[GORDON STREETER]

The opening Official 2021 MotoGP pre-season test has come to a close with Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha fastest during the second day of full track action at Losail, the Frenchman being the only rider under the 1m 54s mark.

Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia had been the surprise leaders on day one and the Spaniard showed it had been no fluke by also leading during the crucial closing hours on Sunday, with only Quartararo and then Ducati's Jack Miller eventually able to narrowly surpass the RS-GP.

Title runner-up Franco Morbidelli may have lost top Yamaha honours to former team-mate Quartararo but the Italian still improved from seventh to fourth on his A-Spec Petronas machine, while Honda test and replacement rider Stefan Bradl made it a top five (featuring four different brands) within 0.270s.

Pramac Ducati's Johann Zarco and Quartararo's team-mate Maverick Vinales, fastest earlier in the day, followed on the timesheets with world champion Joan Mir eighth for Suzuki, having finished testing an hour before the end. Miguel Oliveira was again the top KTM, albeit slipping from yesterday's fifth to eleventh, as former RC16 rider Pol Espargaro finished his first Repsol Honda test in twelfth (+0.733s).

Reigning Moto2 champion Enea Bastianini was the top rookie in 16th place for Avintia Ducati, with Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) in 17th, Luca Marini (Avintia VR46) 18th and Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) 19th.

Valentino Rossi was surprisingly left behind the rookies in 20th at the end of his debut test for Petronas Yamaha. Countryman Danilo Petrucci was also lower than expected with 21st place on his first test for Tech3 KTM, although still ahead of Red Bull KTM race winner Brad Binder, in 24th.

Moto2™ and Moto3™ pre-season test to take place in Qatar
Previously scheduled for Jerez, the test will now take place at the Losail International Circuit from the 19-21 of March