Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) is the rider to beat after the opening day of the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia. Ogura's 2:06.093 came from a late Practice 2 charge where the Team Asia rider became the only competitor to beat Fermin Aldeguer's (Beta Tools SpeedUp) Practice 1 lap time. The latter topped Practice 1 with his 2:06.183, a time that held firm to consolidate 2nd place on the combined timings, as Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) made his presence known after his Practice 2 time attack saw the Spaniard sit just 0.100s back from the top spot in P3.
Right in the last moments, things change at the top! 👀@AiOgura79 went quickest of the lot! 🔥#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/5ffIaNZZ6A
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 10, 2023
Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) is also looking strong around the Sepang International Circuit. The Brit's personal best times from P1 and P2 were within 0.003s of each other with his P1 time seeing him just miss out on the top three by 0.050s. Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rounded out the top five as he made positive steps forward in the afternoon to finish just ahead of Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing) and Sergio Garcia (Pons Wegow Los40), with the #37 knowing a top four finish will be enough for him to wrap up the title this weekend.
Dennis Foggia (Italtrans Racing Team) put in an impressive performance to finish the day in 8th place overall. The Italian's teammate Joe Roberts finished just behind him in P9 with Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rounding out the top 10.
Notably, Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) ended the day in P19, 1.2s off the pace. The Italian needs to finish on the podium - if Acosta doesn't finish inside the top four - if he is to keep his mathematical hopes of claiming the 2023 title alive, so Arbolino has work to do on Saturday morning.
Moto2™ will be back in action on Saturday for Practice 3 at 9:25 and qualifying at 13:45 local (GMT +8).
| 1 | Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) | 2:06.093 |
| 2 | Fermin Aldeguer (Speed Up Racing) | +0.090 |
| 3 | Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) | +0.100 |
| 4 | Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) | +0.150 |
| 5 | Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | +0.196 |
| 6 | Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing) | +0.506 |
| 7 | Sergio Garcia (Pons Wegow Los40) | +0.604 |
| 8 | Dennis Foggia (Italtrans Racing Team) | +0.655 |
| 9 | Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) | +0.667 |
| 10 | Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | +0.692 |
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