Sepang MotoGP: Quartararo obliterates lap record to top FP2 - autosport.com

Petronas SRT Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo dominated MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix FP2 by six tenths with the first official 1m58s lap of the Sepang circuit.

Having lowered the official MotoGP benchmark to a 1m59.027s in this morning's first 45-minute session, Quartararo was in record-breaking form again in second practice.

Not only did he become the first rider under the 1m59s on a race weekend, he did it comfortably with a stunning 1m58.576s set in the latter stages.

With Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso six-tenths back with a 1m206s, Quartararo now has the two fastest lap at the Sepang circuit to his name.

Valentino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli (SRT) capped off a promising day for Yamaha, finishing up third and fourth after running fresh soft rears late in the session.

Jack Miller was fifth on the Pramac Ducati, despite being over a second off the pace, followed by Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and LCR's Cal Crutchlow.

Francesco Bagnaia was eighth quickest, however his 1m59.774s wasn't good enough to leave him sitting on an automatic passage to Q2 on the sister Pramac bike.

Maverick Vinales ended up back in ninth, the Yamaha rider having been fastest with just 12 minutes to go. He was first into the 1m59s too, only to be swamped by the late pack of late improvers.

Another rider that failed to make an impact late in the session was early pacesetter Marc Marquez.

The world champion set to his best lap, a 2m00.215s, just 12 minutes in, before sinking to 13th by the finish. The Honda rider still sits in an automatic Q2 spot, though, thanks to his FP1 time.

Miguel Oliveira, meanwhile, was a no-show in that session, the Tech3 rider out for the remainder of the weekend after struggling with his Phillip Island injuries in this morning's first practice.

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Fabio Quartararo	Petronas Yamaha	Yamaha	1m58.576s	-	16
2	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Ducati	1m59.206s	0.630s	17
3	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m59.284s	0.708s	17
4	Franco Morbidelli	Petronas Yamaha	Yamaha	1m59.502s	0.926s	15
5	Jack Miller	Pramac Ducati	Ducati	1m59.593s	1.017s	16
6	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	Aprilia	1m59.707s	1.131s	14
7	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	Honda	1m59.711s	1.135s	16
8	Francesco Bagnaia	Pramac Ducati	Ducati	1m59.774s	1.198s	16
9	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m59.845s	1.269s	18
10	Alex Rins	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m59.849s	1.273s	17
11	Joan Mir	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m59.984s	1.408s	19
12	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	Ducati	2m00.057s	1.481s	16
13	Marc Marquez	Honda	Honda	2m00.215s	1.639s	16
14	Johann Zarco	LCR Honda	Honda	2m00.268s	1.692s	15
15	Karel Abraham	Avintia Ducati	Ducati	2m00.477s	1.901s	15
16	Pol Espargaro	KTM	KTM	2m00.658s	2.082s	14
17	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	Honda	2m00.705s	2.129s	16
18	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	Aprilia	2m01.190s	2.614s	9
19	Mika Kallio	KTM	KTM	2m02.017s	3.441s	16
20	Hafizh Syahrin	Tech3 KTM	KTM	2m02.429s	3.853s	14