David Alonso defeated team-mate Daniel Holgado to lead Aspar to a 1-2 finish in the Moto2 race at Sepang.
Alonso passed Holgado for the lead of the race on Lap 3 and despite a late mistake, he remained in control and claimed the race win.
Holgado made a strong start from pole position and held onto the lead down to the first corner ahead of Angel Piqueras, while Alonso progressed to third off the line after passing championship contender Izan Guevara.
Later in the first lap, the former Moto3 champion took the opportunity to pass Angel Piqueras to make it an Aspar 1-2, and soon after used his initiative and momentum to pass his team-mate for the lead of the race, in a simple overtake despite the pair’s recent history.
After some early action at the front, the race settled into a lull with the threat of the Pirelli tyres degrading throughout given the heat of the Sepang circuit.
Alonso made an error and almost highsided onto the back straight with just over three laps remaining, which allowed Holgado to slash the gap in half.
However, the Colombian rider responded and pulled the gap back to almost a second, which allowed him to make it to the line to record a third victory in the intermediate class.
Holgado cruised to second, while Piqueras went largely unchallenged throughout the race to complete the podium in third.
Guevara took fourth over the line, one place ahead of title rival Manuel Gonzalez – whose fifth place saw him retain the lead in the championship by a slender 3.5 points.
Adrian Huertas showed some late race pace in sixth, while Collin Veijer passed Ivan Ortola on the final lap for seventh place.
Celestino Vietti was one of the fastest riders on track at the end of the race and came through to ninth from 20th on the grid, while Alex Escrig completed the top 10.
Jose Antonio Rueda took 11th, beating Alonso Lopez and Daniel Munoz whose tyres degraded in the late stages in 12th and 13th.
Filip Salac finished 14th, while Senna Agius picked up the final point in 15th.
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