The first official MotoGP Test of 2011 reached its halfway point on Wednesday, with Dani Pedrosa leading the lap times by the lunch break ahead of Ben Spies. Valentino Rossi was 14th fastest by the interval.
Pedrosa tops Malaysia day two times at midway stage

There was no let-up at Sepang on Wednesday as the MotoGP class dived straight back into action for day two of the official Test at the Malaysian circuit, and by 2pm local time – at which point the field broke for lunch – Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa was the fastest by a margin of 0.738s thanks to the first and, so far only, sub-2'01” lap of the Test.

Starting the second day with the plan to test the new RC212V engine, Pedrosa posted an effort of 2'00.770 on just his fourth lap, and that left him over seven-tenths clear at the top of the timesheet at exactly the halfway stage of the three-day Test. Next in line was factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies, who began working on engine settings and was four-thousandths of a second ahead of Andrea Dovizioso.

The Italian of the Repsol Honda outfit was working on new front forks, different to those being ridden on by team-mates Pedrosa and Casey Stoner, and Dovizioso's best lap so far of 2'01.512 edged him into third place just ahead of World Campion Jorge Lorenzo who occupied fourth by lunch time.

Yesterday's fastest Stoner was fifth by that stage on his factory RC212V, and his best of 2'01.610 was just over three-hundredths behind the day one lap that made him quickest on Tuesday. The Australian was followed in the order by Rizla Suzuki rider Álvaro Bautista, who set out testing a new frame on the GSV-R on Wednesday, along with exhaust and suspension. The Spaniard lapped at 2'01.687 early on, a time which left him in sixth fastest.

Colin Edwards was a happy man after day one and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider picked up where he left off, continuing on set-up work and also trying out new tyres for Bridgestone. The American's best lap of the opening session on day two was a 2'01.731 which placed him seventh.

Two more Hondas were in the top ten by 2pm and San Carlo Gresini team-mates Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama were separated by less than a tenth of a second. The Italian rider was testing a new handbrake against an older version, as well as comparing front forks on the RC212V.

Nicky Hayden was the quickest Ducati around the track in the first half of the day, the factory rider's 2'02.379 leaving him in tenth spot and 1.609s off Pedrosa's early pace. Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) and Héctor Barberá (Aspar Team) followed on their respective GP11 machines, with Valentino Rossi in 14th position and 2.024s behind Pedrosa as he continues to work around his problematic shoulder, which limited his ability to push on the previous day.

Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing), rookie Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) and Toni Elías (LCR Honda) completed the order by lunch.