Welcome back, Enea! Bastianini shocks with triumph in Malaysia, World Championship leader Bagnaia increases his lead over Martín this time

The World Championship of Road Motorcycles kicked off the final chapter of this season with the Malaysian Grand Prix. In the MotoGP category, Enea Bastianini on the factory Ducati surprised after a disappointing season so far by winning ahead of stablemate Álex Márquez and championship leader Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia. Jorge Martín, the other protagonist in the title fight, finished fourth, 14 points behind Bagnaiu.

Only two calendar weeks separate MotoGP fans from the climax of this year’s season. 17 races, 33 races and yet only 11 points separated the two championship leaders Pecco Bagnaiu and Jorge Martín before Sunday’s Grand Prix. Even better for the unbiased observer, the pair set the two fastest laps in qualifying and lined up side-by-side at the head of the grid.

However, the pole position advantage for Bagnaiu only earned him third position in Saturday’s sprint. While the winner was Álex Márquez on the satellite Ducati machine, Martín finished a short race ahead of Bagnaiu, which closed the gap between them to 11 points.

Returner at the front of the race, Bagnaia vs. Martín

Bagnaia earned his seventh pole position of the season in qualifying on Saturday. Compared to the sprint, however, the Italian’s race didn’t quite go his way and he had to fight off an attack from Martín on the charge into Turn 1. The Spaniard carried him off the ideal track, which was exploited not only by sprint winner Álex Márquez, but also by Enea Bastianini, the second rider of the factory Ducati, who took over the race lead.

🚦LIGHTS OUT AT SEPANG! 🚦@88jorgemartin gets the holeshot but goes wide! @Bestia23 leads!#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/4Qd1J4r4DR

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 12, 2023

Bagnaia took third, while Martín dropped to fifth behind Marc Bezzecchi, who was only kept in contention for the title by an undecided theory backed by the drop-out of both Bagnaia and Martín until the end of the season. Within the opening lap, Martín got past Bezzecchi and then immediately afterwards lined up behind the rear wheel of Bagnai’s Ducati.

The blood pressure shot through all objective MotoGP observers when Martín sent his Pramac machine under Bagnai’s bike into turn fourteen on lap three. However, the World Championship leader didn’t let up and passed his rival back to 3rd position. On the very next lap Martín tried again, this time in Turn 4. This manoeuvre didn’t bear fruit this time either, thanks mainly to a neat manoeuvre by Bagnai on the outside in the next corner.

Meanwhile, the leading duo of Bastianini and Márquez had built up a lead of over one second. However, there was still no contest for the grand prix leader’s position between this pair. Martín gave up his efforts and allowed Bagnaiu to pull away to a gap of three-quarters of a second, while fifth-placed Bezzecchi was already over a second behind the Spaniard.

Stabilization of the race’s development at the front, solid Yamaha

Joan Mir was the first to drop out, throwing his machine away on lap 5. Within two laps, the satellite Aprilia riders’ hopes of scoring points were extinguished. Both Miguel Oliveira (Lap 6) and Raúl Fernández (Lap 7) retired from the race through a crash at Turn 9 and technical problems respectively.

At the front, the gap between the top 5 stretched to over one second in all cases, with Bezzecchi even 3 seconds separating him from fourth-placed Martín. For the Italian from the VR46 team, even the mathematical hope for the world championship title was extinguished.

On lap 9, another Aprilia rider crashed. This time it was Aleix Espargar, and even in the same place as Oliveira a few moments back. Meanwhile, Bezzecchi’s pace continued to drop, creating a group of several hungry riders behind him, led by Jack Miller on ktm.

Behind @88jorgemartin, it's all to play for! ⚔️

Bezzecchi is 5th, whereas no less than 4 riders are in contention for P6! 😮#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/cbnQAFErWB

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 12, 2023

The Yamaha riders were having a great race. Fabio Quartararo held on to the group for 5th place and almost tackled Fabio Di Giannantonio on lap 11, but to no avail. With nothing happening at the front, the spectator had to look for some action in this particular group.

Bezzecchi was finally able to break away from the riders behind him. He was helped by the duel between Luca Marini and Franco Morbidelli, a teammate of Quartara and Di Giannantonio, in addition to the duel between Quartara and Di Giannantonio. That duo went elbow-to-elbow through the first three corners on lap 12 with Morbidelli as the winner.

Bastianini back on the podium, confirming Ducati’s sovereignty

Brad Binder and Takaaki Nakagami were the last to retire after crashes, but the latter still eventually got back on his bike. Yamaha’s comeback before the end of the race was completed by Quartara moving ahead of Bezzecchi into 5th place and Morbidelli ahead of Di Giannantonio into 7th.

Outside of the battles in the second half of the top 10, nothing happened until the chequered flag. After injuries and slow acclimatisation to the factory Ducati machine, Bastianini bit the bullet and celebrated a MotoGP grand prix triumph in Malaysia after a year’s hiatus. With 1.5sec behind, the younger Márquez finished second ahead of Bagnaia, Martín and Quartara.

🏁 #MotoGP RACE 🏁

Everyone on their feet for the BEAST! 🤩@Bestia23 WINS THE #MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 IN DOMINANT FASHION! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/TvAjb7vsrM

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 12, 2023

Third position for Bagnaia and fourth for Martín meant that the reigning champion’s lead was stretched in the 26-year-old Italian’s favour for the first time in several races. 14 points separate the pair going into the penultimate round in Qatar.

Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix results (Race 18/20, 20 laps = 110.860 km; top 10 only):

1. Enea Bastianini (Ita., Ducati) 39:59.137
2. Álex Márquez (Span., Ducati) +1.535
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) +3.562
4. Jorge Martín (Span., Ducati) +10.526
5. Fabio Quaratararo (Fra., Yamaha) +15.000
6. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) +16.946
7. Franco Morbidelli (Ita., Yamaha) +18.553
8. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) +19.204
9. Fabio di Giannantonio (Ita., Ducati) +19.399
10. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) +19.740

2023 MotoGP rider standings (after 18/20; top 10 only):

1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita., Ducati) 412 points
2. Jorge Martín (Spa., Ducati) 398
3. Marco Bezzecchi (Ita., Ducati) 323
4. Brad Binder (RJA, KTM) 254
5. Johann Zarco (Fra., Ducati) 200
6. Aleix Espargaró (Span., Aprilia) 198
7. Maverick Viñales (Span., Aprilia) 175
8. Luca Marini (Ita., Ducati) 171
9. Fabio Quaratararo (Fra., Yamaha) 156
10. Jack Miller (Aus., KTM) 156

Source: MotoGP