Silva sets the pace at Sepang
Ivan Silva set the pace in Friday's second practice at Sepang in a session that saw eight riders, including Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, opt not to run.
A heavy rain shower between first and second practice meant the riders had to contend with a very wet track at the start of FP2, especially at Turns One and Two.
However, as the session progressed the Malaysian track dried out allowing those who opted to run to venture out on the slick tyres.
Silva was the first out on the slicks with 14 minutes to go and set about improving his times to a 2:10.602.
That gave him the edge over Michele Pirro by 1.441s while Randy de Puniet was third, a further 0.003s down.
Karel Abraham was the only manufacturer rider on track when the conditions were at their best and he finished fifth.
However, top riders such as Lorenzo, who leads the Championship by 28 points ahead of Pedrosa, decided not to run.
"This afternoon unfortunately we couldn't practice because of the weather," said the Spaniard.
He was, however, happy with his running in the morning. "This morning was great, from the beginning I was competitive and more or less at the same pace as Dani and Casey. Casey especially is much stronger than he was in Japan," he said.
"We need to improve the behaviour of the bike in acceleration for tomorrow, it's a little nervous so we need to make it a little easier."
Lorenzo finished the morning's session in third place behind the two Hondas as Pedrosa clocked a 2:01.621 to beat his Honda teammate Casey Stoner by 0.152s while Lorenzo was a further two-tenths down.
TIMES
1. Ivan Silva Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2:10.602
2. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 2:12.043 + 1.441
3. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 2:12.046 + 1.444
4. Roberto Rolfo Speed Master Aprilia 2:13.216 + 2.614
5. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 2:16.143 + 5.541
6. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 2:17.136 + 6.534
7. Valentino Rossi Ducati 2:17.173 + 6.571
8. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 2:17.429 + 6.827
9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2:17.804 + 7.202
10. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 2:18.478 + 7.876
11. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2:19.085 + 8.483
12. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 2:21.113 + 10.511
13. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 2:26.857 + 16.255
- Dani Pedrosa Honda
- Casey Stoner Honda
- Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha
- Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha
- Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha
- Ben Spies Yamaha
- Yonny Hernandez Avintia FTR-Kawasaki
- Danilo Petrucci Ioda Suter-BMW
