Fabio Quartararo led the second day of pre-season MotoGP testing in Malaysia, while reigning world champion Marc Marquez crashed late in the session.
Petronas SRT rider Quartararo was fastest on Friday aboard the 2019-spec Yamaha, but finally took delivery of the new 2020 M1 and spent most of the day on that.
He was once again first out on circuit, though it was Suzuki’s Joan Mir who led the timesheets after the first hour with a 1m58.731s lap ahead of KTM’s Pol Espargaro.
Pramac’s Jack Miller took over from Mir as the session entered its third hour, with the Ducati rider’s 1m58.641s effort remaining the benchmark until the final hour.
Miller spent the day evaluating Ducati’s GP20, and also had a revised aerodynamic package to test on Saturday.
The session was paused briefly in the afternoon when Andrea Dovizioso crashed his Ducati, with the Italian unscathed in the off and returning to action soon after.
Another high-profile crash followed in the final hour, as Marquez went down at the fast Turn 3 right-hander.
The elder Marquez brother admitted on Friday his recently-operated-on right shoulder was worse than he expected on the bike, though still managed 47 laps on Saturday before his fall.
Soon after, Quartararo shot to the top of the times with a 1m58.572s, which went unchallenged as the chequered flag fell.
Miller remained second, 0.069 seconds adrift, while KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa posted his fastest ever lap of the Sepang circuit with a 1m58.662s to complete the top three.
Mir led the sister SRT of Franco Morbidelli, on the ‘A-spec’ Yamaha, with Maverick Vinales sixth on the 2020-spec works team M1.
Alex Rins head Pol Espargaro on the second GSX-RR, with Marquez ninth despite his crash and Valentino Rossi rounding out the top 10 on the second works Yamaha.
Aleix Espargaro was 0.652s off the pace in 11th on his Aprilia, with LCR’s Cal Crutchlow and Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci shadowing him.
Dovizioso ended up 15th following his accident, while Alex Marquez was the top rookie runner in 17th on the factory Honda, 1.089s off the pace.
Johann Zarco admitted after his first day on the Avintia Ducati that he expected to be faster than he was.
Though he found 1.3s on Saturday on the GP19 with a 1m59.825s, he was still 1.2s from top spot down in 19th.
Sepang day two times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabio Quartararo | Petronas Yamaha | Yamaha | 1m58.572s | 72 |
| 2 | Jack Miller | Pramac Ducati | Ducati | 0.069s | 51 |
| 3 | Dani Pedrosa | KTM | KTM | 0.090s | 54 |
| 4 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | Suzuki | 0.159s | 54 |
| 5 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.259s | 60 |
| 6 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.321s | 69 |
| 7 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | Suzuki | 0.406s | 63 |
| 8 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | KTM | 0.417s | 49 |
| 9 | Marc Marquez | Honda | Honda | 0.525s | 47 |
| 10 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | Yamaha | 0.544s | 60 |
| 11 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | Aprilia | 0.652s | 43 |
| 12 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | Honda | 0.675s | 64 |
| 13 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | Ducati | 0.685s | 59 |
| 14 | Francesco Bagnaia | Pramac Ducati | Ducati | 0.741s | 59 |
| 15 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati | 0.770s | 55 |
| 16 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM | KTM | 0.793s | 42 |
| 17 | Alex Marquez | Honda | Honda | 1.089s | 66 |
| 18 | Brad Binder | KTM | KTM | 1.208s | 59 |
| 19 | Johann Zarco | Avintia Ducati | Ducati | 1.253s | 51 |
| 20 | Tito Rabat | Avintia Ducati | Ducati | 1.617s | 77 |
| 21 | Sylvain Guintoli | Suzuki | Suzuki | 1.714s | 58 |
| 22 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | Honda | 1.775s | 47 |
| 23 | Iker Lecuona | KTM | KTM | 1.824s | 41 |