Honda leads rain-hit Day 2 as engine issues sideline Yamaha

Joan Mir put Honda on top on the second day of MotoGP pre-season testing at Sepang, as Yamaha sat out the action to investigate an engine issue. 

While riders were keen to preserve their limited allocation of soft tyres for the final day of the test, it didn’t take long for lap times to tumble once the track opened at 9am.

Less than an hour into the session, Mir beat Marc Marquez’s benchmark from Tuesday, climbing to the top spot on the timesheets with a 1m56.874s.

VR46’s Franco Morbidelli also managed to break the 1m57s barrier shortly afterwards to slot into second place, with team-mate Fabio di Giannantonio grabbing third place early aboard his Ducati GP26.

Further improvements had been expected in the afternoon, but a brief yet intense rain shower at 4pm left the track too wet for slick tyres. Although some riders ventured out afterwards, the top of the leaderboard remained unchanged.

Mir’s morning lap therefore stood as the quickest of the day, leaving the Honda rider ahead of VR46 duo Morbidelli and Di Giannantonio, who both finished within two tenths of his time.

After failing to complete a time attack on Tuesday, KTM’s star rider Pedro Acosta was classified fourth on the timesheets, leading the same-spec RC16 of Tech3 rider Maverick Vinales.

Marco Bezzecchi finished a solid sixth for Aprilia, with Trackhouse riders Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura not far behind in seventh and eighth positions.

Fernandez and Ogura were separated by Francesco Bagnaia, who led the factory Ducati’s charge in eighth as team-mate Marquez finished a low-key 15th.

Alex Marquez was the first rider to crash on Wednesday, with the Gresini rider going down at Turn 5. The Spaniard was able to return to the track later and set the fastest time of the afternoon session, but the track conditions meant he ended up 12th in the overall standings — behind Tech3’s Enea Bastianini and the second factory Honda of Luca Marini.

Only 17 riders took to the track at Sepang, with Yamaha deciding to sit out the day to get to the bottom of the issue that forced Fabio Quartararo to stop on track on Tuesday afternoon. This problem was unrelated to the crash he sustained earlier in the day, and which ultimately led to him withdrawing from the remainder of the test.

Yamaha itself will decide on Thursday morning whether it will return to the track for the final day. The Iwata-based manufacturer has developed a new V4 engine for 2026 as it looks to reverse its recent struggles in MotoGP.

Sepang MotoGP test — Day 2 Results:

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— The Motorsport.com Team