Jorge Martín added his seventh victory of the season in a race sprint by winning the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix and take 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, which is now 29 points away from the Spanish, who could be proclaimed world champion on Sunday if he adds nine points more than the Italian.
Together with Martín, the Spaniard finished on the podium of the sprint race Mark Marquez and the Italian Enea Bastianini.
Moments before the start of the MotoGP sprint race, a minute of silence was held in memory of DANA victims in Spain.
Furthermore, after the minute of silence, some raindrops began to fall on the Sepang asphalt, which did not interrupt the protocol of start of a race declared ‘dry’ but already with a white flag, which meant that the riders could go into their workshops to change their bikes, 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 it, with Marc Márquez already in third position, after winning two put to his brother Alex Márquez and 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 Regarding the main group, headed by Bastianini, who pulled hard to try to reach the escaped ones.
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 left Martín alone in the lead race, only pursued by Marc Márquez.
Jorge Martín had a very hard time winning the world title, already knowing on the electronic panel of his motorcycle that Bagnaia He 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 afford 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 behind the chasing group led by Alex Márquez.
Despite dropping his pace considerably, Jorge Martín knew how to hold on the differences regarding Marc Márquez and Enea Bastianini to add that seventh sprint victory of the season and thus consolidate his leading position in the provisional world championship standings.
After the drivers on the podium finished Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Pedro Acosta and Marco Bezzecchi, who They completed the top ten positions.
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