SEPANG, Feb 24 — World champion Marc Marquez was the fastest rider at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit today, day two of the second round of pre-season MotoGP winter testing.

The Spaniard had little to shout about yesterday after experiencing braking problems. But he was top of the time sheets today, revving his Honda to clock in at 1 minute and 59.844 seconds on his 22nd lap.

Marquez in 2013 became the youngest rider ever to take the world title and the first rookie to win in 35 years.

Trailing behind the Spaniard was Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo at 1 minute and 59.902 seconds, while his team mate Valentino Rossi was sixth fastest, 0.464 seconds behind Marquez.

Both Yamaha riders are testing out a new seamless shift gearbox introduced yesterday.

Ducati debuted its new GP15 bikes at Sepang, with Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone putting the machines through their paces.

Iannone was third fastest, behind Marquez by 0.254 seconds, while Dovizioso took the fourth spot, clocking in at 2 minutes and 0.250 seconds.

Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was the fifth fastest rider with a lead gap of 0.431 seconds.

Riders had to cope with fierce tropical heat. Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro tweeted: “Extremely hot out there!! After 4 laps, even with a camelback you feel like a cake inside the oven!!”

The three days of testing ends tomorrow.

The new season officially kicks off in Qatar on March 29 and Malaysia will host the penultimate leg of the championship on October 25. — AFP