Recapping the second day of action from the Sepang MotoGP Test

MotoGP 2025

Sepang Test – Day Two

While Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team rider Fabio Di Giannantonio flew to Italy for surgery, his team-mate Franco Morbidelli made good progress on the GP24 to top the time-sheets at Sepang on Thursday on the 18th of his 57 laps of the Malaysian circuit. The Italian finished just ahead of Yamaha’s Quartararo while the Gresini pairing of Alex Marquez and rookie Fermin Aldeguer, both on Ducati GP24 motorcycles, came in third and fourth for the day.

Quickest of the GP25 riders was Pecco Bagnaia in fifth while tea-mate Marc Marquez had a soft crash late in the day and thus missed a time attack. Bagnaia also had a tip-off earlier in the day.  Bagnaia 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 team-mate.”

Conditions were much hotter on Thursday than they had been on the relatively cool opening day of the test. There was also a slight shower in the afternoon but it was not enough to spoil the testing schedule of most riders.

Franco Morbidelli

“It has been a great day! I have fantastic feelings on the bike and with the team. We worked a lot, trying to improve all these things we feel that I’m missing. We made many changes on the bike in order to understand the right directions. The day went well and starting like that is a great thing for all the team. We are working a lot on the setup to fine-tune my feelings on the bike, we’ll try to improve the time attack, and we keep working on some solutions to understand which moves are the right ones during the season. There’s a great atmosphere inside the garage and it’s what the team deserves”.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins continued to work through the several different items on their pre-season programme, taking 2nd and 13th place respectively on Thursday. Quartararo made his mark early on, topping the timesheets by 1100 local time with a 1’57.324s, set on only his sixth lap. The Frenchman then shifted his attention to his testing agenda, but a light drizzle in the afternoon derailed his plans. To make up for lost time, the Yamaha man made the most of the available track time going into the final hour. He completed 47 laps in total, and the fastest lap he set in the morning kept him in second place, 0.114s from first, in the Day 2 and overall Sepang Test timesheets.

Fabio Quartararo

“We are working a lot on grip, and we are trying to understand how much we can gain. We are heading in the right direction, and hopefully tomorrow we can find a bit more. I think every rider has his own riding style, and we will all have our own evaluation of the testing items and our own preferences. Today, I also tried the Michelin tyres, which were okay. So, let’s see what tomorrow will bring. I’m enjoying riding. We are trying many things at the same time. This makes setting a lap time harder, because you don’t have ‘your bike’, specifically set-up like you want it, but the team and I can be satisfied with the work we are doing.”

Though Rins had a solid first day of testing, the Spaniard was set on getting more laps in on this second-consecutive official testing day in Malaysia. He resumed his work, focusing on data gathering and evaluating new items. The Spaniard had a longer break than originally planned due to a change in the weather in the afternoon, but with the track drying fast, he was able to get back to work in the final two hours and kept at it until the countdown reached 00:00. He ended Day 2 with a 60 lap total and a 1’58.275s best time, set on lap 23, which put him in 13th place in the Day-2 results and 14th in the combined rankings, with a 1.065s margin to the top.

Alex Rins

“One day left to go! We have been testing for many days here in Malaysia, because we also did the Shakedown, but these are important days. Today was a productive day! We tested new items that we couldn’t test yesterday. I’m quite happy and feeling positive. Let’s see what we can improve tomorrow and if the weather is on our side, because it looks like it may rain. I think that tomorrow we will try to work on the base set-up and do a race simulation. Let’s keep working!”

Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP riders Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller both continued to gain confidence with their YZR-M1 machines on Thursday and finished in the top ten.  Both riders continued refining the set-up of the YZR-M1, experimenting with different chassis configurations and electronics work to improve their comfort on the bike. With increasing mileage under their belts, the focus expanded beyond set-up adjustments to long-run testing, allowing the team to analyse tyre consumption and overall bike behavior over extended distances. Miller took the opportunity to complete a Sprint simulation in the morning, while Oliveira tackled a race-distance simulation in the afternoon. However, intermittent rain forced Oliveira to split his test into two stints.

