How Alex Marquez kept his cool while Bagnaia got tyred, Moto2 and Moto3, plus quotes from all the Aussies
Crisis… what crisis? Ducati swept back to MotoGP superiority with a swagger in Malaysia as Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) celebrated his crowning as runner-up of 2025 with a convincing coast to victory. But KTM and Honda served yet another warning that they are closing in.
Despite securing the triple crown in Indonesia, the factory Ducati box was engulfed in crisis in the previous two GPs, with Pecco Bagnaia’s (Lenovo Ducati) struggles as hard to read as the local thunderstorms. Yet there were flickers of the Italian’s quality here as he scored a surprise pole and dominated the Sprint before pushing for victory on Sunday.
Yet even on a track where he had won twice in the past three years, and with Marc Marquez’s (Lenovo Ducati) now confirmed until 2026, he still couldn’t remain Ducati’s top dog. As Alex entered Sunday pressure free. Two crashes on Friday had left him with a stiff neck and lacking front end feel. He’d ridden “not very well” on his way to second in the Sprint, with wrapping up second in the championship the clear priority.
Sunday was a different story. The race was just four turns old when Alex signalled his intentions by barging Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) wide, giving him a run at the fast-starting Bagnaia. A similar move the following lap gave him the clear track so crucial in track temperatures of 35°C to maintain a working front tyre pressure. From there, Alex’s third win of the season was rarely in question.
In truth, racing took a back seat after an earlier incident cast a shadow over the day. Starting the Moto3 sighting lap, Noah Dettwiler’s CIP KTM appeared to cut out exiting Turn 3. Jose Antonio Rueda (Ajo KTM) clattered into him from behind at close to full speed, necessitating a red flag and one hour-and-40-minute delay as both riders were airlifted to hospital.
Considering the violence of the spill, Rueda escaping with a broken hand and number of contusions was a minor miracle. Dettwiler wasn’t so lucky. While no official update arrived on Sunday night, it was believed the 20-year-old Swiss rider was seriously ill in hospital in Kuala Lumpur as he underwent multiple surgeries.
The mood was understandably sombre after, with some riders struggling to get in the zone. “I didn’t manage to,” admitted Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati). Bagnaia was the same. “Maybe I’m a bit too empathetic,” he said. The decision to restart the Moto3 race more than 90 minutes later was also tough to understand, according to the factory Ducati man. “Letting these young riders do a race in those conditions after seeing helicopters going away… I will never understand it.”
Yet the race went ahead at 3pm as planned. And Bagnaia showed few signs of his mind being elsewhere as he got the jump to the first turn with Acosta and Alex behind and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) nabbing fourth from Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) at Turn 2. Morbidelli, Joan Mir (HRC Castrol) and Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) followed suit.
Alex’s early aggression at Turn 4 paid off massively. Fabulous moves on Acosta (lap one) and Bagnaia (lap two) showed Saturday’s nerves were a thing of the past. Instead, it was Bagnaia who looked wooden. Opting for Michelin’s medium front tyre while the other front runners bet on the soft, there were early indications the Italian was wavering. A huge bobble through Turn 14 on lap two suggested this could be a decision to regret, with Acosta passing him the following lap at Turn 4, only to lose out at the next corner. All of which played into Alex’s hands, his lead now 0.8s.
Behind and Aldeguer was all at sea. Possessing the rhythm to fight up front, the rookie’s front tyre pressure had ballooned early on, leaving him in a world of pain. Mir soon took advantage, barging his young compatriot out of the way exiting Turn 15 on lap two, with the Gresini rider losing a further place to Morbidelli starting the next lap.
By lap five, Bagnaia had caught his breath. And while Acosta wouldn’t allow him a moment’s rest, trying another move at Turn 14 on lap seven, only to run wide, he was keeping Alex’s lead to under a second.
