Viñales fastest by half a second on Day 2 of Sepang test

More than half a second separated Monster Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales from the rest of the field on Day 2 of the Sepang pre-season MotoGP test, while Jack Miller was third-fastest.

Viñales’ fastest lap of 1:58.897s came very late in the afternoon, knocking Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins off top spot by 0.527s.

Rins’ personal best also came in the latter stages of the eight-hour session when he dislodged Mission Winnow Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso from first position.

Miller was also among the late flurry on his Pramac Ducati and lapped within a tenth of Rins but 0.620s away from Viñales’ benchmark.

Dovizioso had been the first rider to better the fastest lap of Day 1, a 1:59.621s set by Marc Marquez, but was shuffled back to fourth by day’s end.

LCR’s Cal Crutchlow, two days back from injury, was fastest Honda rider on Day 2 in fifth despite a crash, after which he was reportedly okay.

Valentino Rossi (Monster Yamaha) was sixth and Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati) seventh, while Marquez was eighth on his Repsol Honda with another relatively light load of 37 laps after off-season shoulder surgery.

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) rounded out the top 10, with Johann Zarco 11th on his Red Bull KTM Factory bike.

Zarco’s team-mate Pol Espargaro was largely unscathed despite a tumble at Turn 1 and took 17th.

Aleix Espargaro led the way for Gresini Aprilia in 13th position after an early race simulation.

The test concludes tomorrow.

Pre-season testing: Sepang: Day 2

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time	Gap 1st/Prev	Laps
1	12	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:58.897		62/63
2	42	Alex RINS	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:59.424	0.527/0.527	58/61
3	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:59.517	0.620/0.093	48/49
4	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Mission Winnow Ducati	Ducati	1:59.562	0.665/0.045	19/60
5	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1:59.566	0.669/0.004	14/53
6	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:59.625	0.728/0.059	8/51
7	53	Tito RABAT	ESP	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1:59.664	0.767/0.039	74/75
8	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:59.790	0.893/0.126	5/37
9	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Mission Winnow Ducati	Ducati	1:59.845	0.948/0.055	11/65
10	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1:59.966	1.069/0.121	57/60
11	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:59.973	1.076/0.007	56/58
12	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:59.995	1.098/0.022	51/52
13	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	2:00.101	1.204/0.106	9/54
14	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	2:00.108	1.211/0.007	11/58
15	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	2:00.151	1.254/0.043	56/58
16	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	Honda Test Team	Honda	2:00.230	1.333/0.079	25/59
17	44	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	2:00.305	1.408/0.075	66/67
18	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	2:00.510	1.613/0.205	21/39
19	66	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Test Team	KTM	2:00.523	1.626/0.013	4/41
20	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	2:00.672	1.775/0.149	7/61
21	36	Joan MIR	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	2:00.876	1.979/0.204	17/64
22	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	2:01.245	2.348/0.369	9/56
23	31	Yamaha TEST 1	JPN	Yamaha Test Team	Yamaha	2:01.406	2.509/0.161	15/42
24	50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Suzuki Test Team	Suzuki	2:01.654	2.757/0.248	3/45
25	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAS	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	2:01.859	2.962/0.205	39/53
26	32	Yamaha TEST 2	JPN	Yamaha Test Team	Yamaha	2:02.989	4.092/1.130	8/16
27	85	Takuya TSUDA	JPN	Suzuki Test Team	Suzuki	2:03.276	4.379/0.287	17/22