#MalaysianGP – MOTOGP, SPRINT & RACE – Alex Marquez clinches Sepang victory
MOTOGP – SPRINT: Bagnaia completes perfect Saturday as Marquez clinches 2025 silver medal
There was simply no stopping Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) on Saturday at the PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia. Pole position to Tissot Sprint victory – back with a bang. The double MotoGP World Champion made it look easy to beat Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) by 2.2s, with that result officially handing the #73 second in the championship to make it a Marquez brother 1-2. What an achievement for the family. And there was more to celebrate in the Gresini box because a P3 in the Tissot Sprint meant Fermin Aldeguer clinched the 2025 Rookie of the Year crown, despite a post-Sprint tyre pressure penalty costing the Spaniard his bronze medal.
Bagnaia grabs the holeshot
It was a great start from pole by Pecco and as usual, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) got off the line like a missile to grab an early P3. Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) didn’t get away well, but the Italian battled his way back to P4 by the end of the opening lap, as he and former teammate Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) went elbow to elbow.
Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) and Aldeguer treated us to a barnstormer on the opening lap too before the 2020 World Champion earned P4 at the end of Lap 1 and got into a rapid rhythm.
Mir crashes out of rostrum fight
At the start of Lap 3, Pecco was a second clear of Alex Marquez and Acosta, with Mir just over half a second away from the rostrum. At this stage of the Sprint, Pecco was half a second faster than anyone else on circuit, and his lead was soon up to 1.9s over the trio of Spaniards behind him.
That soon became two though. Mir was down at Turn 9 as he slipped out of the podium battle, and that was the #36’s Sprint over. Now, it was Aldeguer who had his sights firmly set on Acosta’s rear tyre for a bronze medal, and the rookie was reeling in his compatriot very quickly.
Aldeguer hunts and passes Acosta for P3
Aldeguer was over half a second faster on Laps 6 and 7, meaning with three to go, the #54 was in striking distance. And sure enough, Aldeguer pounced. Turn 9 was the corner, and it was a clean, up the inside move to see the Gresini rider move into P3.
Honda HRC Castrol’s promising Saturday ended in double disappointment as Luca Marini suffered his first crash of the season after a move up the inside of Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Tech3) didn’t work at Turn 14, which also cost the #44 his place in the top nine.
Aldeguer didn’t have enough time left to catch and challenge teammate Marquez for P2, and no one could lay a glove on Pecco. The #63 delivered a faultless Saturday in Sepang to win the Tissot Sprint from pole, with the silver and bronze medals going to the Gresini garage as Marquez finally clinched P2 overall to create history – a Marquez 1-2 in 2025. And on the other side of the box, Aldeguer’s P3 saw him crowned the star rookie of the campaign – and even with a late tyre pressure penalty, that doesn’t change things.
Your Saturday points scorers
Acosta crossed the line in P4 but inherits a bronze medal after Aldeguer’s penalty, with the #37 finishing 1.3s ahead of Morbidelli, as Quartararo completed the top five. Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) was the lead RS-GP rider in P6, the Italian now sits level on points with Pecco in P3 in that championship fight, with Aldeguer’s eight-second hit dropping him to P7. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) and Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) acted as the final points scorers in P8 and P9 respectively.
MOTOGP – RACE: Alex Marquez clinches Sepang victory as Bagnaia suffers late DNF
After clinching second in the MotoGP World Championship on Saturday, Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) backed it up with a commanding Malaysian Grand Prix victory on Sunday. A flawless ride from the #73 saw the Spaniard beat the impressive Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) by 2.6s, while a late issue for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) handed Joan Mir and Honda HRC Castrol a fantastic P3 at Sepang.
Bagnaia earns holeshot, Marquez aggressive early
Just as he did in the Sprint, Bagnaia nailed the start and earned the holeshot, as Acosta fired his way into an early P2. But not for long. Alex Marquez attacked his compatriot at Turn 4, and a lap later, the #73 demoted Bagnaia to P2 with a brilliant move up the inside of the Italian. For the first time this weekend, the #63 wasn’t leading.
Bagnaia vs Acosta
On Lap 3, it was Turn 4 again. This time, Acosta was underneath Bagnaia, but the latter bit straight back at Turn 5 to keep the KTM behind him. Acosta then gave it another go at Turn 9, but once more, it wasn’t a move that stuck. This phenomenal duel between Bagnaia and Acosta allowed Marquez to stretch his early lead out to 0.8s, with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) a further 0.8s back in P4 – the Frenchman having Mir close for company.
