The Official MotoGP Test in Malaysia saw the reigning world champion Casey Stoner heading the times by the end of the day, with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo his closest rivals.

After missing a day of testing on Tuesday due to a strained muscle, Stoner gradually worked his way into the top of the timesheet on day two of the Official MotoGP Test at Sepang.

The Australian’s 19th lap aboard his 1000cc RC213V stood firm as the fastest of the day at 2:00.895, with Spies following 0.157 seconds behind and Lorenzo a further 0.016s off the Repsol Honda rider.

With the geometry and chassis set up adjusted to their ridings styles the previous day, the Yamaha Factory pair spent the morning smoothing out the YZR-M1’s electronics and power delivery which had Spies topping the timesheet at the midday point.

Dani Pedrosa put forward his best time of 2:01.508 on his second to the last of 35 laps to rank him fourth for the day. The Spaniard used the day to work on braking and to improve the stability of the new 1000cc Repsol Honda in corner entry as well as to test solutions to reduce some chatter.

Cal Crutchlow again completed the top five, doing well to reacquaint himself with riding a motorcycle having spent the off-season largely away from two wheels.

The British rider’s best time of 2:01.565 at the controls of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine was just over two tenths quicker than Pramac Racing’s Héctor Barberá, who worked on solving a chatter issue and testing new parts for his GP12 Ducati.

Italian Valentino Rossi was the final rider within one second of Stoner, as he and the Ducati Team spent the majority of the day testing new parts for the GP12.

Still recovering teammate Nicky Hayden reported the new Desmosedici is producing a better feeling in the front, although lack of strength from his recently injured shoulder gave him some trouble and the American passed the reins of his Ducati to test rider Franco Battaini for part of the day.

Another rider recovering from injury, Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), produced a time while getting to know his Yamaha that ranked him ninth for the day, two tenths behind Alvaro Bautista aboard the San Carlo Honda Gresini bike.

MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) followed in 11th with Karel Abraham taking the 12th spot as the Czech rider tested a new chassis on his Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati.

American Colin Edwards improved his time on the Suter-BMW by over a second from his time set in the morning, as he and the NGM Mobile Forward Racing team worked on setting up a different electronics package from yesterday.

Avintia Racing was not able to complete the day of testing due to issues with the engines in their BQR-FTR machine. Spanish rider Iván Silva completed just 16 laps with test riders Robertino Pietri and Jordi Torres making a handful of rounds each.

2012 Sepang MotoGP Test Day Two Times:
1. Casey Stoner 2:00.9
2. Ben Spies 2:01.1
3. Jorge Lorenzo 2:01.1
4. Dani Pedrosa 2:01.5
5. Cal Crutchlow 2:01.6
6. Hector Barbera 2:01.8
7. Valentino Rossi 2:01.9
8. Alvaro Bautista 2:01.9
9. Andrea Dovizioso 2:02.2
10. Nicky Hayden 2:02.4
11. Stefan Bradl 2:02.4
12. Karel Abraham 2:02.6
13. Katsuyuki Nakasuga 2:02.9
14. Franco Battaini 2:04.3
15. Colin Edwards 2:05.6
16. Ivan Silva 2:10.3
17. Jordi Torres 2:11.9
18. Robertino Pietri 2:12.5