Fabio Quartararo was fastest for the second consecutive day in Malaysia ahead of Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller.
On a day where the weather took a back seat, the Petronas rider once again showed his unrelenting speed with a best lap of 1:58.572s.
Quartararo’s hot pace on day one was with the 2019 spec Yamaha, but day two saw the 20 year-old on the new YZR-M1 2020 machine.
Before taking over top spot, it was Miller who was leading the timesheets for a short period and was yet again the fastest Ducati rider just like day one.
The Australian eventually finished just +0.069s down as track time concluded with Dani Pedrosa +0.090s back in third.
It was a brilliant day for the Factory KTM Team, with Pedrosa completing his fastest lap ever at the Malaysian venue.
Pol Espargaro was quick to praise the work done by Pedorsa after completing almost a half century of laps himself.
The Spaniard ended his day’s running in eighth, while teammate Brad Binder made further steps forward after improving his lap time by eight tenths from day one.
The Tech 3 team’s focus was much of the same for Miguel Oliveira on his comeback from injury. The Portuguese rider completed 42 laps in an attempt to get as much track time as possible, while Iker Lecuona managed just one lap less but did suffer a crash.
Lecuona’s lap time of 2:00.396s put him 23rd and over a second down on Oliveira’s best time in 16th.
Yesterday was a good day for Suzuki with Alex Rins in third, but today it was the turn of Joan Mir to impress with fourth place and a lap of 1:58.978s. Mir completed 54 laps while Rins was even busier posting 63.
Both riders were working on the new chassis for the Japanese team along with test rider Sylvain Guintoli.
Regarding the chassis work, Mir cited it as a balance of ‘positive and negatives’ but that the work was a step in the ‘right direction’.
Rins finished the day just over two tenths back from Mir, while Guintoli produced 58 laps taking the team’s total to 175.
Fifth was Franco Morbidelli for Petronas Yamaha ahead of Maverick Vinales in sixth for the second time in as many days.
The Monster Energy Yamaha rider competed another 69 laps, but just like day one suffered a crash.
Just like Vinales, Valentino Rossi finished the day in tenth as he did day one. The Italian managed 60 laps, and continued to work with three different machines.
It was a much better day for the Repsol Honda team and in particular Marc Marquez who was three laps short of 50 for the day.
Marquez also shaved just under half a second off his time from yesterday with a 1:59.097s, which was +0.525s down on Quartararo.
The reigning champion did have a small off at turn 3, but was fine although the bike was not.
Alex Marquez was once again top rookie, and made more progress on his 2020 Honda. Cal Cruthlow was the second fastest Honda and completed 64 laps for the LCR team.
Takaaki Nakagami’s comeback from shoulder surgery was another difficult day as he finished 21st with 47 laps.
Ducati had a similar day to yesterday with both riders outside the top ten. Danilo Petrucci was 13th and Andrea Dovizioso two places further back.
Like Marc and Vinales, Dovizioso also had a fall which came at turn six. Both men put in nearly 60 laps as did Francesco Bagnaia who split the two Ducati Team riders in 14th.
It was a slightly better day for Johann Zarco on his Reale Avintia machine as he improved his lap time by half a second.
The Frenchman confirmed he expected to be ‘faster’ than he’s been so far, while Tito Rabat on the other bike was one place back and three tenths off the two-time Moto2 champion’s time.
Aprilia’s new 90 degree V4 ended the day in 11th place through Aleix Espargaro. Bradley Smith managed 61 laps on the other side of the garage.
The final day of the test takes place Sunday, as riders and teams look to gather further information ahead of the Jerez test.
