Birthday boy Marquez blows the field away in Buriram

Buriram, February 18: World champion Marc Marquez celebrated his 25th birthday in style at the pre-season winter tests in Thailamd, leaving it late to set the first ever sub-1:30 laptime of Buriram

It was quite a way through a mammoth 90+ lap workload for the Repsol Honda rider.

That took the top spot back from team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who ended the day second fastest and a tenth and a half down after having led for the majority of the latter stages of the session.

Third was another stunning lap from Jack Miller of Alma Pramac Racing, who was 0.058 off Pedrosa as he continues his run of top performance in 2018.

Fourth and fifth were locked out by Yamaha -- Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) led Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) after MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi had been the quicker rider on day 1.

Vinales' best was a 1:30.274, with Zarco just 0.086 behind. The Spaniard had a more difficult morning before making a big step in the afternoon - aiming to confirm it on Day 3.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), after going second quickest on the first day of the test, was seventh on Day 2 and again top Hamamatsu machine.

Starting 2018 healthy after injury problems last year, the Spanish sophomore did around half a century of laps and tried new aero from Suzuki, with the factory fielding the fairing they had previously had as well as longer and shorter version of a new package.

Both Rins and tea-mmate Andrea Iannone, who ended the day in eleventh but only three tenths back on Rins, tried the updates - and both crashed, but with no consequences.

The Ducati Team, meanwhile, moved on with the program. They have three aero fairings at Buriram as well as a chassis update and continued working on them.

On Day 2 Andrea Dovizioso was ninth and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo tenth. 'DesmoDovi' was just 0.004 off Crutchlow ahead of him and two tenths ahead of Lorenzo, with the Italian putting in over 70 laps and the Spaniard more than 50.

Two more Independent Team riders on Ducatis took P12 and P13, with Reale Avinta Racing's Tito Rabat ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) by only 0.028. Both were ahead of Rossi, who ended the second day in fourteenth. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) completed the top fifteen