Crutchlow fronts Bagnaia in wet-to-dry Malaysian FP2 outing

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Cal Crutchlow, MotoGP race, Australian MotoGP, 16 October 2022

Cal Crutchlow put his RNF Racing Yamaha at the head of the timesheets in FP2 in Malaysia by gambling on slicks at the end of the mostly wet session.

The Briton was one of several riders to switch to dry-weather rubber in the closing minutes as the Sepang International Circuit dried throughout the 45-minute session, which had been delayed by about an hour following a heavy rain shower mid-way through the preceding Moto2 test that forced the red flags to halt proceedings.

The field therefore prioritised the medium wet-weather tyre for the majority of FP2, the track almost seemingly ready for slicks from the start aside from a few problem areas that took significantly longer to dry.

Alex Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi and series leader Francesco Bagnaia were the first to try for slicks before swiftly being followed by the likes of Crutchlow and Jack Miller, with Marquez immediately showing the pedigree of the dry rubber as he lapped at a similar pace to the wet runners on his out-lap.

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The Spaniard duly fired in a 2:08.644s to go quickest by a decent margin before Crutchlow pipped him on a 2:08.436s.

Marquez then hit back with a 2:06.896s as he took the chequered flag at the end of the session, though Crutchlow had a little more left in the tank to bang in a 2:10.710s on his final gambit – a time that would leave him a full nine-tenths-of-a-second clear of Bagnaia, who moved up to second on his slicks though remains 11th overall having failed to post a final fast time in the fully-dry FP1 outing.

Marquez would therefore have to settle for third on his LCR Honda ahead of Miller on the sister factory Ducati, with Johann Zarco improving up to fifth at the end on his Pramac-run Ducati.

Maverick Vinales claimed sixth for Aprilia ahead of Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, the Italian posting his time on wets having showed impressive speed in the mixed conditions.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir was eighth ahead of the second official Yamaha of title contender Fabio Quartararo, with Luca Marini rounding off the top ten on his VR46-prepared Desmosedici.

FP1 leader Marc Marquez elected to play it safe in the session’s closing stanza and park his RC213-V rather than risk switching to slicks, the Spaniard falling to 15^th in the session – though he remains at the head of the combined times as a result of his opening session time being set in full-dry conditions.

Miguel Oliveira meanwhile was just up the road from the six-time premier class world champion in 11^th as the highest-placed KTM, with Alex Rins slotting in just behind on the other Suzuki GSX-RR ahead of top rookie Marco Bezzecchi on his Ducati.

Keyword: Crutchlow fronts Bagnaia in wet-to-dry Malaysian FP2 outing