Marc Marquez obliterated the outright Losail lap record to top Qatar MotoGP FP2, while FP1 pacesetter Valentino Rossi was a distant 17th.
Marquez led the way early on, and regained top spot on his Honda in the frantic closing stages with a 1:53.380s lap three tenths faster than the current lap record set by Johann Zarco in qualifying last season.
The session was delayed briefly while the track at Turn 8 was cleaned, but once underway it was Alex Rins who set the early pace with a 1:56.132s on his Suzuki.
Rins improved to a 1:55.534s on the following lap, before Marquez moved his Honda ahead of the GSX-RR-mounted Rins with a 1:54.866s.
Marquez enjoyed a near-four-tenth advantage with that lap, though his 1:54.767s posted moments later was only able to keep him 0.080s out of reach of Ducati's Danilo Petrucci, who set the pace for a few seconds while Marquez had yet to complete his current tour.
The reigning world champion's time would eventually be beaten with just under a quarter of the session to go, as rookie Joan Mir shot to the top of the pile on the Suzuki with a 1:54.433s.
His moment of glory lasted all but a brief moment, as Pramac's Jack Miller guided his factory-spec GP19 by 0.039s, while LCR's Cal Crutchlow leaped up to third having ended FP1 17th.
Sepang Racing's Franco Morbidelli was an early faller at Turn 1, with his Yamaha bursting into flames in the gravel.
The Italian returned to the circuit soon after on his second SRT machine, and duly took over top spot with a 1:54.275s as the session entered its final six minutes.
Andrea Dovizioso demoted his countryman a minute later by two hundredths, before Marquez demolished the field with a 1:53.380s to go almost half a second clear of the field.
Maverick Vinales was Marquez's nearest challenger on the works Yamaha, with Miller heading Petrucci and SRT's Fabio Quartararo.
Dovizioso was shuffled back to sixth in the end ahead of Morbidelli, with Rins jumping into the provisional Q2 places from 13th to eighth late on. Aleix Espargaro [Aprilia] and Mir rounded out the top 10.
Rins' late improvement forced Jorge Lorenzo out of the top 10 places, with Honda stablemates Takaaki Nakagami [LCR] and Crutchlow trailing him.
Having set the timing screens alight in FP1 earlier today, Yamaha's Rossi struggled in FP2 and could only muster up a 1:55.137s to end the second session 17th. With laptimes unlikely to improve in the day time FP3 session on Saturday, Rossi could face Q1 in qualifying.
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