MALAYSIAN team's and riders enjoyed mixed fortunes on the opening day of the Spanish Motorcycle Grand Prix earlier today (Friday).
In MotoGP, there were no surprises in the opening practice session with the results going according to the formbook on a newly patched up Jerez circuit.
Red Bull KTM Tech3's Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah brought up the rear in the opening practice (FP1), placing 24th from as many riders after clocking one minute and 41.093 seconds.
Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team (SRT) duo Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, who have been impressive from the start of the season, continued with their fine form.
Quartararo placed sixth on 1:38.209s while Morbidelli's 1:38.478s was good for ninth. Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez topped the opening session on 1:37.921s.
Quartararo was again sixth in FP2, this time clocking 1:38.370s, Morbidelli, however, dropped to 18th (1:38.900s). Hafizh was again 24th with a marginally better 1:40.894s effort.
Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) topped FP2 on 1:37.909s
Certain areas of the circuit have recently been resurfaced to address various issues following last year's resurfacing exercise.
In Moto2, Khairul Idham Pawi opened his campaign with a 1:42.839s effort to place the Petronas Sprinta Racing rider 23rd out of 32 competitors.
ONEXOX TKKR SAG duo Remy Gardner and Tetsuta Nagashima fared better as they placed fifth (1:41.972s) and eighth (1:42.184s) in the opening session.
In Moto3, Petronas Sprinta Racing's John McPhee topped the FP1 timesheet with a 1:47.052s lap while teammate Ayumu Sasaki placed 15th on 1:47.631s.
McPhee, however, dropped to eighth after recording 1:47.472s in FP2 while Ayumu moved up a slot to 14th (1:47.592s).