Quartararo fastest again in Sepang, Marquez crashes

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.

Quartararo 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, having 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 held onto second, 0.069s 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 second Petronas Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli, with Maverick Vinales sixth on the 2020-spec works team M1.

Alex Rins headed Pol Espargaro on the second Suzuki, with Marquez ninth despite his crash and Valentino Rossi rounding out the top 10 on the second factory Yamaha.

Aleix Espargaro was just 0.652s off the pace in 11th on his Aprilia, with LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow and Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci shadowing.

Dovizioso ended up 15th following his accident, while Alex Marquez was top rookie runner in 17th on the factory Honda – some 1.089s off the pace.

Avintia rider Johann Zarco found 1.3s on Saturday on the Ducati GP19 with a 1m59.825s, but he was still 1.6s from top spot down in 19th. 

Testing times (Day 2):

Pos.	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Delay	Laps
1	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1'58.572		72
2	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'58.641	0.069	51
3	26	Dani Pedrosa	KTM	1'58.662	0.090	54
4	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'58.731	0.159	54
5	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1'58.831	0.259	59
6	12	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	1'58.893	0.321	69
7	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'58.978	0.406	63
8	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'58.989	0.417	49
9	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'59.097	0.525	47
10	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'59.116	0.544	60
11	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'59.224	0.652	43
12	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'59.247	0.675	64
13	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'59.257	0.685	59
14	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'59.313	0.741	59
15	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'59.342	0.770	55
16	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1'59.365	0.793	42
17	73	Alex Marquez	Honda	1'59.661	1.089	66
18	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1'59.780	1.208	59
19	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1'59.825	1.253	51
20	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	2'00.189	1.617	77
21	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Suzuki	2'00.286	1.714	58
22	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	2'00.347	1.775	47
23	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	2'00.396	1.824	41
24	92	Yamaha test bike	Yamaha	2'00.791	2.219	35
25	90	Yamaha test bike	Yamaha	2'00.920	2.348	44
26	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	2'01.119	2.547	61