Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia dominated to secure a flag-to-flag Sprint MotoGP victory in Sepang.
The Italian crossed the line 2.2s clear of the Gresini Ducati duo of Alex Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer.
Polesitter Bagnaia launched off the line to take the holeshot into Turn 1, ahead of Gresini’s Marquez.
The rider with the best start was KTM rider Pedro Acosta, who took third into Turn 1 after starting from the middle of the second row.
The lead trio were all separated by only three bike lengths, but Acosta rose further to second at the final corner.
This allowed Bagnaia to stretch a half second advantage, but Marquez swept back on Acosta’s inside to take second into Turn 1 on Lap 2.
Behind the top three, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, VR46 Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli and Honda’s Joan Mir battled for fourth place.
Mir won the eventual battle after a bold pass on Morbidelli, though he had to fend off the Bologna bike’s natural speed in the closing sector.
Honda’s raw speed saw the Spaniard close in on Acosta in third as he eyed up a possible move to put him in the podium places.
Out front, in a similar fashion to Motegi, Bagnaia forged a dominant 1.5s advantage over Marquez by Lap 4. The two-time MotoGP champion looked comfortable out front as he cleared off into the distance.
By Lap 6, Bagnaia’s lead extended further to over 2s, showcasing incredible pace aboard the GP25.
Rookie Gresini rider Fermin Aldeguer divebombed Morbidelli into Turn 9, while both had to watch out for Mir, who lost the front of his Japanese machine.
In the second half of the race, the riders began to spread out, particularly the unchanged leading trio, but KTM’s Acosta faced growing pressure from his archrival Aldeguer.
The Spaniard recorded a lap time half a second quicker than the KTM rider, before taking third place into Turn 9 on Lap 7.
Aldeguer wasn’t alone in executing impressive moves at Sepang. Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi surged from 14th to seventh, making as many overtakes in as many laps.
Notably, the battle behind him between Luca Marini and Pol Espargaro ended with Marini suffering his first crash of the year at Turn 14. Marini lost the front and clipped Espargaro’s Tech3 KTM, causing the Spaniard to drop three positions.
Bagnaia crossed the line and claimed his second Sprint race victory of the year aboard the factory Ducati.
Marquez secured second place for Gresini, matching his starting position by holding his spot into Turn 1.
Aldeguer claimed another podium in his debut MotoGP season on his way to winning Rookie of the Year, helping secure a Ducati top-three finish in the process.
Acosta missed out on the podium spots once again aboard the KTM, defeating VR46 Ducati rider Franco Morbidelli.
Quartararo extracted the maximum result on his Yamaha as he secured sixth after starting in fourth place.
Bezzecchi finished seventh on the Aprilia, finishing ahead of LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco and Tech3 KTM rider Enea Bastianini.
Fabio Di Giannantonio rounded off the top 10 on the VR46 Ducati after overtaking Espargaro in the closing stages.
The Trackhouse Racing duo of Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez claimed 12th and 13th, respectively.
Jack Miller and Alex Rins battled to finish 14th and 15th, after fending off the struggling Brad Binder.
Somkiat Chantra finished in 17th for LCR Honda, followed by Lorenzo Savadori, Augusto Fernandez and Michele Pirro.
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