Championship contender Jorge Lorenzo topped the timesheets during Friday's first practice session as the FIM MotoGP World Championship hit Sepang.
The Fiat Yamaha rider is 38 points behind team-mate Valentino Rossi in the standings with just two races remaining and threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field with a best lap of two minutes 2.180 seconds.
Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner continued his fine form since returning from illness with second place, with Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa in third and Rossi in fourth.
A fourth-place finish on Sunday will be enough for Rossi to take his seventh premier-class world championship even if Lorenzo wins, and the Italian was in relaxed mood as he lapped 0.684 seconds slower than his young rival.
Rossi said: "I am quite happy, even if the time and the position isn't perfect.
"We worked mainly with old tyres to understand the nature of the bike when it's sliding, which is important here, but actually my pace was very consistent and I think we can make another step on Saturday.
"We still need to find a little bit more grip so we will look to improve the setting of the bike for this on Saturday morning - it's going to be very important to be on the front row for Sunday.
"I think the race will be very hard and we will have to take care to prepare properly and drink a lot of water because it is very, very hot."
The Fiat Yamaha rider is 38 points behind team-mate Valentino Rossi in the standings with just two races remaining and threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field with a best lap of two minutes 2.180 seconds.
Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner continued his fine form since returning from illness with second place, with Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa in third and Rossi in fourth.
A fourth-place finish on Sunday will be enough for Rossi to take his seventh premier-class world championship even if Lorenzo wins, and the Italian was in relaxed mood as he lapped 0.684 seconds slower than his young rival.
Rossi said: "I am quite happy, even if the time and the position isn't perfect.
"We worked mainly with old tyres to understand the nature of the bike when it's sliding, which is important here, but actually my pace was very consistent and I think we can make another step on Saturday.
"We still need to find a little bit more grip so we will look to improve the setting of the bike for this on Saturday morning - it's going to be very important to be on the front row for Sunday.
"I think the race will be very hard and we will have to take care to prepare properly and drink a lot of water because it is very, very hot."
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