Luca Marini set the tone in qualifying after claiming pole position in Qatar. Behind in were the two Gresini Racing riders Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marques in P2 and P3 respectively. Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin will line up on the second row as they head into the Qatar Sprint race. The pair were separated by 0.022s in qualifying. As things heat up its everything on the line for Martin and Bagnaia as the championship race could tilt in either riders favor after this weekend.
Of note, Aleix Espargaro was handed a 6 place grid penalty for unsportsmanlike behavior after he was seen punching Franco Morbidelli at the end of qualifying. Espargaro was also issued a €10,000 fine for the incident. He will start from P16 in the races this weekend as a result of the penalty. Iker Lecuona (LCR Honda Castrol) was also handed a penalty for impeding Enea Bastianini during the session. He received a 3 place grid penalty for the incident.
After managing a leading pace in early practice Raul Fernandez (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team) could only muster a P9 finish in qualifying. It was not a very successful day for Honda as 3 of the 4 Hondas on grid will start from the back of the pack. The exception is Marc Marques who finished P7
Full Qualifying Results are below
Raul Fernandez put down a scorcher in Practice today setting the fastest last of the session sending him into Q2. The CRYPTODATA RNF MotoGP Team rider isn’t used to being at the front of the pack but beating out some of the top names in MotoGP in Practice today will be a major confidence boost for Fernandez this weekend. Fabio Di Giannantonio also had an amazing practice session running second fastest behind Fernandez by only 0.049s. Maverick Viñales finished in third.
Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia Not in the Top 5
Oddly the two riders who are in a fight for the championship were no where to be found in the top 5. With Martin edging out the lead ahead of Bagnaia by 0.007s for P7 and P8. The result was unexpected for both riders which has raised questions as to why both riders have fallen so far behind in the session. Tire degradation was thought to cause the drop off in pace but with just 14 points between the two this weekend is staged to get spiced up on track as Martin and Bagnaia go toe to toe in qualifying which could be the defining factors for the races this weekend.
Full Practice Results Are Below:
Enea Bastianini won the Malaysian Grand Prix in a surprising and dominant fashion. It has been an uphill climb for Bastianini as he hasn’t been the same this season after suffering early season injuries that required surgery. In Malaysia he appeared to be a man reborn after surging to the top and playing spoiler in the heated battle for the championship title between Jorge Martin and teammate Francesco Bagnaia. Sprint race winner Alex Marquez double down on podium finishes finishing P2 behind Bastianini. Bagnaia finish in third 7 seconds ahead of Jorge Martin in fourth.
Bastianini had the following words after the race, “It’s fantastic and emotional to get back to winning after a difficult period. Today I didn’t want anything else, I just wanted to win, I didn’t care about the rest, and I knew I could do it. In the race I pushed from the start as in qualifying, maintaining the gap, but I was totally at the limit, and couldn’t give anything more but in the end, the victory came. I think that something exploded inside me this weekend and I went back to having fun.
Certainly, one of the keys is that we modified the engine braking strategy, coming into line with what we saw from Thailand. What changed also was that I am not continually making mistakes when braking, which until recently happened every lap. I’ve always said that when you get back to having fun, you also go a lot faster.”
Bagnaia and Martin are now separated by 14 points as we head into the final two race weekends of the season. With 2 sprint races and 2 grand prix left in the season. The race for points is coming down to the wire. Alex Marquez and Enea Bastianini forced a fight behind in both the sprint and grand prix at Sepang. The two went toe to toe all weekend leaving it all on the track. The finishes this weekend eliminated Marco Bezzecchi from title contention completely. He was the only other rider that could have mathematically made a late run for the title besides Martin and Bagnaia.
Yamaha Bags Two Top 10 Finishes
Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli both finished in the top 10 in the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Yamahas have been behind in terms of development in 2023 in comparison to the Ducatis. However, in the last few races the Yamaha have shown glimpses of improvement. 2023 is over for Yamaha but valuable data is to be gained for 2024. Quartararo stated, “I’m happy. I had a great start and great first lap. It took us so long to overtake Jack, so we lost a lot of tire performance because of tire consumption. But I’m feeling happy. I think the top 5 was the best result we could get today. Being able to fight today was a good mentality boost.”
