Francesco Banjaya dominated the Malaysian Grand Prix after a thrilling early battle with Jorge Martin to keep his MotoGP title hopes alive. This gave us an exciting season finale, which will decide the new champion.
We entered Sunday’s race with Martin’s 29 extra points, and if he had increased the advantage to 38, the Spaniard would have become the new world champion.
But Banjaya held on in a thrilling early battle with Martin to dominate the race by 3.141 seconds, taking his tenth Grand Prix win of the season.
Martin was second, his championship lead down to 24 points. So in the season finale – which will most likely be held in Barcelona – the final outcome of the fight for the title awaits us.
Eneja Bastianini completed the podium for another Ducati 1-2-3, while Marc Marquez had a lap seven crash but recovered to finish 12th.
The race was red-flagged on the first lap after a scary incident involving KTM duo Brad Binder and Jack Miller, as well as Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo. It happened in turn 2.
Binder made contact with the motorcycle in front of him and then hit Kvartarar, who was flanked by Miller.
Miller had to receive medical attention at the side of the track, but was not seriously injured. Binder did not continue the race.
The race was restarted, where Banjaja managed to make a strong start from pole position and hold off Martin, while Marc Marquez took third place.
Martin made a valiant attempt to take the lead from Banjaya at Turn 6, but went a little wide and let the factory Ducati rider come back.
The championship leader managed to take the lead on lap 14, but also to hold on to it, despite taking a bad corner just a few seconds later. However, Banjaja managed to return to the leading position, but Martin took the lead again at turn 14.
Martin let Banjaya retake the lead on lap three as the factory Ducati rider fended off another charge at Turn 4.
By the end of lap five, Banjaya’s lead was up to eight-tenths and continued to grow, while Marco Marquez’s crash at Turn 5 on lap seven gave Martin a comfortable lead in second place.
The pair differed in front tire strategy: Banjaya chose the soft and Martin the medium compound. On lap 15, it looked like that would be a factor in the game, as Martin cut Banjaya’s lead from two seconds to 1.5.
But a cornering mistake on lap 16 cost Martin eight tenths and that ended his charge.
Banjaja won ahead of Martin, while Bastianini won third place.
Aleks Marques was fourth in his Gresini-led GP23, while Pedro Akosta finished in the top five in his Tech3 GASGAS.
Quartararo restarted after the incident in the second lap with the KTMs, and for the first time of the season he finished in the top six for Yamaha.
Aprilia’s Maverik Vinjales was seventh, with Aleks Rins (Yamaha), Marko Beceki (VR46) and Augusto Fernandes (Tech3) rounding out the top 10.
Joan Zarco was the best Honda in 11th, while Marc Marquez bounced back from his crash to finish 12th and retain third place in the standings.
Ales Espargaro (Aprilia) was 13th ahead of Franco Morbidelli, who rejoined after crashing at Turn 9, and Honda’s Luca Marini. Andrea Janone was 17th in his first grand prix since 2019 for VR46, while Đoan Mir (Honda) and Takaki Nakagami (LCR) retired.
Source: www.moto-berza.com