Yet as the race entered its second half, it became clear repeating his Saturday heroics would be impossible. Despite suffering the same old issues with tyre degradation in the Sprint, an electronics change that gave the rider more throttle control had kept Acosta in it. Finally, he got by Bagnaia on lap 13 to secure a second podium of the weekend. And the Italian’s troubles didn’t end there.
Mir had finally cleared Quartararo for fourth at Turn 4 at mid-race distance. His ambitions didn’t end there, as he tore off after the fight for second. Soon Morbidelli had followed with a typically aggressive barge – “Morbidelli-style,” Quartararo called it – at Turn 15. Now Bagnaia’s podium was under threat, as Mir brought the gap down from 2.5s to 1.5s in a handful of laps.
But there was a reason. The middle of Bagnaia’s rear Michelin had run over an errant piece of carbon fibre, puncturing the rubber. His deteriorating feeling was so bad he pulled off track on lap 18, handing Mir a second podium in four outings, and Morbidelli fourth. “We saw on the data that I had a puncture on lap 12,” said Bagnaia. “Then I started spinning, not controlling it in braking…”
Quartararo did well to keep an advancing Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) at bay after Aldeguer had crashed out at Turn 15 on lap 17. The Italian had emerged from tenth at one point and a decent scrap which featured Luca Marini (HRC Castrol), Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia), Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and Zarco.
Bastianini’s canny ability to manage the rear tyre paid off as he headed Marini and Binder for seventh, with Ogura beating Bezzecchi to the final top ten spot. Eighth for much of the race, Zarco dropped all the way down to 12th late on.
Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati – 545 points) maintains his lead with Alex (413) confirming second. Bezzecchi (291) now leads Bagnaia (286) by five points.
Surprise of the weekend
Pedro Acosta. Based on his Sprint experience, the 21-year-old gave it seven laps before his rear started spinning badly. How, then, did he finish 2.6s back of the winner over double the distance? Marc aside, hard to see anyone riding better currently.
Dud of the weekend
Raul Fernandez. A week on from a maiden MotoGP win, the Spaniard was relegated to a bit-part role here. Never comfortable from Friday, he failed to build on a position of strength as he crashed out when well down.
Moto2 – Dixon wins as Gonzalez chokes
Jake Dixon (Marc VDS Boscoscuro) stormed to a third Moto2 win of the year at Sepang while title leader Manuel Gonzalez (IntactGP Kalex) crashed out, handing Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Kalex) the overall lead.
Bumped back to the final race of the day after the earlier Moto3 incident, the race was restarted after Joe Roberts (ART Kalex) crashed exiting the final turn. Now reduced to an 11-lap sprint, pole sitter Dani Holgado (Aspar Kalex) got the jump. But soon Dixon was on him. Having disposed with Albert Arenas’ (Gresini Kalex) early challenge, the Englishman took control on lap three and never looked back.
David Alonso (Aspar Kalex) passed his teammate for second on lap eight, with Barry Baltus (Fantic Kalex) following through for the final podium spot.
But what was of greater interest was the title battle behind. Moreira and Gonzalez had already traded blows in qualifying, with the Spaniard (seventh on the grid) coming off better than the Brazilian (16th). Gonzalez’s early race was strong as he fought for third place.
Yet he soon found his front feel disappearing. All the while Moreira advanced. By lap eight Moreira jumped to sixth, a place behind his adversary and less than a second back. Coincidence that Gonzalez then tucked the front at the final turn?
For the first time in his career, Moreira (256 points) leads a World Championship with Gonzalez (247) now nine points behind after remounting for 25th. Baltus (221) jumps to third, 35 back.
Moto3 – Injuries cast a pall
The race was delayed by one hour and 40 minutes due to a crash for Noah Dettwiler (CIP KTM) and Jose Antonio Rueda (Ajo KTM) on the sighting lap. It appeared Dettwiler’s machine cut out exiting Turn 3 and Rueda rode into his rear. Both riders were airlifted to hospital.
The restart was held over ten laps. With Rueda absent, Taiyo Furusato (HTA Honda) sensed an opening. The Japanese rider broke clear of a 13-rider gaggle to claim a maiden Grand Prix win, and Honda’s first in Moto3 all year.
