MotoGP Malaysian GP: Francesco Bagnaia destroys field…

Francesco Bagnaia returned to winning ways on Saturday at the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix, with a dominant sprint victory the latest in his series of wild form swings over the past few weeks.

The factory Ducati rider led from start to finish, with Alex Marquez securing second place in the world championship – behind his injured brother Marc – with second place in the 10-lap race.

Bagnaia made a perfect getaway and slotted into the lead ahead of Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta, who also stayed out of each other’s way entering Turn 1.

The top three pulled away immediately, with Marquez making a small mistake at the end of the lap, which allowed Acosta to nose ahead for a brief moment. The Ducati, however, was quickly back past the KTM early on lap two.

By this time, Joan Mir had emerged at the front of a hectic battle for fourth position. The Honda rider then looked threatening as he closed on the three leading bikes, but his challenge ended when he crashed the factory Honda at Turn 9 on lap five.

By this stage, Bagnaia had broken the back of the race, with a lead of over a second and a half to his name. Battle between Marquez and Acosta had also broken off, with the KTM rider beginning to fade.

The second Gresini Ducati of Fermin Aldeguer took over fourth place from VR46 rider Franco Morbidelli just as Mir crashed, and within a couple of laps he was past the struggling Acosta too.

But with his team-mate a second up the road and just a couple of laps to go, second place was a bridge too far for the Indonesian Grand Prix winner. He thus followed Marquez home to complete an impressive day for Gresini and secure rookie of the year honours.

Acosta crossed the line in fourth place, ahead of Morbidelli, Yamaha man Fabio Quartararo and recent form rider Marco Bezzecchi, who recovered well from his lowly starting position of 14th.

Some time after the race, however, Aldeguer was issued with an eight-second penalty for a tyre pressure infringement. This dropped him to seventh in the revised results, behind Bezzecchi.

Malaysian GP - Sprint results:

SPRINT

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	Retirement	Points
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	10	19'53.725			12
2	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	10	+2.259 19'55.984	2.259		9
3	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	10	+3.138 19'56.863	0.879		7
4	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	10	+5.155 19'58.880	2.017		6
5	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	10	+6.541 20'00.266	1.386		5
6	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	10	+8.468 20'02.193	1.927		4
7	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	10	+10.232 20'03.957	1.764		3
8	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	10	+12.627 20'06.352	2.395		2
9	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	10	+12.974 20'06.699	0.347		1
10	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	10	+14.515 20'08.240	1.541
11	P. Espargaro Tech 3	44	KTM	10	+14.924 20'08.649	0.409
12	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	10	+15.394 20'09.119	0.470
13	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	10	+15.461 20'09.186	0.067
14	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	10	+17.601 20'11.326	2.140
15	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	10	+17.721 20'11.446	0.120
16	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	10	+18.248 20'11.973	0.527
17	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	10	+22.398 20'16.123	4.150
18	L. Savadori Aprilia Racing Team	32	Aprilia	10	+22.478 20'16.203	0.080
19	A. Fernandez Yamaha Factory Racing	7	Yamaha	10	+25.412 20'19.137	2.934
20	M. Pirro Ducati Team	51	Ducati	10	+26.074 20'19.799	0.662
dnf	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	7	+3 Laps 15'35.076	3 Laps	Retirement
dnf	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	5	+5 Laps 10'12.335	2 Laps	Retirement
dnf	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	5	+5 Laps 10'41.569	29.234	Retirement
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