SEPANG, Oct 25 — Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia stormed to victory in the Malaysian MotoGP sprint race today with a commanding wire-to-wire performance, while Alex Marquez finished second to clinch the runner-up spot in the world championship behind his brother, Marc.
Starting from pole, the Ducati rider completed the 10-lap race in 19 minutes and 53.725 seconds, finishing 2.259 seconds ahead of Marquez to seal redemption after crashing out in last year’s sprint despite setting a lap record in qualifying.
Spain’s Fermin Aldeguer took third place, followed by Pedro Acosta and Franco Morbidelli in fourth and fifth respectively.
Newly crowned world champion Marc Marquez was absent from the grid after suffering a collarbone injury during the Indonesian round earlier this month, which has ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Bagnaia, 28, a two-time world champion, looked untroubled throughout the race, making a clean getaway and maintaining a steady lead from start to finish.
Marquez briefly slipped to third midway through the race but recovered strongly to reclaim second, completing a historic one-two finish for the Marquez brothers in the overall championship standings. — AFP
