A masterclass performance, a first match point, and all in front of a record crowd made for a massively successful weekend for Marc Marquez of the Ducati Lenovo Team. The Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia served up a further instalment of drama as the #93 charged to glory, whilst Jorge Martin of Aprilia Racing ended his weekend early despite a heroic attempt to race. With the title fight reaching a pivotal point, the Sepang weekend delivered plenty of talking points.
Perfection on Sunday brought another stunning ride from Marc Marquez, earning his seventh GP victory of the season. The Ducati star moves a step closer to his eighth MotoGP World Championship, setting up match point next time out in Qatar with a 44-point advantage. Reflecting on his run, Marc Marquez said: "My target was to lead from the beginning, control the first four or five laps, and then put in my rhythm and save the tyres. Honestly speaking, I was riding in a very good way. I was enjoying it. Quite a long race; I’m very tired. It looks like this weekend I took Alex Marquez’s skills in Malaysia because I was riding exactly like he rode last year when he won."
At the moment, we are not at the level of Ducati and Aprilia. Marco is my closest battle, let’s say, to try to fight for third in the Championship. But looks like Qatar will be an Aprilia track.
Despite a superhuman attempt, Jorge Martin walked away from the weekend with zero points scored. The Aprilia star withdrew from the weekend after FP2 on Saturday morning to turn his attention to next time out, leaving him 44 points adrift of Marc Marquez in the standings. Martin insisted he will fight for the title until the very end, stating: "I tried. I tried my best to ride. But the process of healing is still early. The healing is going really fast, but not enough to be efficient on the bike. I felt that I could ride with almost no pain for maybe one lap. After that, I started to have a lot of pain. I couldn’t be consistent. After watching the lap times and my performance, we decided to stop and wait."
Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia Racing kept his fight going, sitting 67 points behind Marc Marquez after finishing P6 on Sunday afternoon. The Italian star had to work hard, going head-to-head with Ai Ogura of SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP, before a final-lap mistake dropped Bezzecchi a further position. Bezzecchi admitted: "I tried my best at the beginning to recover a little bit, and I was close to Alex and to Pedro. I tried a bit of a desperate attack on Alex, let's say, because I started to really feel bad with the front and the temperature, plus the wear of the tyre was much more than I expected."
It was not a bad weekend in the office for Alex Marquez of BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, who claimed pole position and a 20th MotoGP Sunday podium, though he suffered a crash from the lead in Saturday’s Sprint. Now, his focus turns to recovery as he prepares for surgery in Madrid, aiming to return to action in Portimao. Alex Marquez explained: "From the moment that I came back after the Catalunya accident, I have suffered a lot with my right shoulder. I decided to have surgery tomorrow in Madrid. I will try to come back in Portimao. I spoke with the doctors a little bit. It’s possible that. Especially because I was suffering a lot with these back-to-back races."
Pedro Acosta of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing delivered another top job, serving up a Sprint victory on Saturday before backing up his pace with P2 on Sunday. The #37 scored 32 points in Malaysia, reducing his gap to third place in the World Championship. Acosta noted: "At the moment, we are not at the level of Ducati and Aprilia. Marco is my closest battle, let’s say, to try to fight for third in the Championship. But looks like Qatar will be an Aprilia track."
Ai Ogura was impressive once more, scoring a total of 19 points throughout the weekend and finishing P4 on Sunday afternoon with a missing wing after contact with Bezzecchi. Discussing the late-race incident, Ogura said: "Going into Turn 1, I think he knew that I would try to overtake him, and he braked quite deep and went a bit wide. I thought I could overtake him in Turn 1. But I didn't expect him to try to make the apex again at Turn 1, I thought he would hold his line going into Turn 2. So no, a misunderstanding on my side. About the contact, it's completely my bad."
MotoGP
MotoGP
