Marquez wins the Malaysian GP as Bastianini finishes fifth ahead of Bezzecchi: Marini returns to take seventh

At Sepang, Marc Marquez wins the Malaysian GP ahead of Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez, while Bastianini finishes fifth, Marco Bezzecchi sixth and Luca Marini seventh.

Three consecutive positions in the classification. Three very different stories. Enea finds a stronger result after a difficult Saturday. Bezzecchi cannot turn his Sprint podium into another top-three finish. And Marini, who was unable to race in Australia because of illness, returns to finish seventh on the Honda. Fabio Di Giannantonio takes eighth, Franco Morbidelli completes the top ten and Francesco Bagnaia finishes thirteenth, almost 33 seconds behind his winning teammate.

At the front, Marquez takes victory in 40:14.236 and extends his championship advantage over the absent Jorge Martin to 44 points. But behind that result, Sepang tells an Italian story in which Sunday gives very different answers from Saturday.

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Bastianini: from one Sprint point to the best Italian result

Before Sunday’s race, Bastianini was still trying to understand what he could expect from his KTM. Saturday’s ninth place had given him only one point. Afterwards, he described difficulties with grip, acceleration and tyre wear, issues that have repeatedly made it hard to turn his pace into consistent results.

The Malaysian GP does not erase those concerns. But it gives his weekend a different ending. Starting seventh, Enea finishes fifth, 10.896 seconds behind Marquez, collecting eleven points. He is the highest-placed Italian rider, crossing the line just 0.363 seconds ahead of Bezzecchi.

The result matters when viewed alongside his recent weekends. At Motegi, Bastianini had finished fourth in both races, missing Sunday’s podium by only 0.078 seconds. Indonesia brought a tenth-place finish in the Grand Prix. Australia offered only a twelfth place in the Sprint before Sunday’s race was cancelled. Sepang finally provides another finish near the front. Not a podium. Not proof that all his difficulties have been solved. But a Sunday when the potential glimpsed in Japan finds its way back into the results. And it comes after a final lap in which Bezzecchi runs wide, allowing Bastianini to move ahead.

On Saturday, Enea was still searching for answers. On Sunday, he was the first Italian across the finish line. That does not change everything. It does change the meaning of his Malaysian weekend.

Marini: seventh place starts with what happened in Australia

Luca Marini’s result is one of the easiest to overlook. Seventh at Sepang. Nine points. Six positions gained from the grid. But the significance of that finish begins a week earlier.

At Phillip Island, a viral illness had left the Honda rider struggling with severe muscle weakness after several days of high fever. He completed only two laps in Friday’s opening session before being ruled unfit to continue the Australian weekend.

Returning in Malaysia was already an important step. On Friday, Luca acknowledged that he was not yet back to full strength and that the physical effort of riding the MotoGP bike was still affecting his performance. He qualified thirteenth.

Saturday’s Sprint ended in the same position. But Sunday’s twenty-lap race brought something better. Marini worked his way forward to seventh, 17.724 seconds behind the winner, finishing just 0.066 seconds ahead of Di Giannantonio. It is not a podium, but it is a meaningful result for a rider who, one week earlier, could not even take part in the race.

First, Luca had to recover enough to return. Then he had to recover positions. A week ago, he could not line up on the grid. At Sepang, he finishes seventh. The classification alone cannot tell that entire story.

Bezzecchi: Saturday’s podium does not become another Sunday podium

Marco Bezzecchi’s Malaysian Grand Prix delivers a more difficult result than the Sprint.

On Saturday, he had fought his way into third place, passing Ai Ogura in the closing stages to finish behind Acosta and Marc Marquez. Another podium following his Indonesian Grand Prix victory and his recovery to fourth in Australia.

At Sepang, the full-length race initially offered the possibility of another strong finish. Starting fifth, Marco moved into the battle behind the leading three and spent part of the race fighting for fourth. But the second half became more difficult. Ogura closed in and moved past him, while tyre performance became an increasing concern. On the final lap, Bezzecchi ran wide and Bastianini took advantage, leaving Marco sixth. He finishes 11.259 seconds behind the winner, collecting ten points.

