MotoGP Malaysian GP: Bagnaia clings on to title hopes with 10th win of 2024

Francesco Bagnaia overcame Jorge Martin’s early challenge to win the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, making a light dent in Martin's championship lead as the Spaniard came home second.

The pair duelled in spectacular fashion after factory Ducati rider Bagnaia converted his pole to a first-corner lead at the restart. However, Martin ultimately had to settle for second place and 20 points aboard his Pramac Ducati.

The result means Bagnaia has cut the gap at the top of the points table to 24, giving him a chance of retaining his world championship crown at the finale - now set to take place in Barcelona - in two weeks.

Jack Miller, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing, Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Crash (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Two starts were required to get the race going after an incident in the opening sequence of corners caused a red flag.

Bagnaia had taken the lead from Martin at the first corner when an accident developed behind them, involving the KTMs of Brad Binder and Jack Miller as well as the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo.

Bagnaia still led when the red flags flew towards the end of the first lap, as Miller still received attention on the circuit.

There was some concern for Miller during the red flag delay, but the Australian was then seen walking away from the medical centre. Though he escaped major injury, he would not take part in the restarted race. Binder joined him on the sidelines for the rest of the day after reporting pain on his shoulder.

Quartararo did however take the restart despite walking with a pronounced limp following the incident.

The ‘second’ race was reduced to 19 laps and got off to a spectacular start as Martin repeatedly attempted to make a move on Bagnaia stick during the first four laps. Thanks to Martin’s scant regard for the idea of following Bagnaia home and banking 20 points, their gripping battle was the longest protracted spell of wheel-to-wheel racing between the championship protagonists this season.

Then Martin’s slight mistake towards the end of lap four allowed Bagnaia a little breathing space to ride normal lines. He responded with fastest lap on lap five, which finally broke Martin’s challenge for victory.

Bagnaia was able to control the rest of the race to win by just over three seconds from Martin, whose choice to go against the grain and run the medium front tyre did not appear to have a meaningful impact on the outcome.

Enea Bastianini finished a lonely and distant third on the second factory Ducati. The Italian initially ran behind Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Franco Morbidelli (Pramac Ducati), but both fell on lap seven.

Alex Marquez, aboard the second Gresini Ducati, ran one spot behind Bastianini throughout the race. He briefly came under threat from Pedro Acosta, who made up several places from 13th on the grid, before the Tech3 KTM’s challenge faded in the final three laps.

Quartararo took an encouraging sixth place for Yamaha, with Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Alex Rins (Yamaha) completing the top eight.

Marco Bezzecchi won a tight battle for ninth place, the VR46 Ducati man holding off Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez by just over a tenth of a second at the flag.

Johann Zarco led the Hondas with his 11th place, while Marc Marquez recovered from his fall to finish 12th ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Morbidelli also remounted to score points, picking up two for his 14th place. Last of the scorers was Luca Marini on the factory Honda.

Photos from Malaysian GP Race

56

MotoGP Malaysian GP - Race results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

1

 - 

5

Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1		Ducati	19	-				25
2	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89		Ducati	19	+3.141 3.141	3.141			20
3	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23		Ducati	19	+10.484 10.484	7.343			16
4	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	19	+12.230 12.230	1.746			13
5	P. Acosta Tech 3	31		KTM	19	+13.699 13.699	1.469			11
6	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	19	+16.245 16.245	2.546			10
7	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12		Aprilia	19	+19.447 19.447	3.202			9
8	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	19	+20.611 20.611	1.164			8
9	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72		Ducati	19	+21.994 21.994	1.383			7
10	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37		KTM	19	+22.174 22.174	0.180			6
11	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	19	+25.625 25.625	3.451			5
12	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93		Ducati	19	+27.276 27.276	1.651			4
13	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41		Aprilia	19	+27.604 27.604	0.328			3
14	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21		Ducati	19	+27.949 27.949	0.345			2
15	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10		Honda	19	+28.838 28.838	0.889			1
16	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	19	+38.847 38.847	10.009
17	A. Iannone Team VR46	29		Ducati	19	+47.599 47.599	8.752
18	L. Savadori Trackhouse Racing Team	32		Aprilia	19	+48.956 48.956	1.357
dnf	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30		Honda	14	5 laps			Retirement
dnf	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36		Honda	5	14 laps			Accident
dns	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43		KTM	0	19 laps			Accident before restart
dns	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	0	19 laps			Accident before restart
View full results