MotoGP Malaysian GP: Live commentary and updates from Sepang

As the cooking, exhausted riders sit sprawled on the floor awaiting the podium, we'll call that a wrap. See you next time, wherever that may be. Thanks for joining me, Richard Asher, and hope you enjoyed the coverage!

Well, it wasn't exactly a classic at Sepang, but it did have its moments. A fair few retirements, too, including both LCR Honda riders and the factory's Joan Mir. Acosta starred as usual, although there was another KTM in the same ballpark, at least, with Bastianini's fifth place. Bagnaia will be unhappy in the extreme, while Vinales may need to reflect on some even stronger injections as he was unable to reproduce his single-lap pace.

"We did a perfect race, but we must stay super-concentrated," says Marc in parc ferme. "Not many races to go, but many moments..."

One rider who may not go to Qatar regardless is Marc's brother Alex, who is battling his physical condition and could time further treatment to avoid a flight to Doha.

Whatever happens with Qatar, this world title is definitely Marc's to lose now. And he's not much good at throwing away an advantage these days. 

Marc Marquez must outscore Jorge Martin by 30 points at the next race to seal the world championship. But that is assuming the next race is in Qatar. And, as we posted just before this race began, that is still not certain. 

Here are the full results from the Malaysian Grand Prix: 

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	20	40'14.236				25
2	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	20	+4.172 40'18.408	4.172			20
3	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	20	+5.955 40'20.191	1.783			16
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	20	+6.759 40'20.995	0.804			13
5	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	20	+10.896 40'25.132	4.137			11
6	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	20	+11.259 40'25.495	0.363			10
7	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	20	+17.724 40'31.960	6.465			9
8	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	20	+17.790 40'32.026	0.066			8
9	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	20	+23.729 40'37.965	5.939			7
10	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	20	+25.097 40'39.333	1.368			6
11	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	20	+25.826 40'40.062	0.729			5
12	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	20	+27.063 40'41.299	1.237			4
13	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	20	+32.960 40'47.196	5.897			3
14	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	20	+34.597 40'48.833	1.637			2
15	I. Lecuona Gresini Racing	27		Ducati	20	+38.446 40'52.682	3.849			1
16	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	20	+43.327 40'57.563	4.881
dnf	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	17	+3 Laps 35'17.309	3 Laps		Retirement
dnf	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	14	+6 Laps 29'46.196	3 Laps		Retirement
dnf	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	9	+11 Laps 18'42.571	5 Laps		Retirement
dnf	A. Fernandez Pramac Racing	47		Yamaha	1	+19 Laps 3'40.908	8 Laps		Retirement
View full results

A propos titles....Marc Marquez can wrap it up next time out! Stay tuned for news on the permutations....

The younger Marquez did indeed secure third over Ogura, and the man in fifth is....Enea Bastianini! This after Bezzecchi ran wide almost within sight of the flag, dropping to sixth spot. This is the kind of error that makes people not take him seriously as a title contender.

Looks like Alex M has enough of a buffer to hang on to third...

Ogura is taking a tenth or two out of Alex M every sector, and has the gap under a second.

Two laps remaining, and Ogura ia 1.2 behind Alex Marquez. And faster...

Zarco has pitted; his troubles mean Morbidelli is up into the top 10.

Ogura really is quicker than Bezzecchi now...it's the charge! And the pair touch as Ai tries his next move through the first sequence of corners. Finally Ai makes the pass stick at Turn 4. Can he catch Alex Marquez for third now?

Zarco is dropping back! It's a suspected technical issue and he is outside the top 10 already.  Ogura tries a move on Bezzecchi too, but cannot make it stick.

It's interesting to watch Ogura tackle a full-length grand prix in warm conditions from a good grid position. It's been a while. That's his cue for a late-race charge - or it would have been earlier in the season. There's no real sign of one yet though. Perhaps this tyre-whispering job is beyond even him? 

Moreira has brought the LCR Honda into the pits now. Looks like a retirement for the Brazilian.

Six laps to go, and Marc has a 2.5s lead. Acosta has 1.5s over the battle for third. Behind that, battles are a distant memory as Bastianini, Zarco, Marini and Di Giannantonio ride their own races. It's got a rather familiar Sepang look about it, this race. The main hope for entertainment is Alex v Bezzecchi v Ogura for third. 

The man to inherit Mir's spot in the top 10 is another Honda rider, Diogo Moreira. He's in a pretty lonely 10th spot with Di Giannantonio ahead of him and Brad Binder behind him. There are few signs of recovery from Bagnaia, by the way, as he is 16th. We may expect another Eeyorish press briefing later. 

Sad news: Mir's retirement appears to be health-related. The Spaniard has only just returned to MotoGP action after a spell off vision and fatigue trouble. We wish him well. 

Okay, so while all that was going on, Marc quietly stretched his lead to almost two seconds. Acosta looks to be consolidating second already. At this point the real fight is for third, as Bez sniffs around Alex and Ogura keeps an Ai on both of them.

Joan Mir has brought his works Honda into the pits. It's clearly not a bike change, as the sun is still shining. Oh, Pedro Acosta has taken second! A clear move on Alex, who.....now falls behind Bezzecchi! Wait, no he doesn, that move didn't stick. Fool's errand, this - MotoGP changes faster than a  man can write!

There are almost three seconds between Ogura in fifth and the next group, which consists of Bastianini, Zarco and Marini.

It's official: Marc leads by 1.154s at the start of this lap. That is a gap, ladies and gents! Then come Alex, Acosta, Bezzecchi and Ogura, who are covered by not very much as they reel off their laps in somewhat mesmerising fashion.

Marc's lead is just edging up towards the one-second mark now.

A propos conservative pace, the red sectors have just about disappeared from the timing screens at Sepang. 2.4s cover the top five.

By the way, these guys are racing in a windless 35 degrees, on a track that's cooking at 54 degrees. It's understandable that things aren't too wild in this opening phase.

The top five are pretty close together but holding station for now. There's around a second behind Ogura, then we find Bastianini, Zarco, Marini, Di Giannantonio and Mir. Clearly the race is still settling down. 

Acosta is all over Alex for second, with Marc getting away in the lead. There is a small gap to Bezzecchi/Ogura in fourth. 

While Marini has made five spots from his start position, the likes of Franco Morbidelli, Pecco Bagnaia and Maverick Vinales have been the big losers. Vinales is actually running last. 

Bezzecchi passes Ogura for fourth.

Marc leads Alex across the line to start the second lap, and Pedro Acosta crosses is ahead of Ogura in third. Bezzecchi is fifth, ahead of BAstianini, Zarco and a fast-starting Luca Marini. 

It's a cleaner opening phase than yesterday as Ai Ogura goes into third. Alex has a crack at Marc into Turn 4 but cannot make it stick!"

Despite the degradation concern, everyone is going to the grid with a pair of soft compound tyres. Is there no other option? Well, Michelin brought two harder compounds but they have been little used this weekend. But MotoGP teams can intuit what is best and don't need to give all the compounds a chance - as Motegi taught us ;)

It sounds like we have a 'tyre race' on our hands. As Pedro Acosta's crew chief Paul Trevathan has just explained on the feed, degradation is expected to be severe. And the interesting thing about Sepang is that is affects the front and rear tyres equally. Another factor is the dodgy circuit surface, which has not yet been tested by a full field running a full 20 laps...