MotoGP

Bagnaia wins tense Malaysian GP but must wait for MotoGP title

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
4 min read

Ducati MotoGP rider Pecco Bagnaia fought off a stern challenge from Enea Bastianini to win the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, but a Fabio Quartararo podium kept the title fight going into Valencia.

Both Bagnaia (ninth on the grid) and defending champion Quartararo (12th on the grid) made spectacular starts to the race, the former very late on the brakes into Turn 1 to move up into second on corner exit while the latter vaulted himself to sixth before lunging on Yamaha team-mate Franco Morbidelli, who appeared to be instructed on his dashboard not to put up a big fight.

Poleman Jorge Martin, keeping the lead, swiftly established a cushion over Bagnaia in the early laps, with the Italian instead having to worry about fighting off his 2023 team-mate Bastianini – who had rebuffed an attack off the line from Marc Marquez but had left himself vulnerable to Bagnaia in the process.

Though Bastianini hounded Bagnaia relentlessly, the three Ducatis out front quickly built up a big buffer over the chasing pack, even as Quartararo found his way past the relatively-struggling Marquez as the Honda man ran wide at Turn 1.

But while Martin himself was in the process of breaking away from his fellow Desmosedicis, Quartararo was promoted to a podium position when the Pramac man slid off at the fast Turn 5 while leading by over a second, his Desmosedici GP22 shredded as it tumbled through the gravel.

The Martin crash turned the Bagnaia/Bastianini fight into a battle for the lead, and the Gresini rider finally lined up a move on lap 11, launching it down the inside of Bagnaia at Turn 11.

Yet that only reversed their roles, Bagnaia himself able to stick to the rear tyre of Bastianini’s GP21, eventually returning the favour with an overtake at the final corner of the 14th lap.

It proved the race-winning move as, despite Bastianini following Bagnaia very close over the final tour, he ultimately crossed the finish line 0.27s behind.

Quartararo’s recovery to third still leaves Bagnaia in prime position to be the 2022 MotoGP champion, with the Italian just needing a 14th-place finish or better in Valencia regardless of what Quartararo does.

However, it does mark the first time since 2017 that a MotoGP title hasn’t already been decided going into the finale.

VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi, who was as low as 11th on the opening lap but had shown superb pace in practice, fought through to fourth and at one point looked like putting Bagnaia in position to seal the title as he pressured Quartararo – but ultimately couldn’t keep up with the Yamaha. Bezzecchi’s team-mate Luca Marini suffered his first retirement of the season, reportedly due to to a ride height device failure.

Suzuki’s Alex Rins took fifth, his team-mate Joan Mir having run close to him before suffering a severe drop in pace and then crashing out, while Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller passed Marquez for sixth on the final lap.

KTM’s Brad Binder, Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco and Morbidelli completed the top 10 on the road, but Morbidelli – having dropped to 15th due to his penalty for impeding Bagnaia and Marquez in practice had to barge Aleix Espargaro out of the way in the penultimate corner to get there. The incident was swiftly placed under investigation and Morbidelli received a three-second penalty (initially announced as a three-place penalty), falling to 11th.

Regardless of Espargaro getting 10th position back, though, his and Aprilia’s title challenge has officially fizzled out.

Alongside Marin and Mir, there was a crash for LCR Honda stand-in Tetsuta Nagashima and an unseen tandem fall for rookies Darryn Binder (RNF Yamaha) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati).

Ducati did secure the teams’ championship with its factory outfit in Malaysia to go with the previously-ensured constructors’ honours, and is now just two Bagnaia points away from the ‘triple crown’.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Bike Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 20 11 40m14.332s 1m59.703s 0 25
2 Enea Bastianini Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 20 3 +0.27s 1m59.686s 0 20
3 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 20 0 +2.773s 2m0.145s 0 16
4 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 20 0 +5.446s 2m0.003s 0 13
5 Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 20 0 +11.923s 2m0.12s 0 11
6 Jack Miller Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 20 0 +13.472s 2m0.392s 0 10
7 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 20 0 +14.304s 1m59.969s 0 9
8 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +16.805s 2m0.146s 0 8
9 Johann Zarco Pramac Racing Ducati 20 0 +18.358s 2m0.391s 0 7
10 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Aprilia 20 0 +21.591s 2m0.704s 0 6
11 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 20 0 +23.235s 1m59.983s 0 5
12 Cal Crutchlow WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 20 0 +24.641s 2m0.782s 0 4
13 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +24.918s 2m0.552s 0 3
14 Pol Espargaró Repsol Honda Team Honda 20 0 +25.586s 2m01.046s 0 2
15 Raul Fernandez Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +27.039s 2m0.638s 0 1
16 Maverick Viñales Aprilia Racing Aprilia 20 0 +30.427s 2m0.865s 0 0
17 Alex Marquez LCR Honda Castrol Honda 20 0 +33.322s 2m0.88s 0 0
18 Remy Gardner Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 20 0 +33.691s 2m01.109s 0 0
19 Joan Mir Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 20 0 +41.838s 2m0.142s 0 0
Darryn Binder WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 10 0 DNF 2m0.681s 0 0
Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 10 0 DNF 2m01.052s 0 0
Jorge Martin Pramac Racing Ducati 6 6 DNF 1m59.634s 0 0
Tetsuta Nagashima LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda 4 0 DNF 2m01.679s 0 0
Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 1 0 DNF 0s 1 0
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