Miguel Olivera

“Today we made further progress in understanding the bike and its handling. We tested some electronic setups, exploring different configurations to help me be more consistent. In the afternoon we focused on a longer run, slightly longer than a sprint race but not as long as a full race. This session provided valuable insight and new ideas on how to prepare for a race. It was a consistent and interesting day.”

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Jack Miller

“It was a decent day for us. I am getting more and more comfortable, probably went out a little bit early in the afternoon for the fast lap, and we still have some work to do in the electronics department to find the right maps for the time attack, but apart from that I am pretty happy with the overall performance. I also did a Sprint Race in the morning with used tyres and was pretty happy with the pace and how the bike behaved. It was interesting to see how the tyres went up quite a bit more than we anticipated in terms of pressure, but it‘s good to understand these things so early. I feel more and more comfortable every time I go out on track. We have been busy these days trying out new parts, the guys have been busy working hard every night to build new bikes with everything Yamaha has brought us, and I want to thank them for their massive job. We have got a clear direction to go, obviously every new thing has some pros and cons, and we are working hard to minimize the cons and maximize the pros. As for as my riding style goes, of course I had to change it a little bit, but not massively. I am finding out that with the Yamaha you have to be patient, especially in the time attack you have to try to maximise its strenghts, you just have to trust it, but I feel that we can close the gap a little bit more.”

After an intense night of work for engineers and mechanics the positives continued for Honda HRC Castrol riders Joan Mir and Luca Marini in Sepang, Mir taking sixth and going a second faster than his Qualifying time from the 2024 Malaysian Grand Prix.  Joan Mir set a best lap of 1m57.791s, placing him comfortably inside the top ten in sixth place and only half-a-second from the Thursday benchmark set by Morbidelli. He had the potential to go faster, but the bike coughed as it ran out of fuel coming out of the last corner.

Joan Mir

“Today we worked with some engine options, it wasn’t an easy decision at the start because we had some work to do. In the morning, we worked a lot with the electronics to improve my feeling and in the afternoon, we were able to find the correct setup. I was happy and we have made a step with the ’25 bike, able to improve our lap time. I ran out of fuel in the last corner and lost about three tenths on my lap. We are very close in the time sheets, and I am really happy about this. There are still points to work on, especially when the temperature on track increases. We have one day here and two days in Buriram where I am sure it will also be hot to keep working on this. I am happy and ready for more.”

On the other side of the garage, Luca Marini completed another 56 laps with a best time of 1m58.518s. The second day of the test saw the Italian focus mostly on testing aerodynamic pieces to find the best combination of materials available but did not perform a time attach.

Luca Marini

“First, I want to say a huge thank you to my team for the work that they have done last night and today. Everyone is working really well to get through the work that we have. Today we worked mostly on the aerodynamics, trying the different parts to get the best feeling. I am satisfied with what we have done because at the end I think we have found the perfect compromise. We have better turning without losing anything on stopping or acceleration, it took us a long time to find but it is important to know this. Tomorrow, we work more on some other things – still a lot to do but I am happy with our work.”

Johann Zarco and his Castrol Honda LCR crew meticulously compared different options and conducted numerous runs to gather the maximum information. After completing 54 laps, he finished less than a second behind the day’s benchmark set by Morbidelli.

Johann Zarco

“Today, we tested new things on aerodynamics, and it was good to do so because we have some clear feedback. During the day, we made many changes, allowing us to have some references. I could improve as the laps went by, and they were good laps. I’ve noticed better behavior on the rear side of the bike, which is positive”.

The fastest KTM rider on Thursday, despite a crash and some technical issues, was Pedro Acosta. The youngster’s 1m57.805 good enough to rank seventh, three-tenths ahead of team-mate Brad Binder, while the new Red Bull KTM Tech3 due of Maverick Viñales and Enea Bastianini continued to adapt to the RC16.

