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General

Sepang MotoGP race day

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Onto lap eight and Vinales still leads by 1.4s from Marquez, with Dovizioso, Rossi, Miller, Rins, Morbidelli, Quartararo, Zarco, Petrucci, Crutchlow, Mir, Pol Espargaro, Aleix Espargaro and Bagnaia rounding out the points paying positions.
Crash
Rins clattered into Miller at the last corner and broke a wing off the Suzuki.
Miller had a bit of a moment at Turn 9 on the front end as Rossi came through for fourth.
Current tyre graphic shows Marquez actually went for the soft rear tyre, not the medium.
Quartararo has started to close in on Morbidelli ahead of him for seventh. So, whatever the problem has been in these early stages, the rookie is building back up to things again.
Rossi carves up the inside of Miller at Turn 14 for fourth, but is powerless to stop him retaliating on the straight. That is an embarrassing speed deficit between the Ducati and the Yamaha.
Replay shows Dovizioso running well wide at Turn 1 last time around. That would explain why Marquez has such a gap over third now on lap six.
Replay of Marquez's start shows him just weaving his way through the pack with the inside line into Turn 1. Sensational stuff from the Honda rider.
Vinales now 1.5s clear of Marquez as we start lap five.
Quartararo is still in eighth on lap four. Zarco and Petrucci complete the top 10,
Onto lap four and Vinales continues to extend his advantage at the front to 1.3s, while Dovizioso takes Miller for third at Turn 4.
Stopwatch
Miller fights back at Turn 15 but Marquez holds firm. Rossi now fastest with a 1m59.661s.
Marquez moves through on Miller at Turn 14. That's second.
Marquez still unable to find a way through on Miller. Vinales's lead now a second.
Zarco getting his elbows out on Petrucci at Turn 1 on lap three. He's up to ninth.
Stopwatch
Marquez unable to do much on Miller on the run to the last corner for second. 1m58.931s from Vinales.
Vinales's lead up to eight tenths as we reach the end of the second tour.
Rossi tried to dive bomb Dovizioso at Turn 9 on lap two but went in too wide.
Vinales is already trying to break away. He's got around half a second in hand. Marquez needs to move on Miller now to stop the Yamaha checking out.
But the Ducati of Miller powers past Marquez into Turn 1. Rossi up to fifth. Quartararo has dropped further to eighth.
Miller and Dovizioso run wide at Turn 15 and Marquez goes into second. He started 11th!
Marquez squeezes through on Morbidelli at Turn 9 for fifth. Vinales takes Miller at Turn 11 to move up to first.
Poleman Quartararo has gone back to sixth. Not the start the SRT rider needed. Vinales had a look at Miller at Turn 7 but couldn't get through. Dovizioso up to third.
Marquez takes Quartararo for fifth at Turn 3.
Good start from Morbidelli from third. But it's Miller who gets to Turn 1 first. Marquez up to fifth!
Lights green
The Malaysian Grand Prix is GO!
Despite the scorching temperatures at Sepang, the soft tyre has been a viable race option all weekend. Quartararo will be looking to use the early grip advantage that will afford him to escape.
Green flag
Warm-up lap is underway.
Information
Dovizioso is the only other rider on the soft rear tyre. The rest have gone with the medium option.
Information
Quartararo has gone with the soft rear. Vinales and Morbidelli on the medium.
Five minutes to go before lights out. It's an all-Yamaha front row. The home crowd will be hoping for some magic from SRT riders Quartararo and Morbidelli. But, Vinales showed some seriously impressive long-run pace in practice on the works team M1.
The big story of qualifying was the crash for Marc Marquez which has left him outside of the top two rows for only the third time in his MotoGP career.

He will start from 11th, but do not count him out, regardless of how battered and bruised he is.
Information
Here is the grid for this 20-lap race:
Row 1 - Quartararo - Vinales - Morbidelli
Row 2 - Miller - Crutchlow - Rossi
Row 3 - Rins - Petrucci - Zarco
Row 4 - Dovizioso - Marquez - Bagnaia
Row 5 - Mir - Aleix Espargaro - Pol Espargaro
Row 6 - Abraham - Iannone - Lorenzo
Row 7 - Kallio - Syahrin
Prior to race action getting underway on Sunday, a moment of silence was held on the grid for Indonesian Asia Talent Cup rider Afridza Munandar, who tragically lost his life in a crash during the ATC race one on Saturday.

We extend our deepest sympathies to all of Munandar's friends and family.
Before we get into the build up, we've already had two races today in Moto2 and Moto3.

Newly-crowned Moto3 champion Lorenzo Dalla Porta celebrated with victory, while Alex Marquez finished runner-up to Brad Binder to secure the 2019 Moto2 world championship.
Green flag
Good morning and welcome to race day for the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix.

By: Matt Beer

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