Marc Márquez wins the MotoGP race at the Malaysian Grand Prix. He finished ahead of Pedro Acosta in second and Álex Márquez in third. With Jorge Martín out injured with his broken wrist, M. Márquez will be able to have his first shot at taking the championship at the next round.
Start of race
As the lights went out, it was a great start for both Márquez brothers, with M. Márquez taking the lead into turn one. The front pair pulled a couple of tenths ahead of the rest of the field as the battle for the final place on the podium was between five riders.
By the end of lap one, it was M. Márquez ahead of Á. Márquez in second and Pedro Acosta in third. Acosta had really good pace early on and was catching up to the pair in front.
It was a great start to the race for Enea Bastianini, who was sitting in P6 in the race. He was in the battle for the podium on the first lap. After some early aggression, the race settled down as riders conserved their energy in the heat of Malaysia.
Augusto Fernandez crashed at turn 14 in the first stage of the race. There was a good battle between Á. Márquez and Acosta rumbling on in the race. The Ducati’s power made it harder for Acosta to pass. He eventually did get past on lap 10 and started pulling away. Yesterday’s Sprint Race winner now had a clear track ahead of him to try to catch M. Márquez, two seconds ahead.
Last Five Laps
Diogo Moreria crashed out at the midpoint of the race at the last corner. Joan Mir also retired from the race. After not racing since the San Marino Grand Prix due to a fatigue-related illness, the heat of the Grand Prix may be too much for him. Johann Zarco had a technical issue and had to retire from the race.
The battle for fourth between Bezzecchi and Ai Ogura was going on towards the end of the race. At turn one, Ogura tried to get past and nearly crashed into Bezzecchi and lost one of the wings off the Trackhouse MotoGP Team‘s bikes. Ogura got past properly later in the lap.
M. Márquez was unstoppable and took the win by 4.4 seconds. This was also his 80th win in the premier class. He finished ahead of Acosta and Á. Márquez. On the last lap, Bastianini also got past Bezzecchi after he ran wide, losing further points in the championship.
Race Top 10:
P1: #93 Marc Márquez
P2: #37 Pedro Acosta
P3: #73 Álex Márquez
P4: #79 Ai Ogura
P5: #23 Enea Bastianini
P6: #72 Marco Bezzecchi
P7: #10 Luca Marini
P8: #49 Fabio Di Giannantonio
P9: #33 Brad Binder
P10: #21 Franco Morbidelli
With this result, M. Márquez will be able to take the title at the next round in Qatar.