We are watching a master at work. Marc Marquez delivered a stunning masterclass at the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia, marching to a dominant victory by 4.1s to claim his seventh win of 2026 and career win number 80. The Ducati Lenovo Team star now stares down the barrel of a first match point at the Lusail International Circuit next weekend.
It is now a healthy 44-point lead the seven-time MotoGP King holds over injured rival Jorge Martin of Aprilia Racing ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, alongside a 67-point advantage over Marco Bezzecchi after the Italian finished P6 in Malaysia. Joining the reigning World Champion on the Sepang rostrum was second-place Pedro Acosta of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, completing a brilliant weekend, and polesitter Alex Marquez for BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP.
Nailing the start was your championship leader Marc Marquez, who gobbled up the holeshot ahead of Alex Marquez. Biting back at Turn 4 was the latter, though, but the blue corner in the Marquez scrap ran wide to allow the red corner to keep hold of the lead. It was a right old fight for P3 on the opening lap between Enea Bastianini of Red Bull KTM Tech3, Ai Ogura for the SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team, and Acosta. After a sluggish start, the Tissot Sprint winner Acosta climbed back into P3 by the end of the lap, while Bezzecchi soon grabbed fourth after muscling past Ogura at Turn 14 on Lap 2.
A fastest lap of the Grand Prix saw Acosta quickly reel in the Marquez brothers. With tyre wear crucial, the race settled down as Marc Marquez led Alex Marquez by 0.5s, with Acosta lingering just under four tenths away from the Gresini star. By Lap 9, Marc Marquez had stretched his advantage to 1.1s, and a lap later it was 1.5s. Acosta then launched an attack on Alex Marquez at Turn 9 on Lap 10 and made it stick. Marc Marquez's advantage climbed north of two seconds for the first time, with Acosta putting nearly a second between his RC16 and the fight for the final podium spot.
With five laps to go, Marc Marquez led Acosta by 2.9s, then 3.2s, then 4.2s, proving entirely untouchable. For the second year in a row, Acosta takes home a second place from Malaysia. Polesitter Alex Marquez held onto that final podium spot, while Ogura forced his way through on Bezzecchi to collect a double P4, sitting 0.8s behind Alex Marquez across the line. Fifth place went to Bastianini after a last-lap Turn 14 error from Bezzecchi allowed his compatriot to pinch crucial points.
Closing out the top 10 positions were Luca Marini for Honda HRC Castrol in seventh, Fabio Di Giannantonio in eighth for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team as just 0.066s split the Italians at the flag, Brad Binder in ninth for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and Franco Morbidelli in P10 for the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team. The rest of the points went to Fabio Quartararo for the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP squad, his teammate Alex Rins, a disappointed Francesco Bagnaia of the Ducati Lenovo Team, Maverick Viñales for Red Bull KTM Tech3, and Fermin Aldeguer’s BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP stand-in Iker Lecuona.
As we head to Qatar, Marc Marquez and Ducati know it could be the weekend where the title is wrapped up. Score 30 points more than Martin, and eight points more than Bezzecchi, and the crown is kept.
MotoGP
MotoGP
