Sepang MotoGP testing: Quartararo fastest again after Marquez fall - autosport.com

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 1.6s 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