Marquez wins as rare failure costs Bagnaia Sepang podium

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia began the race from pole position, and took the holeshot to lead Marquez.

It wasn’t long before Bagnaia conceded the lead to Marquez on Lap 2. From there, the #73 Gresini was unchallenged to the chequered flag.

Bagnaia soon found himself embroiled in a battle with Pedro Acosta on the factory KTM, and eventually had to relinquish second.

The Italian settled into third and with three laps to go the rear tyre on his #63 Ducati let go.

“Today we were unlucky, as we had a flat rear tyre,” said Bagnaia.

“This happened on lap 12 and then, little by little, the pressure kept dropping.

“I thought I had managed the tyre wear the wrong way, but after analysing the data, the issue was clearly there.

“Unfortunately, these things can happen. Overall though, it was a positive weekend despite how it ended.”

Bagnaia’s demise handed third place to Honda’s Joan Mir. At the front of the field, Marquez clinched victory over Acosta by 2.6 seconds.

While Marquez took victory, his teammate Fermin Aldeguer crashed out of sixth at the final turn.

Australia’s interest, Jack Miller, was only 14th in a race of preservation.

“I tried to manage the tyres as best as I could, being very gentle at the beginning of the race to make sure I could get to the end and hopefully have something left in my pocket,” said Miller.

“But I had the same issues as the guys around me. Rins was in the same boat as me, nursing most of the race, even though it seemed like he had a little bit more on the corner exits.

“In the end, I focused on bringing it home rather than ending up in the gravel. I hope we can be more competitive in Portimao.”

Two rounds remain in the MotoGP season. Portugal’s Portimao will host the penultimate round on November 7-9 at Algarve.

Results: MotoGP Grand Prix of Malaysia, Sepang International Circuit