Pedro Acosta claimed victory in the Malaysian MotoGP sprint that threatened to descend into chaos due to a late spell of rain.
Acosta came out on top of a four-way battle for the race win, prevailing by 0.578s over Marc Marquez, who increased his championship chances with second place.
Alex Marquez got the start from pole position and led uncontested down to the first corner, while Ai Ogura launched from the second row and got into second place.
Ogura weaved almost aggressively on the start/finish straight before tussling with Marc Marquez in the opening three corners, which saw the title favourite demoted to fourth on the first lap as Acosta also got past.
The positions remained secure for a few laps until Alex Marquez made a costly error when he slid out of the race lead at Turn 14.
The lead was then inherited by Ai Ogura, who had Acosta, as well as Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi, rapidly closing behind.
Lap 2 saw the white flag come out that allowed riders to swap bikes, with Jack Miller immediately prepared to take the gamble, but his Pramac Yamaha team not ready with his second bike to his clear frustrations in the box.
Iker Lecuona, Joan Mir and Franco Morbidelli were the first group to come in and successfully switch on lap 5, but were setting times almost 10 seconds off the leaders’ pace, with Maverick Vinales the only other rider electing to change towards the end of the race.
The conditions saw the leading four riders close in, with Ogura managing to hold off the challenges until Acosta attacked with three laps to spare.
Although Ogura responded to the initial overtake Acosta, he eventually ceded the position to Acosta, before resuming battle with Marquez.
Marquez moved past Ogura, before the Japanese rider re-passed into Turn 4, but eventually had to give up the position and slumped to fourth behind Bezzecchi.
Acosta claimed his second sprint victory of the campaign ahead of Marquez, whose nine-point haul increased his grip on the 2026 title.
Bezzecchi completed the podium ahead of Ogura, who had a big amount of breathing room to fifth-placed Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Pecco Bagnaia overcame Brad Binder in their battle for sixth, while Diogo Moreira and Enea Bastianini picked up the final sprint points in eighth and ninth.
Johann Zarco was 10th at the chequered flag, ahead of the factory Yamaha pairing of Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins.
Luca Marini finished 13th, as Augusto Fernandez was the final rider who chose not to change bikes and took 14th. Vinales was 15th as the last rider to switch, with Mir, Morbidelli and Lecuona rounding out the standings.
Marquez and Miller were the only retirements from the Sepang sprint.
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