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.
Bagnaia’s victory and Bezzecchi’s lowly finish saw the Ducati rider regain third place in the championship from the Aprilia man – though his margin heading into the Malaysian GP on Sunday will be just a single point.
Malaysian GP – Sprint results:
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