Furusato benefited from some chaos behind. Leopard Honda riders Adrian Fernandez and pole-sitter David Almansa were intent on disrupting their own rhythm while Max Quiles (Aspar KTM) recovered from a massive front-end moment at Turn 2 on lap six.
That left rookie Guido Pini (IntactGP KTM) to give chase to Furusato before he crashed out at Turn 15 with one lap to go, which allowed Angel Piqueras (MSI KTM) to take second ahead of Fernandez, who nearly crashed at Turn 9 when pushing for a pass on the final lap. Almansa was fourth, with Ryusei Yamanaka (MSI KTM) in fifth.
Rueda (365 points) is champion despite this non-score, with Piqueras (251) strengthening his grip on second overall after Quiles’ (237) scrappy seventh place.
THE AUSSIES
Jack Miller (Sprint: 14th, Result: 14th)
Jack was unable to summon the heroics from his home GP. Despite ending Friday third, he qualified 11th and suffered from rising front tyre pressure in the Sprint. A lack of rear grip late on prevented him climbing up the order. “Pretty average,” was his assessment. “Tried to manage the tyre as best I could. Thought I’d have more in my pocket at the back end of the race. We made some progress on the group in front. Started pushing in the last three laps but she was spinning a lot on me on the straights. Had to short shift. Any time I tried to push hard we’d end up having a moment on the front. Opted to bring it home rather than have another one on the ground.”
Senna Agius (Result: DNF)
A comedown after Senna’s home heroics the previous week. The 20-year-old struggled all weekend long and qualified down in 23rd. Then an engine issue forced a retirement on lap six after he had progressed to 17th early on. “Not a good race for us,” he said. “Even though I got off to a decent start. I settled in the pack, but I didn’t have a good feeling. Anyway, I worked my way forward and was on track to score some points. Unfortunately, the engine broke going into turn one. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I lost power along the straight. We came here with some positive results, so we need keep our head down and learn from this weekend.”
Harrison Voight (Result: 26th)
Another learning experience for Harrison. 28th on the grid, he lowered his personal best lap time by a full second from FP1 to qualifying. And after fighting with two local wildcards early on, he brought it home for a solid finish and more experience, ahead of the finale of his European Moto2 campaign. “Another tough weekend but it was a great one to learn from. Steps were definitely made, which is very positive. I always love coming to this track. I want to say big thank you to the team for all their hard work.”
Joel Kelso (Result: 12th)
Typical Moto3 antics left Joel back in 11th on the grid. And he was then hamstrung by the shortened race as he had planned to run Pirelli’s medium rear tyre and had no softs left for Sunday. It meant the early laps were a struggle. But he recovered a few places in what was an ultimately disappointing result. “That was way worse than I expected. Didn’t think it’d be that bad. From lap four I just tried to stay on the bike. It highsided on entry, on exit. Definitely, the worst race of the year. If I pushed any more, I’d have crashed for sure.”
Jacob Roulstone (Result: DNS)
Jacob was well placed on Friday and had posted the eighth fastest time of the day when he crashed out at Turn 4. Medical checks later forced him out. “Really unfortunate. At Turn 4, we saw on the data I hadn’t don’t much different than the previous lap. I had a little highside which left me with a fractured fifth metacarpal. Normally that’s not too bad. But the bone’s rotated so that’s a bit of a problem. The goal is to be back for Portimao and Valencia. But I’d rather be safe than risk anything.”
Cormac Buchanan (Result: DNF)
A crash out of Q1 at Turn 4 ended Cormac’s Saturday prematurely with some hip pain preventing him from taking further part in qualifying. Starting 26th, he quickly made up positions but fell from 22nd on the fourth lap. “From the first lap it felt like I had wets on a dry track. The worst conditions I’ve ever raced in. it was difficult to get into a racing mindset after the long delay. This weekend hasn’t gone to plan at all, especially after Phillip Island.”
