Joan Mir Tops Sepang Day 2

Honda star dips into the 1.56 bracket as technical issues keep Yamaha sidelined

Sepang’s Day 2 MotoGP test delivered a bit of everything: an early dash for lap time, a lunchtime reset, a busy start to the afternoon, then classic Malaysian weather rolling in to scramble the final hours, all while Yamaha’s garage remained the major storyline.

Running began briskly, with Fabio Di Giannantonio first to head out in the morning, followed by Pedro Acosta, Maverick Viñales and Brad Binder. The lap times quickly tumbled and, by mid-morning, the paddock was on full “are we going to see 1:56s?” watch. The answer arrived when Joan Mir lit up the timing screens with a 1:56.874 for Honda HRC Castrol — the benchmark that would stand to the end of the day.

Mir didn’t have that 1:56 bracket to himself for long. At 11:01 Franco Morbidelli hauled the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Ducati to within 0.109s of Mir’s pace, making it a two-man 1:56 club before the day settled into a more measured rhythm. By lunchtime, Mir and Morbidelli still sat 1-2, and they would remain the only riders to break into the 1:56s in the final classification.

The afternoon threatened a lull before Francesco Bagnaia got things moving again, triggering the expected late-day flurry as more bikes fired up for the final two-and-a-half hours. But Sepang had other ideas. After a spell in which Alex Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi and Viñales took over up front at various moments, rain arrived mid-afternoon — not a full Sepang downpour at first, but enough to quieten pitlane. A heavier burst followed soon after, leaving the circuit properly wet despite a few teasing rays of sun.

That changing weather shone an even brighter light on the day’s big absentee: Yamaha. With the Iwata marque halting its programme as it chased a technical issue from the previous afternoon, none of its remaining riders (with Quartararo out with a broken finger) turned a lap on day 2. A bitter blow indeed with the brand-new V4 needing as much development time as possible and MotoGP rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu missing valuable seat time.

When the spray settled and the clocks stopped, the order reflected the morning’s best laps. Mir’s Honda led Morbidelli’s Ducati by 0.109s, with Di Giannantonio third (+0.175). KTM’s strongest times came from Acosta in fourth (+0.242) and Viñales in fifth (+0.252), while Aprilia was headed by Bezzecchi in sixth (+0.267). Raúl Fernandez put a second Aprilia seventh (+0.400), Bagnaia ended eighth on the factory Ducati (+0.428), Ai Ogura was ninth for Trackhouse Aprilia (+0.502), and Enea Bastianini completed the top ten on the Tech3 KTM (+0.676). Further back, Alex Marquez was classified 12th on the Gresini Ducati (+0.790) after an earlier Turn 5 crash left his machine looking second-hand but him unhurt.

Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol)
“I think we have to be happy about the lap time today! This morning, I was feeling quite strong and I was able to push for a good lap, my confidence is growing and this translates to what we saw today with the new tyre. Today we focused on the lap time in the morning before getting back to the puzzle of testing after. Tomorrow, we need to make another step and make up for the time we lost to the rain. At the moment I am happy with what we’ve done but there will also be a lot of work to do after the test.” 

2026 SEPANG TEST DAY 2 TIMES