MotoGP: Bagnaia wins at Sepang as MotoGP world title looms
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia produced a near-flawless display to win the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday and take a massive step towards his maiden MotoGP world championship title, as closest rival Fabio Quartararo kept his faint hopes alive in third.
The result at the Sepang International Circuit ensured that Italian Bagnaia stayed ahead of 2021 champion Quartararo in the standings heading into the final round of the championship in Spain next month. Bagnaia takes a 23-point lead to the season finale in Valencia.
Bagnaia claimed a magnificent seventh win of the season. Enea Bastianini made fellow Italian and Ducati sweat to finish a close second.
Bezzecchi’s charge to the podium didn’t quite come to fruition, but P4 for the Italian was another fantastic job done. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) rounded out the top five, the Australian GP race winner was 1.5s up the road from sixth place Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) – the Australian produced a great comeback ride from P14 on the grid to help Ducati Lenovo Team pick up the Teams’ title.
Marc Marquez ended the race down in P7, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) claimed eighth, with Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) rounding out the top 10.
After a three-second penalty, Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) finished P11 after contact was made with Espargaro at Turn 14, with Morbidelli also taking two Long Lap penalties in the race.
Cal Crutchlow (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) and Raul Fernandez (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) were the final point scorers.
Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – who managed to re-join –, Darryn Binder (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), and Tetsuta Nagashima (LCR Honda Idemitsu) crashed out alongside Martin, with Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) forced to retire with a technical issue.
Race Results
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | BEHIND |
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +0.000s |
| 2 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21) | +0.270s |
| 3 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +2.773s |
| 4 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)* | +5.446s |
| 5 | Alex Rins | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +11.923s |
| 6 | Jack Miller | AUS | Ducati Lenovo (GP22) | +13.472s |
| 7 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +14.304s |
| 8 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +16.805s |
| 9 | Johann Zarco | FRA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | +18.358s |
| 10 | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +21.591s |
| 11 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +23.235s |
| 12 | Cal Crutchlow | GBR | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) | +24.641s |
| 13 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +24.918s |
| 14 | Pol Espargaro | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +25.586s |
| 15 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +27.039s |
| 16 | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +30.427s |
| 17 | Alex Marquez | SPA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +33.322s |
| 18 | Remy Gardner | AUS | KTM Tech3 (RC16)* | +33.691s |
| 19 | Joan Mir | SPA | Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) | +41.838s |
| Darryn Binder | RSA | WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)* | DNF | |
| Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Gresini Ducati (GP21)* | DNF | |
| Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP22) | DNF | |
| Tetsuta Nagashima | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | DNF | |
| Luca Marini | ITA | Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) | DNF |