03:06
He's not going to challenge the top two, but Andrea Iannone is still holding sixth place, with a 1m 58.1. A very very impressive effort.
Francesco Bagnaia, 2024 Malaysian MotoGP
2024 Malaysian MotoGP: Sprint as it happened
Recap Saturday’s sprint at the 2024 Malaysian MotoGP.
Two riders, two rounds and 17-points.
That’s the MotoGP title situation with reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia reducing Jorge Martin’s advantage heading into this weekend’s Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang.
Beaten to third in the Buriram Sprint, Bagnaia responded in style to claim his ninth grand prix victory of the season in last Sunday’s soaking Thai MotoGP.
The Italian now arrives at one of his favourite circuits eager to take another bite out of Martin’s lead ahead of the Valencia finale.
Bagnaia, winner of the 2022 Malaysian GP and third behind team-mate Enea Bastianini and Gresini’s Alex Marquez last season, was fastest in February’s Sepang pre-season test.
However, Martin, fourth at Sepang last season, was just 0.172s behind.
Bagnaia starts from pole ahead of Martin after a titanic battle in qualifying on Saturday at Sepang.
Wet weather could again add to the title drama with rain forecast to make an appearance throughout the weekend.
This weekend will also see the MotoGP return of Andrea Iannone, who joins VR46 in place of the injured Fabio di Giannantonio.
Iannone, who won a race in his debut WorldSBK campaign this season, will be riding at the same track where his failed anti-doping test in 2019 eventually led to a four-year ban.
FP3 starts at 10:10 local time, followed by Qualifying from 10:50am. The 10-lap Sprint race begins at 3pm.
03:05
Brad Binder puts his KTM on top as the last Qualifying 1 lap begins.
03:04
A crash for Augusto Fernandez at Turn 6 brings out yellow flags.
03:03
2mins to go and it's still Bezzecchi and Acosta currently holding the transfer places.
03:03
Looks like a technical issue for Aleix Espargaro, who pulls back into the Aprilia garage and gestures at his bike.
02:57
Marco Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta now take over the two transfer spots, the VR46 rider posting the first 1m 57s lap of the day.
The pole record is a 1m 57.491s by Francesco Bagnaia last season.
02:56
The first Qualifying 1 laps are in and it's KTM's Brad Binder ahead of Aleix Espargaro at the top, with Andrea Iannone 6th with his first ever 1m 58s lap of Sepang. Impressive!
02:55
Andrea Iannone is competing in his first MotoGP qualifying since 2019, and is chasing VR46 Ducati team-mate Marco Bezzecchi in the early stages.
02:52
Qualifying 1 Line-up
Pedro ACOSTA
Marco BEZZECCHI
Johann ZARCO
Brad BINDER
Takaaki NAKAGAMI
Raul FERNANDEZ
Aleix ESPARGARO
Luca MARINI
Augusto FERNANDEZ
Joan MIR
Andrea IANNONE
Lorenzo SAVADORI
02:52
Good morning from Sepang, where occasional raindrops have been falling all morning.
Francesco Bagnaia has just completed a perfect practice sweep by leading FP2, but with title rival Jorge Martin just 0.104s behind.
Qualifying 1 for those outside the top ten on Friday will now begin...
