Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez ended the three-day pre-season MotoGP test at Sepang fastest, as Ducati and Yamaha confirmed themselves as the two big winners of the event.
The younger Marquez - something of a Sepang specialist - showed how potent last year's Ducati still is by logging a 1m56.493s, a tenth and a half back from the venue lap record.
This was in contrast to last year when the older-spec Ducatis, while still competitive, were all already considerably adrift of the newer Desmosedicis.
This time, works Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia was 0.007s back - while team-mate Marc Marquez, though half a second off the pace over a single lap, raised eyebrows with an extremely potent sprint race simulation in the latter stages of the day.
The only other rider to manage a comparably-competitive 'sprint' - with higher peaks but slightly less pace consistency - was in fact Alex Marquez, both ending up on a 1m57.9s average across the 10-lap distance.
The morning of the third day of testing was earmarked by most as an optimum time to go for a qualifying simulation of sorts, meaning the picture on the timing sheets will be at least partly representative - which is fantastic news for Yamaha.
Best times of Sepang MotoGP test
1. Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) - 1m56.493s
2. Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) - 1m56.500s
3. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) - 1m56.724s
4. Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) - 1m56.948s
5. Marc Marquez (Ducati) - 1m57.042s
Full day 3 times at bottom of article
The Yamaha M1's trajectory through the test was maintained to the very end - as Fabio Quartararo logged the third-best time, remarkably just two tenths off the test pace and much faster than Yamaha had lapped here in the past.
Yamaha's new boss Paolo Pavesio - replacing the retiring Lin Jarvis - described the test performance as a "first brick on the new house we are building".
Pedro Acosta was the best of the KTMs in sixth - while his stablemates didn't make much of an impression in terms of single-lap pace - while Johann Zarco in the best of the Hondas, stablemate Joan Mir and Marco Bezzecchi in the best of the Aprilias slotted in right behind him.
Rookie Fermin Aldeguer, one of the standouts of the first two days of testing, couldn't quite maintain his frontrunning pace in pure performance single-lap trim, but did end up a respectable 11th anyway.
The Gresini rider's fellow debutants Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) both likewise ended up on slower but respectable laptimes compared to their more experienced counterparts.
The MotoGP pre-season will resume in Thailand at Buriram in less than a week's time, with the three riders ruled out through injury on the opening day at Sepang - reigning champion Jorge Martin, Raul Fernandez and Fabio Di Giannantonio - all in massive doubt to take part.
FULL DAY 3 STANDINGS
1 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) 1m56.493s
2 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) 1m56.500s
3 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) 1m56.724s
4 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) 1m56.948s
5 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 1m57.042s
6 Pedro Acosta (KTM) 1m57.175s
7 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) 1m57.204s
8 Joan Mir (Honda) 1m57.279s
9 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 1m57.328s
10 Alex Rins (Yamaha) 1m57.351s
11 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) 1m57.401s
12 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) 1m57.452s
13 Brad Binder (KTM) 1m57.614s
14 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) 1m57.754s
15 Luca Marini (Honda) 1m57.789s
16 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) 1m57.865s
17 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) 1m57.960s
18 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) 1m58.011s
19 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) 1m58.129s
20 Michele Pirro (Ducati) 1m59.121s
21 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) 1m59.169s
22 Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha) 1m59.929s
