Alex Márquez took his third win of the season at Sepang. The Gresini Ducati rider rode in a special blue livery. He confirmed his strong form after finishing second in the sprint race behind Pecco Bagnaia.
Start and early phase
Bagnaia got off to the best start and immediately grabbed the lead. However, Márquez and Pedro Acosta continued to hang on. At Turn 4, Márquez took over the lead. He immediately created a gap of about eight tenths. That lead remained stable for the first half of the 20 laps.
Turnaround in round 13
On lap 13, Bagnaia's pace dropped. Acosta went past and remained strong, despite earlier doubts about tyre management at KTM. Soon after, Bagnaia quickly lost more time. He rode stepwise to the pit and crashed out with a technical problem.
Podium and top ten
Márquez controlled the closing stages and won by 2.7 seconds ahead of Acosta. Joan Mir finished third to take his second podium of the year. Franco Morbidelli pressed on, but Mir held on. Fabio Quartararo fell back, but still finished fifth and thus best Yamaha rider.
Fermín Aldeguer was considered a contender, but lacked speed and crashed in the last corner. His place went to Fabio Di Giannantonio, who finished sixth. Enea Bastianini rode strongly to the front from P19 and finished seventh. Luca Marini finished eighth, narrowly trailing Brad Binder. Marco Bezzecchi got no further than P11, behind Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura. Bagnaia's crash means Bezzecchi now has a five-point lead in the battle for third place in the championship.
Other events
The Yamaha V4 prototype recorded P18 with test rider Augusto Fernández, 47 seconds off the winner. There were crashes for Pol Espargaró, Raúl Fernández, Miguel Oliveira and Aldeguer. Oliveira got back on and finished 19th.
Conclusion
Márquez confirmed his status as a Sepang specialist and cemented his second place in the World Championship. Acosta and Mir completed the podium. For Bagnaia, it was a race to quickly forget.
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