2025 Official Sepang MotoGP test: Franco Morbidelli tops day two, Marc Marquez crashes
VR46 Ducati rider leads the way on Thursday in Malaysia
Franco Morbidelli guided his VR46-run Ducati GP24 to top spot on day two of the 2025 Sepang MotoGP test, as factory counterpart Marc Marquez suffered a late crash.
After a dramatic opening day on Wednesday that saw reigning world champion Jorge Martin, Trackhouse Racing’s Raul Fernandez and VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio ruled out through injury, Thursday appeared much more calm.
Morbidelli annexed the top of the timesheets for much of the day, taking over top spot in the second hour with a 1m57.210s.
That lap, despite a late time attack effort on fresh rubber from Morbidelli, would go unchallenged as the chequered flag brought the session to a close at 6pm local time.
Morbidelli, who will continue to race the GP24 he rode last year, headed former Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo.
The 2021 world champion continued to look strong on the M1, with Quartararo jumping up to second late on with a 1m57.324s.
Gresini Racing duo Alex Marquez and rookie team-mate Fermin Aldeguer were third and fourth on their GP24s.
Aldeguer only did 26 laps on Thursday, having taken part in the shakedown, with his Gresini team electing to bench him early as not let him overstep the mark.
Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia completed the top five.
Bagnaia managed 42 laps in Thursday with a best time of 1m57.652s, though did have a small off earlier in the day.
Both factory Ducati team riders found the gravel trap across Thursday, with Bagnaia’s team-mate Marc Marquez taking a tumble in the closing 15 minutes of the session.
The eight-time grand prix world champion was unharmed in the accident and was 14th on a 1m58.447s, having been unable to complete the personal best lap he was on at the time of his fall.
Joan Mir was once again sixth on the factory Honda, while Pedro Acosta - who crashed on Thursday - was the leading KTM rider in seventh ahead of Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira.
Marco Bezzecchi was the leading Aprilia in ninth on a 1m57.995s, having improved from a 1m59.207s on Thursday on his new factory RS-GP.
Jack Miller completed the top 10 on the sister Pramac Yamaha, with the Australian seen evaluating a new Yamaha chassis on day two of the official test.
Michele Pirro has been drafted in to replace Di Giannantonio and was 21st after 46 laps, while Aprilia put Lorenzo Savadori on track in Martin’s absence.
The Italian was last on the timesheets after 51 laps.
