MotoGP Malaysia Sepang FP4: Morbidelli ahead of Rossi

At the end of a first day crushed by a Fabio Quartararo who was still visibly handicapped following his fall in Australia, the French driver preceded Franco Morbidelli, Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Viñales, Valentino Rossi, Marc Márquez, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaró and Cal Crutchlow in the provisional list of drivers pre-qualified for Q2.

This morning, a dry track allowed the majority of drivers to improve their times during FP3, with the notable exceptions of Fabio Quartararo, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi. Conversely, Johann zarco managed to get out Cal Crutchlow of Q2: we can imagine the atmosphere in the British side of the box…

The 10 lucky ones are therefore named Fabio Quartararo, Franco Morbidelli, Marc Márquez, Maverick Viñales, Andrea Dovizioso, Jack Miller, Francesco Bagnaia, Valentino Rossi, Álex Rins and Johann Zarco.

While waiting for what will decide the first four rows of the starting grid for this Malaysian Grand Prix, the 20 drivers will have, during this FPP4, 30 minutes on a track at 39° in an ambient temperature of 29°, but unfortunately the very overcast sky until now decided to release a little rain, certainly light but apparently stubborn, just before the opening of the session...

Here is the table of available references:

MotoGP Sepang™	2018	2019
FP1	1'59.697 Andrea Dovizioso (See here)	1'59.027 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
FP2	1'59.608 Alex Rins (See here)	1'58.576 Fabio Quartararo (See here)
FP3	1'59.231 Maverick Viñales (See here)	1'58.761 Franco Morbidelli (See here)
FP4	2'00.083 Marc Márquez (See here)	1'59.600 Franco Morbidelli
Q1	2'13.311 Álvaro Bautista (See here)
Q2	2'12.161 Marc Márquez (See here)
Warm-up	2'11.476 Maverick Viñales (See here)
Course	Marquez, Rins, Zarco (See here)
All time lap record	1'59.053 Dani Pedrosa (2015)	1'58.576 Fabio Quartararo

When the red lights go out, Jorge Lorenzo rushes first, a little ahead Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller, while the others prefer to momentarily observe what is happening.

Despite the light raindrops, the drivers are equipped with slick tires.

Little by little, all the drivers take to the track and Franco Morbidelli registered the first reference in 2'02.535.

In the following passages, Danilo Petrucci improves in 2'01.124 then 2'00.661 but Marc Márquez then takes the advantage in 2'00.520.

Despite persistent raindrops in parts of the Malaysian circuit, many sectors lit up red, allowing the Honda rider to be the first to break the two-minute barrier in 1'59.980 on his third lap spear.

Mid-session, he precedes Franco Morbidelli, Danilo Petrucci, Andrea Dovizioso, Francesco Bagnaia, Maverick Vinales, Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller and Valentino Rossi, all in the same second, while at this moment John Zarco only appears in 15th position, more than 2 seconds away, and Jorge Lorenzo more than 8.

Andrea Dovizioso then achieves the second time, Joan mir the fifth.

Most drivers stop with 10 minutes left in the session to change the rear tire before starting their final run. On this subject, Michelin indicates that the choice for the race will undoubtedly be between soft and medium.

fabio quartararo, then 11th, climbed to 6th position before continuing his effort and achieving the best time in 1'59.973 before conceding the reference to Valentino Rossi in 1'59.796.

Meanwhile, Francis Bagnaia makes a mistake at turn #5, Jorge Lorenzo at turn #1.

In extremis, the two riders of the Petronas Yamaha SRT team made a final effort, and, ultimately, Franco Morbidelli registered his name at the top of the table in 1'59.600.

FP4 standings MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang:

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com