Sawt Falasteen - Jorge Martin confirmed to race at Malaysian MotoGP

Aprilia's Martin, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur with a fractured wrist from last weekend's Australian Grand Prix sprint race, finished Friday's morning session 1.8 sec behind Spanish compatriot Marquez, who topped the timesheets with 1min 58.912sec on his Ducati.

Martin, who was cleared to participate in Friday's morning session despite his injury, started 3.9 seconds off the pace but improved in his second and third stints to clock 2min 747sec.

In total, the 28-year-old completed 12 laps.

Italian Marco Bezzecchi, who sits 50 points adrift of Marquez in the championship standings, was 0.474sec behind the Spaniard as the second fastest, along with Red Bull's Pedro Acosta.

Martin, who trails Marquez by 10 points coming into this weekend’s action in Sepang, had previously remarked "his arm would be in a cast if he wasn’t in a Championship fight".

Friday’s opening practice session was halted briefly for a red flag due to debris on track.

The second session is expected to be more challenging for the 22 riders, as predicted torrential rain could influence proceedings.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST