 | |
| 5 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 2'00.950 | 0.279 / 0.047 | |
| 6 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 2'01.060 | 0.389 / 0.110 | |
| 7 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 2'01.077 | 0.406 / 0.017 | |
| 8 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 2'01.147 | 0.476 / 0.070 | |
| 9 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 2'01.162 | 0.491 / 0.015 | |
| 10 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 2'01.189 | 0.518 / 0.027 | |
| 11 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 2'01.560 | 0.889 / 0.371 | |
| 12 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 2'01.662 | 0.991 / 0.102 | |
| 13 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 2'01.740 | 1.069 / 0.078 | |
| 14 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 2'01.803 | 1.132 / 0.063 | |
| 15 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 2'01.831 | 1.160 / 0.028 | |
| 16 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 2'02.416 | 1.745 / 0.585 | |
| 17 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 2'02.469 | 1.798 / 0.053 | |
| 18 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | 2'03.056 | 2.385 / 0.587 | |
| 19 | 60 | Michael VAN DER MARK | Yamaha | 2'03.473 | 2.802 / 0.417 | |
| 20 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 2'03.531 | 2.860 / 0.058 | |
| 21 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia | 2'03.534 | 2.863 / 0.003 | |
| 22 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 2'04.381 | 3.710 / 0.847 | |
