MotoGP Malaysia sprint results Acosta Marquez championship

Pedro Acosta won the rain-threatened 10-lap Malaysian Grand Prix sprint at Sepang ahead of Marc Marquez. Marquez extended his title lead over Jorge Martin to 19 points after Martin withdrew with a wrist injury.

Key takeaways

Pedro Acosta won the Sepang sprint by 0.578 seconds over Marc Marquez

Marco Bezzecchi finished third, Ai Ogura fourth

Jorge Martin withdrew due to wrist pain from a fracture

Marc Marquez leads the championship with 374 points, 19 ahead of Martin

Alex Marquez started from pole but crashed out on lap three

578 seconds. Marco Bezzecchi finished third, ahead of Ai Ogura in fourth. The race was threatened by rain late on. Acosta celebrated his second sprint victory of the season.

Marc Marquez now leads the riders’ standings with 374 points, 19 ahead of Jorge Martin on 355 and Marco Bezzecchi on 322.

Martin withdrew from the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend after persistent wrist pain hampered his comeback from a fracture sustained in Australia, and acknowledged that his title hopes were already lost. Marquez collected nine points for his second-place finish, extending his lead over Martin.

The seven-time MotoGP champion races for the Ducati Lenovo Team and has won nine Grand Prix World Championships, including seven in the MotoGP class. Alex Marquez started from pole position.

He stormed into the lead at turn one, while Marc Marquez fell to fourth when he was overtaken by an aggressive Ogura, who forced Acosta to take evasive action. Alex Marquez crashed out of the lead on lap three at turn 13, giving Ogura the lead.

Ogura and Acosta traded places with three laps remaining, but the Japanese rider came off worse in the exchange, leaving the door open for Marc Marquez to overtake and move into second while Bezzecchi also climbed to third. Jack Miller gambled on an early pit stop.

Only the backmarkers rolled the dice on a bike swap while the leaders stayed out, convinced that the rapidly drying track did not justify a switch to wet tyres. Acosta waited a long time behind race leader Ai Ogura and only struck on lap eight.

He launched his first attack at the Turn 9 hairpin. Ogura struck back at Turn 11, but Acosta got a better exit and took the lead back. This time for good. It is only the second sprint win of his career.

He took the first at the season opener in Buriram, but only after a penalty for Marc Marquez. In Sepang, by contrast, he won the race on track.

Acosta said mixed conditions are not normally his strength, but because he had nothing to lose and knew that Marc Marquez behind him had to think about the championship, he gave it a go.

Marc Marquez said he was happy to finish second, avoiding any risks in treacherous conditions in some parts of the circuit.

He said the guys that are not fighting for the championship can take more risk, and that he was calm and had the pace but did not want to lead the race because the one that arrives first is the one that normally crashes.

The Malaysian Grand Prix continues with Sunday’s main race at Sepang, where Marc Marquez is set to increase his championship advantage further.