ÁLEX MÁRQUEZ LEADS FINAL DAY OF SEPANG TESTS AHEAD OF BEZZECCHI
The 2025 MotoGP runner-up, Spanish rider Álex Márquez, finished the Sepang pre-season tests on top on Thursday. Riding for Gresini Ducati, he set the fastest time of the three-day test in Malaysia. The day also marked Yamaha’s return after fixing recent problems with its new V4 engine.
Álex set the pace with a best lap of 1:56.402 on his Ducati GP26, which has factory-level updates. He clearly beat the time set on Wednesday by fellow Spaniard Joan Mir from Honda, who had clocked a 1:56.874.
His lap was also very close to the all-time Sepang record of 1:56.337. That record was set by Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia during qualifying for the 2024 Malaysian Grand Prix, also on a Ducati.
Wednesday’s session was heavily affected by rain, so riders did not waste time on Thursday morning. With good track conditions, many riders went out early on soft tires to set fast laps.
Italian rider Fabio di Giannantonio from VR46 Ducati was the first to break into the 1:56 range. Álex Márquez soon went faster and took the lead.
As the day went on and track temperatures rose, teams switched focus to sprint race simulations. Even so, Álex’s lap time stayed unbeaten until the end of the day. He also had the best average pace in long runs.
Ducati looked set to lock out the top four spots, but Italian rider Marco Bezzecchi from Aprilia spoiled the plan late in the session. With just 15 minutes to go, he jumped to second place with a lap of 1:56.526.
That pushed di Giannantonio down to third. Behind him were the factory Ducati riders: reigning champion Marc Márquez and Pecco Bagnaia.
Seven-time MotoGP champion Marc Márquez crashed at Turn 1 earlier in the day. He recovered and set a 1:56.789 lap, just four thousandths of a second slower than di Giannantonio.
Italian-Brazilian rider Franco Morbidelli, also from VR46 Ducati, finished sixth on last year’s GP25 bike. Raúl Fernández from Trackhouse Aprilia was seventh, while Pedro Acosta was the top KTM rider in eighth. Joan Mir placed ninth for Honda, and Enea Bastianini from Tech3 KTM completed the top ten.
Yamaha returned to the track after finishing an investigation into an engine issue. The problem had forced Fabio Quartararo to stop on track on Tuesday. As a safety step, Yamaha skipped Wednesday’s running while checking the new V4 engine.
With 2021 world champion Quartararo out due to a broken finger from Tuesday’s crash, Spaniard Álex Rins was the fastest Yamaha. He finished 12th, more than one second slower than Álex Márquez.
Pramac Yamaha rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu ended the day in 18th place on the new M1. He finished one position ahead of the only other rookie in the field, Brazilian rider Diogo Moreira from LCR Honda, who was 19th.
The MotoGP grid will be back on track on February 21 and 22 for the pre-season tests in Buriram, Thailand, which will also host the first race of the year at the end of the month.
Results of day 3:
- Álex Márquez (Gresini Racing) – 1:56.402
- Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) – +0.124
- Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Racing Team) – +0.383
- Marc Márquez (Ducati Team) – +0.387
- Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Team) – +0.527
- Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Racing Team) – +0.728
- Raúl Fernández (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) – +0.843
- Pedro Acosta (KTM Factory Racing) – +0.851
- Joan Mir (Honda HRC) – +0.866
- Enea Bastianini (KTM Tech3) – +0.888
- Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) – +0.924
- Álex Rins (Yamaha MotoGP Team) – +1.178
- Brad Binder (KTM Factory Racing) – +1.188
- Maverick Viñales (KTM Tech3) – +1.197
- Johann Zarco (Honda LCR) – +1.199
- Luca Marini (Honda HRC) – +1.403
- Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) – +1.754
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) – +1.924
- Diogo Moreira (Honda LCR) – +2.074
- Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) – +2.500
- Augusto Fernández (Yamaha Factory Racing) – +2.876
- Andrea Dovizioso (Yamaha Factory Racing) – no time set
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