Fabio Quartararo ended the second day of MotoGP testing at Qatar back in control for Yamaha.
Quartararo had fallen down the order a little yesterday, but took the top spot from Suzuki rider Alex Rins on Sunday in what was a strong day for the Yamaha factory.
Quartararo was 0.162 seconds clear at the end of seven hours of track time, setting his time late on in the evening at the Losail International Circuit despite also being the first man on track this morning.
He led a strong day for Yamaha, with factory rider Maverick Viñales very content in third and Quartararo’s satellite teammate Franco Morbidelli in fourth. Valentino Rossi was ninth on the fourth of their machines.
Rins was second for Suzuki after topping the order yesterday while teammate Joan Mir – who took second himself on Saturday – was involved in a small crash and managed seventh overall.
Pecco Bagnaia was a surprise performer for Ducati, top Italian machine in fifth and delighted with both race pace and time attack speed. He led a shock performance for Johann Zarco as he jumped up the timesheets to sixth for his best day yet at Avintia Ducati.
Andrea Dovizioso was the top factory machine for Ducati in eighth, with his teammate Danilo Petrucci outside the top ten again in 12th.
Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the top ten for Honda – and is likely to have done little to dissuade the factory of their issues.
The only rider on the 2019 machine, reigning champion Marc Marquez was 14th as Honda continue to struggle with the latest machine.
Alex Marquez was 19th as he continues to recover from flu, while Cal Crutchlow’s struggles worsened with a crash and 21st on the timesheets.