The result is not evidence that the pace shown on Saturday simply disappeared. But it is a reminder that a Sprint podium and a Grand Prix result are two different challenges. Ogura finishes fourth on the Trackhouse Aprilia, making him the leading rider for the manufacturer on Sunday.

In the championship, Bezzecchi moves to 332 points, while Marc Marquez reaches 399. The gap to the lead is now 67 points. That does not erase what Bezzecchi achieved at Mandalika, or the competitiveness he has shown in recent weeks. It does make the title fight more difficult.

The Sprint podium remains part of his weekend. Sunday’s race cannot add another one.

Bagnaia: the points return, but the performance does not

Francesco Bagnaia had finished Saturday’s Sprint in sixth place. Four points. A completed race after the retirements and difficult weekends that came before Sepang. Not a breakthrough, but at least something to build on. Sunday does not follow the same direction.

Bagnaia finishes thirteenth, 32.960 seconds behind Marc Marquez. Starting tenth, he loses three positions and collects only three points.

The gap to his teammate is particularly difficult to ignore. One factory Ducati wins the Grand Prix. The other finishes almost 33 seconds behind. That difference cannot, by itself, establish what is causing Bagnaia’s problems. But it shows how far he remains from the results he is trying to recover.

As early as Friday, Pecco had described a Ducati that wouldn’t allow him to carry speed through the more technical, twisty corners. On Saturday, following the Sprint race, he pointed to an additional issue: the rear end would lose performance after just three laps, making it increasingly difficult to stay close to his rivals.

What we can say is that Malaysia brings points in both races, but not the pace required to return to the front. At Motegi, Bagnaia had reached the finish without finding a lasting answer. At Mandalika, another retirement followed. In Australia, he failed to finish the Sprint before the Grand Prix was cancelled.

Sepang at least brings two finishes.

On Saturday, Pecco stopped adding zeros. On Sunday, he could not stop the difficult run of results.

Di Giannantonio eighth, Morbidelli returns to the top ten in the Malaysian GP

The two VR46 riders also leave Malaysia with very different comparisons between Saturday and Sunday.

Fabio Di Giannantonio finishes eighth, 17.790 seconds behind Marquez. After two consecutive Sprint podiums in Indonesia and Australia, he had continued his strong run with fifth place on Saturday at Sepang. Sunday does not bring another top-five result, but it adds eight more points. Thirteen across the weekend. It is not the same level of performance seen in his recent Sprints. But neither is it a return to the difficult weekend he experienced in Japan. Diggia keeps collecting points even when the podium is further away.

Franco Morbidelli finishes tenth, 25.097 seconds behind the winner. For him, the contrast with Saturday is even clearer. The Sprint ended in seventeenth after an unsuccessful motorcycle change as the rain began to affect the race. Sunday brings a top-ten finish and six points. It is not enough to turn Sepang into one of his strongest weekends. But it is a concrete improvement on Saturday.

Marquez wins the Malaysian GP as Acosta completes a strong weekend

At the front, Marc Marquez takes the Malaysian GP victory.

The Ducati rider moves into the lead during the opening stages and, after an early exchange with his brother Alex, establishes control of the race. He crosses the line finishing 4.172 seconds ahead of Pedro Acosta. It is also an important result in the title fight.

Jorge Martin is absent after attempting to return from the wrist injury sustained at Phillip Island. Marquez therefore leaves Malaysia with 399 points to Martin’s 355, extending his advantage to 44. The result needs no exaggeration.

But another rider deserves attention.

Pedro Acosta finishes second on Sunday after winning Saturday’s Sprint. The KTM rider collects 32 points across the weekend, adding another strong result to a season in which he claimed his first MotoGP Grand Prix victory in Austria.

Alex Marquez completes the podium, 5.955 seconds behind his brother. Saturday had brought a retirement after crashing out of the Sprint lead from pole position. Sunday brings him back to the podium.

Ai Ogura finishes fourth, once again showing strong pace for Trackhouse in an Aprilia line-up reduced to two riders because of the injuries to Martin and Raul Fernandez.

LINK:
Leggi: Acosta wins Malaysian Sprint as Bezzecchi returns to the podium: Marquez extends title lead with Martin sidelined
Guarda: MotoGP™ highlights: Malaysian GP