That is career win number 80 in MotoGP for Marc Marquez, and frankly, the machine is just relentless right now. As Speedcafe reports, the factory Ducati rider made the absolute most of his second-place start by slicing past polesitter Alex Márquez at turn one. There was a tiny wobble when he briefly lost the spot at turn four, but Marc took it right back and immediately started building an advantage. Alex played the ultimate team player or stubborn obstacle—depending on how you view it—holding back the KTM rider Acosta until Lap 10. That little defensive masterclass let the older Marquez brother pull out a 1.7s buffer.
Once Acosta finally cleared Alex on Lap 10, Marc just dropped the hammer. He absorbed the pressure and crossed the finish line 4.172s clear of the rest to claim his seventh Grand Prix victory of the season. Acosta secured second place for a second consecutive podium following his Sprint victory on Saturday, while Alex completed the podium despite continuing to manage the effects of his shoulder injury. Marco Bezzecchi looked set for a podium challenge but was unable to find a way past Alex before becoming embroiled in a battle with Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura. The pair made contact on Lap 18, with Ogura eventually taking fourth, while Bezzecchi ran off track on the final lap to finish sixth behind Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3).
The numbers behind this victory are stunning. This was Marc's third premier-class win at Sepang, adding to his previous successes in 2014 and 2018, and it marked Ducati’s 10th victory at the Malaysian circuit. More importantly, Marquez is now just nine race wins away from equalling Valentino Rossi’s record for the most premier-class Grand Prix victories in MotoGP World Championship history. The result further strengthened Marquez’s grip on the championship, extending his advantage to 44 points over injured Jorge Martín and 67 over Bezzecchi. He will have his first opportunity to secure the world championship at next weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. He will be crowned champion if he outscores Martín by at least 30 points and Bezzecchi by at least eight points across the Qatar round. Jack Miller came home 16th, just one position outside the points, and sits 19th in the championship with 31 points.
Down in Moto2, CFMOTO Aspar Team celebrated a brilliant 1-2 finish with David Alonso taking victory ahead of teammate Daniel Holgado. It looked set to be a relatively comfortable win for Alonso until four laps from the finish, when the 2024 Moto3 World Champion saved a huge near-highside at Turn 14, allowing Holgado to close right back in. But Alonso regrouped, reasserted his dominance and pulled away to beat his rival by 1.932 seconds, making sure Holgado had little to celebrate. Ángel Piqueras (QJMotor – MSi) claimed his maiden Moto2 podium in third, becoming the 15th different rider to finish on the podium in the World Championship this season. Izan Guevara finished fourth, ahead of Manuel González in fifth. González retains the championship lead, but his advantage over Guevara has been reduced to just 3.5 points with three rounds remaining. Iván Ortolá remains third on 199.5 points after finishing eighth. Alonso and Holgado are now separated by just one point in the championship, adding further intrigue to their rivalry following their recent clash at the Indonesian Grand Prix. With both set to step up to MotoGP in 2027, the pair have plenty to settle before the season ends. Australian Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) collected a solitary championship point with 15th place. He remains sixth in the standings on 166 points, 11 clear of Filip Salac. Fellow Australian Jacob Roulstone, standing in for the injured Arón Canet at Marc VDS Racing Team following the Spaniard’s heavy crash at Phillip Island last weekend, unfortunately failed to finish.
Over in Moto3, CFMoto Aspar Team’s Máximo Quiles dominated the race for his 11th win of the season, taking the lead on lap five with a move up the inside of David Almansa (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) at Turn 15 before pulling clear to win by 3.734 seconds. Newly-crowned world champion Quiles led home Honda Team Asia’s rookie Veda Pratama, with Álvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the podium. Australians Joel Kelso ( Gryd Racing) crashed out of sixth place at Turn four with four laps remaining, while Malaysian favourite Hakim Danish narrowly missed the podium. Danish made a final-lap attempt to snatch third from Carpe at the final corner, but outbraked himself and ran wide, allowing the Spaniard to hold on to third. A KTM rider has now won 17 of the 18 races this season.
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MotoGP
