Maverick Vinales was the one rider to get inside one-second of reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia in opening MotoGP observe at Sepang.
Bagnaia’s title rival Jorge Martin was sixth, with Andrea Iannone categorised ninth in his first MotoGP session since 2019!
However all was not because it appeared, with the timesheets muddled by a mixture of tyre techniques.
Whereas all riders started the 45-minute session with medium entrance/arduous rear tyres, some riders – together with the highest three of Bagnaia, Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi – switched to the popular tender entrance/medium rear combo within the closing levels.
Bagnaia promptly set the primary sub 1m 59s lap of the weekend, then the primary 1m 58 to place his Lenovo Ducati 0.743s forward of the Aprilia of Vinales.
It was a change of technique for Bagnaia, who normally sticks with used tyres throughout FP1, however the specter of afternoon rain maybe promoted him to attempt the popular rubber.
Jack Miller used a brand new arduous rear tyre to set the fourth-best time for KTM however caught with a used medium entrance.
GASGAS Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta was fifth with new medium/arduous tyres. Nevertheless, he suffered a low-speed fall on the finish of the session.
Pramac Ducati title chief Jorge Martin, 17 factors forward of Bagnaia with two rounds to go, was sixth and the quickest rider to maintain the identical medium/arduous tyres all through FP1.
Bagnaia pulled apart on the again straight when knowledgeable that Martin was behind him in the course of the center levels.
The Pramac rider pulled throughout and sat behind him however the Italian was having none of it and, after slowing to a crawl, Martin ultimately accelerated previous.
2023 Dash winner Alex Marquez put new medium/arduous tyres for seventh place, whereas Fabio Quartararo impressed by main a lot of FP1 for Yamaha on his approach to an eventual eighth.
Quartararo – who has a brand new engine spec this weekend, however needed to be pushed again to the pits by countryman Johann Zarco at one stage – stored the identical medium entrance tyre however put a brand new arduous rear on the finish.
Andrea Iannone, 2024 Malaysian MotoGP
However the huge shock of the morning was ninth place (+1.856s) by Andrea Iannone, using his first MotoGP laps since 2019.
The Italian, using rather than Fabio di Giannantonio, vaulted from final place after becoming tender/medium tyres on the finish of the session.
Even so, it was a head-turning efficiency after so lengthy away from MotoGP, as he adjusted not solely to carbon brakes, however the newest ride-height gadgets, aero and tyres.
Augusto Fernandez accomplished the highest ten for Tech3, adopted by the highest Honda of Takaaki Nakagami, Gresini’s Marc Marquez, Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli and final 12 months’s grand prix winner Enea Bastianini and KTM’s Brad Binder.
Of these six, Fernandez fitted new rubber, however the others all stored the identical tyres all through FP1.