Morbidelli added his comments, “It was a positive weekend and Race. We were able to be consistent in the Race and recover many positions. I’m happy with the job we’ve done this weekend, and after a strong Race I’m even happier. Today the bike was working very well, and we were able to be fast on the straight and overtake.”
Full Malaysian Grand Prix Results
World Championship Standings
Alex Marquez translated his early practice pace into a race win in the Tissot Sprint race at Sepang International Circuit. The Gresini Racing rider showed impeccable form, dominating the field in the closing laps. The battle behind was the story of the day as the championship race intensified with Jorge martin finishing in second place ahead of Francesco Bagnaia. The pair are now separated by just 11 points as we head into the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. There is no longer room for mistakes as a DNF at this point could dramatically swing the advantage in one direction for either rider.
Marquez won the race by 1.589 seconds. Once he got a taste of clean air there was no slowing him down. Jorge Martin finished ahead of Bagnaia by the same margin as the pack started to stretch out in the end stage of the race. Despite a glimpse a brilliance from the KTMs in practice Enea Bastianini was able to beat out both Brad Binder and Jack Miller to mount a fight for third with teammate Bagnaia. Binder remained in striking distance until the end of the race but couldn’t quite find the line to make a move.
Next up is the Grand Prix where everything is on the line for the championship fight.
Full Sprint Race Results
World Standings After the Sprint Race
Alex Marquez beat out championship contender Jorge Martin in Practice on day one of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend. Marquez set a lap that was just under two tenths faster than Jorge Martin. Martin is on the heels of championship leader Francesco Bagnaia. Martin is currently 13 points behind Bagnaia in the championship race. We have reached the point of the season where every finish and session matters to find an advantage from Sprint and Grand Prix race time.
Bagnaia finished P8 which won’t do him any favors if he can’t improve come the Tissot Sprint Race. The KTMs of Brad Binder and Jack Miller were 3rd and 4th fastest in the sessions. A points lead change is possible come later today. Bagnaia will have some work to do because everyone in front seemed to have left some pace on the table during the Practice sessions. Martin had originally topped FP1 but lost our in FP2.
Rest of the Pack
Aleix Espargaro had a nightmare of a day finishing 20th in the field. He crashed 4 times in one day. “I’ve definitely had better days, but I can’t say that I’m particularly worried, ” said Espargaro after the session. “We are well aware of the problem, so tomorrow we’ll go back to a standard solution and I’m sure I’ll be able to be fast. It will be a demanding Saturday since I have to go through Q1, plus the last crash left me a bit scratched up and that won’t make life easy. We are riders and we know this can happen. The important thing is to know where to make changes”.
World Superbike champion Alvaro Bautista is making a one off feature in Sepang this weekend with Aruba.it Racing. He finished P22 in an uneventful day but we will see how qualifying plays out.
Full Practice Results Are Below
In Jorge Martin’s quest for the 2023 MotoGP title he got the job done this weekend in Thailand. Martin won both the Sprint race and Grand Prix maximizing his points grab in the title race. Martin now sits 13 points behind Francesco Bagnaia. With 3 race weekends to go, the championship race is gearing up to come down to the wire. We have a potential scenario where the championship title could be decided during the final race of the season.
As It Happened
Martin held the lead into turn one after getting out of the block slightly sluggish and almost losing track position to Luca Marini. Martin stayed ahead and engaged in a back and forth battle with Bagnaia and Brad Binder. Until the end of the race. Binder finished the race in second place but had his lap time deleted on the final lap due to exceeding track limits. The lap time deletion dropping Binder to P3 and Bagnaia up to P2. Due to the penalty Bagnaia was able to walk away with a few more salvage points to aid in his battle with Martin for the title.
Despite a good early launch Luca Marini’s pace fell off substantially in the second half of the race. He would drop all the way back to P8 when the checkered flag flew. Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez had a brief battle behind but the margin between the two widened as the two got closer to the end of the race. Marquez will be happy with two top 10 finishes on the weekend. Marquez finished 4 in the sprint race.
Bezzecchi’s Title Run All but Over?