A few laps went by and the situation at the front remained the same. Marquez’s lead was hovering around the second mark, with Acosta still locked onto the rear tyre of Bagnaia. It was 1.9s back to the Quartararo vs Mir fight that was rumbling on nicely, with Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) 1.1s adrift of the two MotoGP World Champions. Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), meanwhile, was 1.5s behind Morbidelli and was struggling to get going in the Grand Prix at this stage.
On Lap 10 of 20, Mir made his move on Quartararo. What did the HRC star have in his pocket now that a bit of free air was ahead of him? The gap to the podium fight was 2.7s as the Grand Prix entered the second half, and now, tyre life was going to be crucial.
The beginning of Lap 12 saw Australian GP winner Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) crash at Turn 1, which was just after Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) also slipped out of contention, while at the front, Marquez was half a second quicker than Pecco and Acosta.
Acosta makes his move, Bagnaia suffers bike problem
Then, Acosta pounced. Turn 11 was the place and when the move was made, the gap between Marquez and Acosta was 1.8s, then two seconds. It was a move that stuck for Acosta, with Bagnaia potentially regretting his front medium compound tyre choice now.
Lap 14 saw Marquez land a 2:00.546, a whole second faster than Bagnaia and over half a second quicker than second place Acosta. Mir, in P4, was also in the 2:00s, meaning the #36’s podium chances weren’t done yet – and the same could be said for Morbidelli in P5.
However, on the next two laps, Bagnaia managed to find a bit of pace to limit the damage to his advantage over Mir. With four laps to go, the gap between the Ducati and HRC riders sat at 1.9s, with Acosta 2.5s away from Marquez. It looked like Acosta needed Marquez to make a mistake in the closing stages if he wanted to have a realistic chance of clinching his first MotoGP win.
While a win looked like it was coming for Marquez, the other side of the Gresini garage then witnessed Aldeguer crash out at the final corner, as Bagnaia then encountered an issue on his Ducati. Pecco felt something wasn’t right coming into Turn 1 and immediately started looking down to the rear of his machine. What had gone wrong? It wasn’t clear to us what it was, but whatever the issue, it meant Mir was now in P3, and Pecco was scoring zero points. A disappointing end to a great weekend for Pecco, but a gift for Mir and Honda after their Sprint DNF on Saturday.
And so, the last lap began. Marquez was 2.8s clear of Acosta, who in turn had a very comfortable gap back to Mir. 1.4s split the latter to fourth place Morbidelli, so minus any mistakes, P3 was Mir’s.
After clinching second place overall on Saturday, Marquez completed a fantastic weekend at the office to win for the first time outside of Spain. Kudos to Acosta, that’s another sublime effort from the KTM rider to stick it on the box at Sepang, 13 seconds ahead of the next best KTM, as Mir earns his second Sunday podium of the season with a P3. A great start and end to the flyaway stretch for the 2020 World Champion and HRC.
Your Malaysian GP points scorers
Morbidelli had some very strong late race pace to finish in P4, with Quartararo completing the top five after he was forced to sit up at Turn 15 when Morbidelli came barging through. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned P6, a couple of seconds ahead of Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who came from P19 on the grid to collect a P7 – a great ride from ‘The Beast’.
Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) rounded out the top 10, the trio finishing ahead of 11th place Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing). It was a low-key round for Bezzecchi and Aprilia, but Pecco’s unfortunate DNF means they move back into P3 overall.
The final points on offer went to Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR), Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda LCR).
My life is complicated! Starting on Friday, I was nervous because I had no confidence with the bike. On Saturday, we resolved some problems in the sprint, and we arrived on Sunday prepared, ready to fight for the top 10. Starting from far is tough, I gave it my all, but it is difficult to recover positions on that track, as the front tire is getting hotter and hotter, but anyway, I am happy with the job done today. We are still missing a bit of consistency, especially on time attacks, because every time we put on new tires, all KTM riders improve, and not me, so it is something that we need to understand, and I’m sure we can get better. Last year, I had the same issue, and we resolved it, so I am confident that we will find a way to solve it too with the KTM.
Enea Bastianini – P7
It’s a shame because I lost some time at the beginning fighting with Chantra, because the pace in the first part of the race to stay with the group was good. After staying in the slipstream, the temperatures rose and the tyres dropped off. We will continue to try new things and we have some ideas that we will test on the track at Jerez in two days’ time during private testing.
Lorenzo Savadori – P16
It was a busy weekend, and we have settled on a clear direction to take for the next test and wild-card race weekend in Valencia to improve further. We have been working on the balance of the bike, and we need to keep working on it and set a base. The process will take a bit of time, so we need to keep working hard.
Augusto Fernandez – P18
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