Bagnaia wins and Quartararo third in Malaysia leaving the title to be decided in Valencia.
The 2022 MotoGP World Championship title race will be decided at the season finale in Valencia, despite Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) claiming his seventh win of the season in Malaysia. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) finished a very close second, as the reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) claimed P3.
What a start!
Bagnaia got an amazing launch and went from P9 to P2 behind Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) from pole. Quartararo also got a great start and was P5 on Lap 1 and Bastianini was P3 behind Pecco.
Martin was 0.8s clear of Pecco by the end of Lap 2 and Bastianini was tucked up right behind his 2023 teammate in P3 gapping Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) in P4 by 0.7s.
Quartararo was able to pass Marc Marquez at the beginning of Lap 5 and began trying to bridge the 2.4s gap to Bastianini and title rival Bagnaia.
On lap 7 Martin lost the front at Turn 5 handing the lead to Bagnaia with Bastianini still climbing all over the back of him until finally up the inside, late on the brakes overtaking him on lap 11.
Bastianini and Pecco remained locked together, with Bezzecchi right behind Quartararo until Bagnaia led again, overtaking Bestia with 6 laps remaining.
The gap back to Quartararo was now 1.6s and now with four laps remaining Quartararo was 1.3s ahead of Bezzecchi with the gap increasing steadily.
The final lap.
Pecco and Bastianini were too close for comfort, but Bagnaia managed to keep calm and took the chequered flag to win in Sepang to take a 23-point lead to the season finale in Valencia. Bastianini was 0.2s away from victory to finish P2, with Quartararo still in the race to keep his MotoGP crown.
Miller time.
Aussie Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) made a great comeback from P14 on the grid to help his team pick up the Teams’ title.
Race Results – Top 10:
- Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team)
- Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP)
- Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP)
- Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team)
- Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar)
- Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team)
- Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
- Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)
- Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing)
- Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing)
View championship point standings here.
The MotoGP season finale will be held at Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, on 6 November 2022.