Maverick Viñales

“We are trying to learn the bike, how it works, how it behaves so we have been doing all this background work today, which is really important for us at the moment, more than trying to get the fastest lap. This bike feels nice to ride, I have enjoyed it again today, and I know that day after day we will understand it more and more. For now, we are really focused on this, so let’s continue working in that direction tomorrow.”

Enea Bastianini also tried a different engine, chassis settings, a new Michelin front-tyre

Enea Bastianini

“The adaptation is slow, because this morning, we tried to do something different, but we did not see changes. However, in the afternoon, we made other changes, we tried new parts on the bike, and I think it worked well, this was the start of my progress let’s say. Lap after lap we were feeling more confident , and I can be happy at the end of the day. However, I am also aware that we still have a lot of work to do, because I am not really fast with the time attacks. This bike is very different to what I had last year, so I have to learn it and do many laps. Tomorrow will be important as it is our last day, but I am feeling confident that we will continue doing good work.”

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi continued the process of adaptation to the RS-GP25, reiterating his positive feelings. On the other side of the box, Lorenzo Savadori picked up where he left off on the development programme that began during the shakedown, this time riding the injured Jorge Martín’s bike.

Marco Bezzecchi

“It was an important day, and we did well. We are continuing to work on a number of different aspects of the electronics and the aerodynamics, as well as various new elements of the RS-GP25. On this, the second day, we achieved some good results, so I’m very happy. Clearly we still have a lot to test, but we’ve got another day and we’ll try to make the most of it. It’s a real shame about Jorge’s injury, I hope he’s back in the box soon.”

Lorenzo Savadori

“We’re pushing ahead with the development work, especially in terms of aerodynamics and electronics. These aspects take a lot of time, including in terms of performance, because we have to find the best way to move forwards, and there are still so many elements to be tested. All the best to Jorge and Raúl for a speedy recovery.”

Trackhouse Aprilia rookie Ai Ogura ran throughout the day, completing a program of tyre evaluations and set-up configurations over differing run distances. The plan to simulate a full Grand Prix distance, uninterrupted, was ultimately unachievable as light rain drops came and went in the latter part of the day. However, the young Japanese rider put in another strong day, gaining more seat time and greater appreciation of the Trackhouse Aprilia RS-GP25 handling characteristics.

Ai Ogura

“It was another good day. We have been focusing on long distance and have been working with used tyres for most of the day and now I understand the tire much more than before. We also did a race simulation where I was much faster than during the one we ran at the Shakedown test. I imagine it’s a normal step to improve for a rookie and I’m happy about how this day went. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. We keep working.”

Rookie Somkiat Chantra admitted feeling better on the bike and getting used to all the new things he needed to incorporate in his riding style to adapt to the category.

Somkiat Chantra

“I’m happy because today I’ve reduced the gap with the fastest riders, which is positive. We had something different to try, and as the laps went by, I could feel better on the bike. We’ve also tried a new setup that has given me a better feeling with the bike’s front end. I still struggle with the direction changes, but I’m working hard to improve in that area“.

After the heavy fall that Raul Fernandez suffered on the opening day of the test, which resulted in fractures of the metacarpal bone in his left hand and to the little toe on his left foot – he was admitted to hospital in Barcelona on Thursday under the care of Dr. Mir, the medical team have taken X-rays which confirmed the need for surgery on his left hand and Raul undersent that surgical procedure this morning.

Jorge Martín, who fractured his right hand as well as sustaining fractures in his left foot on Wednesday, will also undergo surgery today at the Clinica Quirón Dexeus in Barcelona.

Fabio Di Giannantonio flew back to Italy for surgery on his broken collarbone after also crashing on Wednesday.

The Sepang Test finishes up on Friday. The MotoGP paddock then heads to Thailand for a two-day test next week ahead of the season opener at Chang International Circuit on the weekend of March 2.  Moto2 and Moto3 riders will test at Jerez later this month.

Sepang Test Times
Day Two

Combined