MotoGP Malaysian GP: Live commentary and updates from Mandalika

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...

Sepang's main grandstand looks full as they all rise for the national anthem. It's a traditional interpretation sung by a female soloist. All passes off smoothly.

While rain threatened during the sprint, it is most likely going to stay away from today's 20-lapper. But this is Sepang and nobody can be 100% certain of that. Get those wet bikes ready - especially if you're Jack Miller's crew! 

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/jack-miller-explains-pitlane-outburst-we-looked-like-wers/10870022/

Circuit specialist Alex M will get another shot at glory today, when he could repeat his 2025 win here. He will start from pole position: here's how the full grid lines up. 

Grid

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Time	km/h
1	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	1'56.493	171.296
2	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	+0.070 1'56.563	171.193
3	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	+0.084 1'56.577	171.172
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	+0.124 1'56.617	171.113
5	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	+0.175 1'56.668	171.039
6	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	+0.349 1'56.842	170.784
7	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	+0.477 1'56.970	170.597
8	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	+0.523 1'57.016	170.530
9	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	+0.775 1'57.268	170.164
10	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	+0.794 1'57.287	170.136
11	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	+0.850 1'57.343	170.055
12	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	+1.244 1'57.737	169.486
13	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	+1.130 1'57.623	169.650
14	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	+1.240 1'57.733	169.491
15	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	+1.634 1'58.127	168.926
16	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	+1.655 1'58.148	168.896
17	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	+1.662 1'58.155	168.886
18	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	+1.726 1'58.219	168.795
19	I. Lecuona Gresini Racing	27		Ducati	+1.963 1'58.456	168.457
20	A. Fernandez Pramac Racing	47		Yamaha	+2.362 1'58.855	167.891
View full results

If you missed yesterday's sprint, that was a mistake! Like Phillip Island a week earlier, it was a corker. Alex Marquez seemed to be leading comfortably, but made an unforced error to allow Pedro Acosta the win. 

Marco Bezzecchi might be considered a title contender as well, but the man in third is 52 points behind Marquez going into this race. He needs a lot of optimism and some help from a Marquez mistake or problem. 

Right, Quartararo's exhibitionism aside, let's catch up on what's been going on this weekend. Most significant is Jorge Martin's withdrawal from the event due to his broken wrist, which opens the door for Marc Marquez to almost put the world championship to bed. He goes into the race with a 19-point lead over the absent Martin.

Fabio Quartararo is wandering around on the grid with his leathers wound down to his waist. Some things don't change - but let's see him do that at a breezy Portimao later this month.

Good day and welcome to our live text coverage of the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix! I'm Richard Asher and looking forward to it!