Thursday proves a less dramatic day but one with a few interesting tidbits as Yamaha and Honda remain strong, and Ducati have some ups and downs.
Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) tops Day 2 of the Sepang Test with a 1:57.210, with nine riders joining the 1:57 club on Thursday. Next up was Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), fastest at the Shakedown and yesterday, finishing up 0.114 off the top.
Two more Yamahas were in the top ten again too, Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) in P8, teammate Jack Miller in P10 and Alex Rins only a couple of tenths further back in P13 for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP.
Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) was 0.016 off Quartararo in third. His teammate Fermin Aldeguer is one of the most notably consistent stories of testing so far too. He was quick again on Thursday and fourth overall, only 0.205 off Morbidelli. Notable considering the #21 rode the Ducati GP24 last season too.
Fifth was Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), after the two-time Champion was further down the order on Day 1. He was notably happy with the day’s work despite a crash on Thursday too, a low side and low drama slide at Turn 15. Teammate Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) also crashed, him at Turn 9 later in the day, after also having had a tech problem at Turn 2. He was further down the timesheets too, in P14. However, Bagnaia also said the two absolutely agree on their feedback: “Honestly, it’s incredible that for the first time in my career, I have exactly the same feeling as my teammate.” Interesting.
Joan Mir put Honda HRC Castrol in sixth again on Thursday, despite losing his best lap thus far with running out of fuel. His lap was also quicker than Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) in Q2 in the GP here last year. Zarco was P12 today and Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) P15, with rookie Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda LCR) a bit further back but making some steps. There’s a lot to see there as the Japanese giants look to make a big step forward this season.
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was P7, a move up from Wednesday, despite missing a bit of track time in the morning after a crash and then an issue. The seat unit, meanwhile, is now on all four factory bikes, those of Acosta and teammate Brad Binder. Binder was P11 on Thursday. Maverick Viñales was P16, just thousandths ahead of new Red Bull KTM Tech3 teammate Enea Bastianini, who also had some fuel tank modifications aimed at his adaptation.
At Aprilia, Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) was in the top ten on Day 2 after Aprilia’s dramatic start to the test, now leading the way with development as teammate Jorge Martin and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) are sidelined. On that note, the Noale factory also fielded test rider Lorenzo Savadori, and they do have rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) fast gaining experience too.
That’s it from a lot calmer Thursday. There’s one final push on Friday to try and set some new records… join us for more from 10am local time again!
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