Jorge Martín deals a major blow to the World Championship after claiming Malaysian MotoGP sprint victory and Pecco Bagnaia crashing. The Spanish driver is 29 points ahead of the Italian and could be champion this Sunday if he repeats his victory and the Italian finishes third. He has the title within his reach, after the double champion lost in the third round following the Madrilenian’s first push. Marc Márquez finished second and Bastianini third.
The rain started to appear a few seconds before the start. The first drops fell and Jorge Martín took off his helmet, got off the bike and tested the trail to see if he should use another strategy. But it stayed there, just a few drops. In front was Pecco Bagnaia who had been the fastest in all the sessions until breaking the historic circuit record in Q2.
The start was dry, but the sky was black. Rain threatened and the race was run flag-to-flag, meaning riders could change bikes if they deemed it appropriate due to track conditions. Martinator started very well to reach the passage in one first. The two became parallel, but the Spaniard resisted braking and gained the inside of the Italian to maintain first position.
Behind the two title contenders was Marc Márquez who gained two places at the start and placed third. His brother, Álex, who started third, fell to fifth place behind Bastianini. Martín took advantage of being in the lead to set his pace, a fairly high pace. This caused a break between the first three and the rest, since Cervera’s was the only one capable of keeping up with the Madrid player’s pace.
Return to the World Cup
He and Pecco were running at full speed. Bagnaia had no choice but to take risks to try to overtake Jorge Martín, as it was not worth it for him to be second. 89 pushed him to the limit. So much so that the Italian Ducati rider Lenovo fell on the third lap of the sprint of this Malaysian GP, eight laps from the finish, at turn nine. The World Championship was completely turned upside down after the fall of the double world champion, who was unable to recover the bike and had to retire.
Immediately, from the Prima Pramac Racing dressing room, they sent the message to the San Sebastián de los Reyes dressing room that number 1 was eliminated. From there, Martinateur He eased off the accelerator and focused on controlling the distance with Márquez. The 93 gritted his teeth when he noted that the championship leader had gone down to put himself in conservative mode after the fall of Bagnaia.
But Jorge Martín held on well on the bike and kept the eight-time world champion at bay, with a considerable difference, enough to keep him calm for the rest of the race. The Madrilenian did not hesitate and crossed the finish line in first position to come very close to the world title. This Sunday he could be champion if he scores nine points more than Bagnaia, that is, the Spaniard wins and the current champion finishes third. With this result, this Sunday, 89 would be world champion with one race remaining.
