Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez survived a fall to go fastest on Friday at Sepang, while his injured title rival Jorge Martin curtailed his running and will have to navigate Q1 if he continues to compete on Saturday.

The first half of the session was unremarkable in terms of the timesheets, with Fabio Di Giannantonio finding his way to the top of them early aboard the VR46 Ducati. 

In that period, nearly all riders were simply putting in laps with the soft rear tyre as they prepared for the racing later in the weekend. It was noticeable that the bikes looked nervous around the Sepang circuit, with Jack Miller an early faller. 

Another to endure a fright on the first run was Martin, who saved a scary moment in a fast left-hander. Shortly thereafter, he brought his factory Aprilia into the box and disappeared into the depths of the garage. Not long after that, the team confirmed that his day was done. Martin would focus on taking care of his broken wrist and worry about qualifying in Q1 on Saturday - if at all.

Seventeen minutes into the session, world championship leader Marquez bit the dust as he dropped the factory Ducati at the final corner. It was a low-speed incident, but another suggestion that track conditions were not easy. Marquez got going on his second bike soon enough, but continued to look a skittish presence on the circuit. 

With 20 minutes to go, the riders began to venture out on fresh soft tyres in a bid to ensure they made Q2 on Saturday. Marquez quickly gave then a formidable target by registering a time of exactly 1m57s. Almost a second to the good at that point, it was over to his rivals to respond as they got up to speed on fresh rubber.

Maverick Vinales, Red Bull KTM Tech 3

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Alex Marquez briefly threatened Marc's time with three red sectors with eight minutes to go, but lost out in the last split to stop the clocks just over a tenth shy in second place. 

That was as close as anybody got for the rest of the session, as yellow flags at crucial times made it a challenge to register a legitimate lap time. 

Marc, meanwhile, did not even take a fresh set of tyres, feeling safe enough to turn his final run into a mini-test of his suspension settings. 

Ai Ogura led Aprilia's charge by finding the third-fastest time, with Noale's other remaining fit representative, Marco Bezzecchi, booking a Q2 spot with the sixth-quickest lap.

Pedro Acosta (KTM) made Q2 easily with fourth-quickest time, which was no surprise. More unusual was both Tech3 KTM riders making the cut, with Enea Bastianini seventh and Maverick Vinales eighth. 

The VR46 Ducati pair of Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli also made it through, in fifth and ninth respectively, while Joan Mir produced an excellent performance on his comeback from illness to snare the 10th-quickest time.

The late yellow flags were caused first by Bastianini falling with four minutes to go and then by two men who were still trying to scramble into the top 10: Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia. Crashing put paid to that dream, but both will be among the favourites to progress from Q1 on Saturday morning.

MotoGP Malaysian GP - Practice results