The Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP24) added his seventh victory of the season in a ‘sprint’ race by winning the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix and taking a decisive step towards his first world title in the category.
Martín benefited from the fall in the first laps of his direct rival in the championship and current world champion, the Italian Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati Desmosedici GP24), who is now 29 points away from the Spaniard, who He could become world champion on Sunday if he adds nine points more than the Italian.
Finishing alongside Martín on the podium of the sprint race were the Spanish Marc Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP23) and the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati Desmosedici GP24).
Rain on the asphalt of Sepang
Moments before the start of the MotoGP sprint race, a minute of silence was held in memory of the DANA victims in Spain.
Furthermore, after the minute of silence a few drops of rain began to fall on the Sepang asphalt, which did not interrupt the start protocol of a race declared ‘dry’ but already with a white flag, which meant that the drivers could enter their workshops to change their motorcycle, although none of them did.
Jorge Martín surprised ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia by pairing up with him on the finish line to enter first position in the curve at the end of the stretch, with Marc Márquez already in third position, after gaining two places from his brother Alex Márquez and to the Italian Enea Bastianini.
That leading trio, with Martín, Bagnaia and Márquez, before completing the first lap had already achieved a difference of seven tenths of a second with respect to the main group, led by Bastianini, who pushed hard to try to reach the escapees.
Bagnaia crashes at turn nine
With a pace more than a second lower than what they achieved in 2023, the leader of the race quickly stretched the gap, but that frenetic pace caused the first surprise when the Italian ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia crashed on turn nine, which It left Martín alone at the head of the race, only pursued by Marc Márquez.
Winning the world title was very much on Jorge Martín’s face, already knowing on the electronic panel of his motorcycle that Bagnaia was out of the race, but the Madrid native held on at the same pace at all times, focused on not making mistakes.
The race had lost all its interest and with all eyes focused on the pace of Jorge Martín, who could not allow even the slightest error to achieve victory in the ‘sprint’ ahead of Marc Márquez and Enea Bastianini and already more than two and a half seconds the chasing group led by Alex Márquez.
Despite dropping his pace considerably, Jorge Martín knew how to endure the differences with respect to Marc Márquez and Enea Bastianini to add that seventh victory to the ‘sprint’ of the season and thus consolidate his position as leader in the provisional classification of the world championship.
After the drivers on the podium finished Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Pedro Acosta and Marco Bezzecchi, who completed the top ten positions.
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