Early in the season it was assumed we’d have a three man race for the title. However, recent form has prevented Marco Bezzecchi from keeping up with Bagnaia and Martin. Now 79 points back in the championship fight seems to have lost out. It will take multiple mistakes from Martin and Bagnaia for Bezzecchi to have a chance at the title. Bezzecchi lost 13 more points to Martin this weekend.
Full Thailand Grand Prix Results
Championship Standings
Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) cut 9 points off of his deficit to Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) today in the Thailand Tissot Sprint Race. Martin secured maximum points with the race win finishing almost four and a half seconds ahead of Bagnaia. Martin didn’t get the best start to the race. However his situation situationally improved when Bagnaia fell behind in the opening laps. Martin put his head down when he got into clean air and was able to pull away from the pack. “When I saw Binder overtake Marini, I pushed a little harder. I struggled with tire wear midway through the race, and in the end, I was at the limit, but I’m very happy; it was necessary.” said Martin.
The Battle Behind
The battle behind between Brad Binder (KTM) and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing) was absolutely sensational. The two traded moves back and forth which almost costs them both track position with a surging Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) and Marc Marquez behind them in 4th and 5th. Marquez pull a late lunge in the closing stages of the race to steal away 4th place from Espargaro. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough race left for him to catch the front runners for a potential podium.
Marquez had the following words after the race, “It was a really busy day today, it’s always like that when you go through Q1. The team did a really good job and we were able to improve, I could ride in a better way and made it to Q2. From starting on the third row we were able to stay in contact with the front group and we were able to put on a good show and have a fun race. The Sprint overall was much better than I expected, we made a good start and battled until the end. The last corner was the opposite of 2019, I attacked and made it stick instead of defending from someone else’s attack. It looks like I have the correct braking point at that corner!”
Full Sprint Race Results are Below
Day one of the Thailand Grand Prix was a nail biter as the championship race is gearing up to be a sensational finish. Jorge Martin continued his recent form as he chases Francesco Bagnaia for the 2023 title. Martin currently sits 27 points behind in the title race after an unfortunate weekend in Australia last weekend. Martin set a 1m28.826s lap which was nearly 0.2s off of the lap record.
The top 10 were separated by under 4 tenths. Martin led the pack but not without a late off into the gravel. Despite the off, he maintained the top spot in the session. With FP3 ahead we will see if Bagnaia can bounce back.
MotoGP Top 10 FP2 Results in Thailand
| 1 | Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) | 1:29.826 |
| 2 | Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) | +0.098 |
| 3 | Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) | +0.160 |
| 4 | Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) | +0.180 |
| 5 | Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) | +0.199 |
| 6 | Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) | +0.208 |
| 7 | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) | +0.243 |
| 8 | Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) | +0.248 |
| 9 | Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) | +0.295 |
| 10 | Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) | +0.304 |
MotoGP series promoter Dorna made the decision to cancel the Australia Grand Prix Sprint race. Poor weather conditions at Philip Island had already pushed back the sprint race. Conditions continued to worsen and the race was called. Based on the decision the championship points finished with Francesco Bagnaia leading Jorge Martin by 27 points.
There are 4 more race weekends remaining this season. The championship race will continue at the Thai Grand Prix next weekend.
Johann Zarco won the Australian Grand Prix today; his first win in almost 7 years. Zarco beat out championship contender and teammate Jorge Martin on the final lap of the race. He said, “It’s a good feeling, it’s hard to believe…After so many races I finally won, I have to take in the moment. I want to cry, but not at the moment.” It was a heartbreaking finish for Martin who was leading the race with one lap to go. However his tires started to fall off and ultimately he could not maintain the pace in the closing laps. Even further, championship leader and contender Francesco Bagnaia surged past a struggling Martin to P2. Martin ended the race P5. Fabio Di Giannantonio took 3rd in the race. Di Giannantonio currently does no have a seat for 2024. This podium could improve his prospects moving forward.
Weather Resulted in a Change of schedule
Due to poor weather conditions on the forecast for Sunday the Grand Prix was swapped with the sprint race. The Grand Prix would occur Saturday instead of Sunday. Conditions remained favorable for the length of the race. If the sprint race is not cancelled it will take place tomorrow.