Pecco Bagnaia underlined his status as the hot favourite for a third consecutive MotoGP World Championship title coming into the opening round of the season after making it two-from-two during the final pre-season 2024 MotoGP test in Qatar.

The Italian was in scintillating form as the pace increased on the second of two days testing under the floodlights of the Lusail International Circuit.

Making the most of the balmier evening temperatures, Bagnaia became the first and only rider to post a sub 1m 51secs lap, putting him some eight tenths quicker than the incumbent lap record belonging to Luca Marini of 1m 51.762.

Day 2/2 - Headlines at a glance...

• 🚀 Pecco Bagnaia powers to a new lap record of more than 0.7s with the first sub 1m 51secs lap of Lusail
• 🦾 Factory Ducati 1-2 with Enea Bastianini coming up just short of his team-mate
• ⏱️ Aprilia impresses with three RS-GPs well inside the top ten
• 📋 RESULTS and LAP TIMES below

He wasn't the only rider to demolish the record marker though, with the second day of testing confirming Sepang's evident step forward in pace from the entire field compared with last year as 11 riders dipped below Marini's time.

In the end though it was Ducati and Aprilia who look best prepared for the opening round, which will be held at the same circuit in just over two weeks' time after locking out nine of the top ten positions, both by the flag and generally throughout the two days.

For the most part though it was Ducati who come away from pre-season testing as the manufacturer feeling happiest heading to the opening rounds. While Bagnaia's authority was to be expected as a double World Champion, the Italian proved to be in dominant form when he turns on the form, both in Sepang and Lusail.

Excitingly for the factory Ducati team though, Enea Bastianini - after a year spent struggling with injuries - appears back on form and once again ran Bagnaia close aboard the sister Ducati GP24, ending up just a tenth shy of his team-mate as the Lenovo-backed squad commanded a 1-2 by a comfortable margin.

Aleix Espargaro led the chase in third place at the end of a positive test for Aprilia that saw three of its RS-GPs crack the top six.

Indeed, while Espargaro and Maverick Vinales in sixth are regular front runners in testing, fifth place for Raul Fernandez will act as a big confidence boost for the Spaniard after missing Sepang through injury when he crashed early on. Coming as ex-Yamaha and Suzuki boss Davide Brivio takes over the reins at Trackhouse Racing, even Miguel Oliveira - despite enduring a torrid two days largely at the bottom of the timesheets - made big gains late on to end up 12th.

Splitting the Aprilias was Marc Marquez in fourth, who once again came good when it mattered over a single lap despite in Lusail experiencing a similar test to that of Sepang that relied on a late step forward to haul him much further up the timesheets.

Jorge Martin found himself half-a-tenth adrift of the leading pace as he confirmed the pace of the Ducati GP24 in seventh. He was ahead of 2023 Qatar MotoGP winner Fabio di Giannantonio in eighth, while VR46 Racing Ducati team-mate Marco Bezzecchi lifted himself to tenth at the end of a tricky test for the Italian.

Between the VR46 duo was the only non-Ducati or Aprilia of Brad Binder, the South African posting a late improvement following a crash from his KTM RC16 during the evening session.

With Ducati and Aprilia dominating proceedings, there will be some concerned faces down at Yamaha and especially Honda.

Neither Fabio Quartararo or Alex Rins could make their fast laps count as they settled for a modest 14th and 16th respectively, while Honda will be disappointed to see its quartet of riders - in the order of Takaaki Nakagami, Johann Zarco, Joan Mir and Luca Marini - bringing up the rearward positions in 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th respectively. That said, Mir's test did end early due to illness.

With the second official pre-season test completed, attention turns to the opening round of the season in Qatar to be held on 8-10 March.

2024 MotoGP Pre-Season Testing | Qatar, Official Testing Results [Day 2/2 FINAL - Combined]

Tuesday [FINAL] | Day 2 of 2 | Conditions - Sunny, Hot

🇶🇦 ⏱️ 🏁 Lusail International Circuit | Lap Records [MotoGP]