The second day of MotoGP testing at the Malaysian Sepang circuit brought records. In just nine laps, Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP24) had already beaten the circuit time, held since 2023 by the Italian ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (1:57.491). However, at the end of the day, the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati Desmosedici GP24) even further pulverized the mark, beating the Spaniard by 139 thousandths by lapping in 1:57.134.
Marc Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP23) was the rider who completed the most laps by far (72), which clearly explains his approach to getting to know his new bike as much as possible after eleven seasons as a Honda rider. The six-time MotoGP world champion came in 14th position and set a best time of 1:58.118, better than his fastest times with Honda.
One of the most important data of the day was how quickly almost all the drivers started the second day, with up to eleven participants lapping in the first hour of the session in the same second as the world runner-up.
After that brilliant start to the session, the situation calmed down and the drivers began to test many of the new elements made available to them by factories and teams to assess their performance, especially in regards to aerodynamics.
Brad Binder finished in third position, ahead of Aleix Espargaró (4), ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (5), Fabio di Giannantonio (6), Alex Márquez (7), Pedro Acosta (8), Marco Bezzecchi (9) and Joan Mir (10).
Quartararo finished in eleventh position, just ahead of his compatriot Johann Zarco (12), second Honda in the time table after Joan Mir, with Alex Rins and his new Yamaha YZR M 1 in thirteenth position.
If something is becoming clear again in these first official MotoGP tests, it is that Ducati continues to be the reference of the category in terms of prototypes and that Jorge Martín is the fittest rider.
