Fabio Quartararo banged in the fastest time of the Sepang test so far to lead the second day, while Dani Pedrosa stunned with the third quickest tour for KTM.
Quartararo posted his session best lap with just under half-an-hour remaining-a 1:58.572-, demoting long-time leader Jack Miller on the Pramac Ducati GP20 to second-just 0.069 in arrears.
KTM test and development rider Pedrosa shot up to third fastest shortly after Quartararo’s beat effort, lapping just 0.090 slower than the Frenchman on the ever-improving RC16 as the ex-Honda rider continues to impress alongside the race pilots.
Fourth on the second day leaderboard was the Suzuki of Joan Mir, the Spaniard again showing well for Suzuki after both GSX-RR’s featured in the top ten yesterday, while Franco Morbidelli closed out the top five on the second of the Petronas SRT Yamaha satellite machines.
Maverick Vinales was again fastest of the factory Yamaha duo in sixth overall-although behind both of the satellite M1’s-while Alex Rins was seventh quickest for Suzuki.
Pol Espargaro made it a pair of KTM’s in the top ten-albeit over three-tenths down on Pedrosa’s gambit- while Marc Marquez-who continued after a tumble at Turn 3-and Valentino Rossi completed the top ten on their factory Honda and Yamaha’s respectively.
It was a quiet day once again for the factory Ducati squad meanwhile, with Danilo Petrucci its leading racer down in 13th, while Andrea Dovizioso followed just 0.085 behind in 15th despite a crash at Turn 6 earlier in the day.
Aleix Espargaro continued to pound round on the new Aprilia RS-GP to 11th overall-0.652 from the top spot-the bike looking impressively reliable and fast so far.
The fastest rookie at the close of today’s running was Alex Marquez, the reigning Moto2 champion 17th on the timesheets just over a second from Quartararo-while he lapped 0.564 away from team-mate Marc’s benchmark.
Johann Zarco continued to struggle for raw speed somewhat though on his Avintia Ducati GP19, managing just the 19th fastest effort that was 1.253 down on the ultimate pace.
| # | Rider | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QUARTARARO, Fabio | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1:58.572 | |
| 2 | MILLER, Jack | Pramac Racing | 1:58.641 | 0.069 |
| 3 | PEDROSA, Dani | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:58.662 | 0.090 |
| 4 | MIR, Joan | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:58.731 | 0.159 |
| 5 | MORBIDELLI, Franco | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1:58.831 | 0.259 |
| 6 | VIÑALES, Maverick | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1:58.893 | 0.321 |
| 7 | RINS, Alex | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:58.978 | 0.406 |
| 8 | ESPARGARO, Pol | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:58.989 | 0.417 |
| 9 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:59.097 | 0.525 |
| 10 | ROSSI, Valentino | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1:59.116 | 0.544 |
| 11 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:59.224 | 0.652 |
| 12 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1:59.247 | 0.675 |
| 13 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Ducati Team | 1:59.257 | 0.685 |
| 14 | BAGNAIA, Francesco | Pramac Racing | 1:59.313 | 0.741 |
| 15 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 1:59.342 | 0.770 |
| 16 | OLIVEIRA, Miguel | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1:59.365 | 0.793 |
| 17 | MARQUEZ, Alex | Repsol Honda Team | 1:59.661 | 1.089 |
| 18 | BINDER, Brad | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:59.780 | 1.208 |
| 19 | ZARCO, Johann | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:59.825 | 1.253 |
| 20 | RABAT, Tito | Reale Avintia Racing | 2:00.189 | 1.617 |
| 21 | GUINTOLI, Sylvain | SUZUKI Test Team | 2:00.286 | 1.714 |
| 22 | NAKAGAMI, Takaaki | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 2:00.347 | 1.775 |
| 23 | LECUONA, Iker | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 2:00.396 | 1.824 |
| 24 | TEST 3, Yamaha | Yamaha Test Team | 2:00.791 | 2.219 |
| 25 | TEST 1, Yamaha | Yamaha Test Team | 2:00.920 | 2.348 |
| 26 | SMITH, Bradley | Aprilia Factory Racing | 2:01.119 | 2.547 |
| NC | SAVADORI, Lorenzo | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | ||
| NC | PIRRO, Michele | Ducati Team | ||
| NC | KALLIO, Mika | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | ||
| NC | TSUDA, Takuya | SUZUKI Test Team | ||
| NC | TEST 2, Yamaha | Yamaha Test Team |
