In the morning session Pramac Ducati rider Martin, who headed the opening day of action at Sepang, was the first rider under the existing lap record with a 1m57.273s, fending off a challenge from KTM’s Brad Binder.
But in the final hour of the day’s track running, Bastianini lit up the timing screen with a 1m57.134s to edge ahead of Martin and get within touching distance of a potential 1m56s lap.
Binder took third overall ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Ducati world champion Francesco Bagnaia. Fabio Di Giannantonio took sixth as he adapted to life at the VR46 Ducati squad, with Alex Marquez seventh for Gresini.
Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta continued gathering hype around his premier class debut, with the GasGas Tech3 rider slotting into eighth and just under six-tenths off the outright pace. The 19-year-old also suffered a small crash at Turn 9 midway through the morning session, but was able to continue.
VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, Honda’s Joan Mir and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ensured the top 11 riders all lapped within the 1m57s mark, as the Frenchman demonstrated some chart-topping top speed from the new YZR-M1 package.
Source: Autosport