Lorenzo fastest in Malaysia practice as Rossi's title bid stalls

Sport360 staff 13:27 23/10/2015
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  • Lorenzo is aiming to deny teammate Rossi the title.

    Jorge Lorenzo sent a message to his team-mate and title rival Valentino Rossi as he topped the timesheets in Friday’s practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

    Rossi could walk away from Sepang as the world champion by the end of the weekend if he can take 26 points more than fellow Movistar Yamaha rider Lorenzo, but there was little sign of that outcome as the championship leader could only set the fifth fastest time.

    Lorenzo, who had been overshadowed by Dani Pedrosa in first practice as he focused on race pace, put on fresh tyres late on in FP2 and set a time of 2’00.246, less than half a second off the pole record of 1’59.571 set by Marc Marquez last year.

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    More importantly right now, the time was 0.669s better than anything Rossi could manage.

    Pedrosa had the second fastest time on his Repsol Honda, 0.047s back, while Marquez – criticised in the pre-race press conference by Rossi who claimed the Spaniard was “thinking like a child” and favouring Lorenzo in the title race following a spat earlier this season – was third, 0.226s off Lorenzo’s time.

    Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone suffered a crash during FP2, but got back on his bike and immediately set his best time, 0.240s back to take fourth place ahead of Rossi.

    The Italian, six times a winner in Sepang, suffered an issue with his first-choice bike during the session and could not improve on his time from FP1.

    He will need more luck than that if he is to clinch his seventh MotoGP title – and 10th in all – in Sepang. Rossi will take the title if he wins the race and Lorenzo finishes no higher than fifth.

    Should Rossi be second, he needs Lorenzo to be outside the top 10, while if Rossi is third, Lorenzo must be no higher than 15th.

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