Championship leader Marc Marquez completed a clean sweep of Friday practice at Sepang after dominating the track, while his title rival faced a bitter reality inside the garage.
The practice session at Sepang was marked by fitness drama as Jorge Martin decided to end his afternoon session early after completing just three laps on his machine.
The rider, who recently suffered a wrist fracture in a crash at Phillip Island, was forced to surrender for the sake of long-term safety and keeping his slim championship hopes alive.
Team manager Paolo Bonora explained to MotoGP.com that the decision was made collectively with the medical team after seeing the rider struggle to manage his physical strength for a time attack.
"Together with the doctors, we decided all together to not continue and wait tonight and see tomorrow morning, because, at the moment, if he wants to make the laptime, to make the time attack, it's for him difficult to manage the force," Bonora stated.
"So it's better to take no risk, absolutely, and we decided all together, together in particular with the doctors, Dr. Angel Charte, that we don't go forward during the session," he added regarding the situation.
On the other hand, Marquez suffered an early crash at the final corner during the opening phase of the afternoon session, but he bounced back brilliantly to secure the top spot.
The factory Ducati star finished 0.109s ahead of his Sepang-specialist brother Alex Marquez, despite sacrificing the opportunity of one final run on a fresh soft rear tire.
The intense battle at the front also featured a surprise surge from Trackhouse Aprilia rider Ai Ogura, who climbed to third ahead of Pedro Acosta and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Meanwhile, the battle for automatic Q2 spots delivered late drama as heavyweights like Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia suffered late crashes during the closing moments of the crucial session.
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