The #73 wins in Malaysia, Acosta impresses to earn P2 as a late bike problem for the #63 hands Mir a Sunday rostrum

After clinching second in the MotoGP World Championship on Saturday, Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) backed it up with a commanding Malaysian Grand Prix victory on Sunday. A flawless ride from the #73 saw the Spaniard beat the impressive Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) by 2.6s, while a late issue for Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) handed Joan Mir and Honda HRC Castrol a fantastic P3 at Sepang.

Bagnaia earns holeshot, Marquez aggressive early
Just as he did in the Sprint, Bagnaia nailed the start and earned the holeshot, as Acosta fired his way into an early P2. But not for long. Alex Marquez attacked his compatriot at Turn 4, and a lap later, the #73 demoted Bagnaia to P2 with a brilliant move up the inside of the Italian. For the first time this weekend, the #63 wasn’t leading.

Bagnaia vs Acosta begins
On Lap 3, it was Turn 4 again. This time, Acosta was underneath Bagnaia, but the latter bit straight back at Turn 5 to keep the KTM behind him. Acosta then gave it another go at Turn 9, but once more, it wasn’t a move that stuck. This phenomenal duel between Bagnaia and Acosta allowed Marquez to stretch his early lead out to 0.8s, with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) a further 0.8s back in P4 – the Frenchman having Mir close for company.

A few laps went by and the situation at the front remained the same. Marquez’s lead was hovering around the second mark, with Acosta still locked onto the rear tyre of Bagnaia. It was 1.9s back to the Quartararo vs Mir fight that was rumbling on nicely, with Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) 1.1s adrift of the two MotoGP World Champions. Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), meanwhile, was 1.5s behind Morbidelli and was struggling to get going in the Grand Prix at this stage.

On Lap 10 of 20, Mir made his move on Quartararo. What did the HRC star have in his pocket now that a bit of free air was ahead of him? The gap to the podium fight was 2.7s as the Grand Prix entered the second half, and now, tyre life was going to be crucial.

The beginning of Lap 12 saw Australian GP winner Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) crash at Turn 1, which was just after Miguel Oliveira (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) also slipped out of contention, while at the front, Marquez was half a second quicker than Pecco and Acosta.

Acosta makes his move, Bagnaia suffers bike problem
Then, Acosta pounced. Turn 11 was the place and when the move was made, the gap between Marquez and Acosta was 1.8s, then two seconds. It was a move that stuck for Acosta, with Bagnaia potentially regretting his front medium compound tyre choice now.

Lap 14 saw Marquez land a 2:00.546, a whole second faster than Bagnaia and over half a second quicker than second place Acosta. Mir, in P4, was also in the 2:00s, meaning the #36’s podium chances weren’t done yet – and the same could be said for Morbidelli in P5.

However, on the next two laps, Bagnaia managed to find a bit of pace to limit the damage to his advantage over Mir. With four laps to go, the gap between the Ducati and HRC riders sat at 1.9s, with Acosta 2.5s away from Marquez. It looked like Acosta needed Marquez to make a mistake in the closing stages if he wanted to have a realistic chance of clinching his first MotoGP win.

While a win looked like it was coming for Marquez, the other side of the Gresini garage then witnessed Aldeguer crash out at the final corner, as Bagnaia then encountered an issue on his Ducati. Pecco felt something wasn’t right coming into Turn 1 and immediately started looking down to the rear of his machine. What had gone wrong? It wasn’t clear to us what it was, but whatever the issue, it meant Mir was now in P3, and Pecco was scoring zero points. A disappointing end to a great weekend for Pecco, but a gift for Mir and Honda after their Sprint DNF on Saturday.

And so, the last lap began. Marquez was 2.8s clear of Acosta, who in turn had a very comfortable gap back to Mir. 1.4s split the latter to fourth place Morbidelli, so minus any mistakes, P3 was Mir’s.

After clinching second place overall on Saturday, Marquez completed a fantastic weekend at the office to win for the first time outside of Spain. Kudos to Acosta, that’s another sublime effort from the KTM rider to stick it on the box at Sepang, 13 seconds ahead of the next best KTM, as Mir earns his second Sunday podium of the season with a P3. A great start and end to the flyaway stretch for the 2020 World Champion and HRC.

Your Malaysian GP points scorers
Morbidelli had some very strong late race pace to finish in P4, with Quartararo completing the top five after he was forced to sit up at Turn 15 when Morbidelli came barging through. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned P6, a couple of seconds ahead of Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who came from P19 on the grid to collect a P7 – a great ride from ‘The Beast’.

Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) rounded out the top 10, the trio finishing ahead of 11th place Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing). It was a low-key round for Bezzecchi and Aprilia, but Pecco’s unfortunate DNF means they move back into P3 overall.

The final points on offer went to Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR), Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda LCR).

Next up: Portimao
With second in the championship now wrapped up by Marquez, all attention turns to the P3 fight. Bezzecchi and Pecco are split by five points, with Acosta now only 31 points behind Bezzecchi, meaning he’s not out of the equation yet either. See you there. 

Find full results here.

Dixon victorious as Moreira takes over in title race after Gonzalez crashes

A dramatic Moto2™ encounter saw Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) claim Moto2™ honours at Sepang in a red-flagged Grand Prix of Malaysia. Dixon managed to hit the front on Lap 3 of the restart and never looked back, finishing ahead of David Alonso (CFMOTO RCB Aspar Team) and third in the championship Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing). The pendulum swung again in the title race too, as Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) fell from a top five place with just a few laps to go; chief title rival Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) finished fifth and thus leads the Championship for the first time in 2025 with his two-point deficit converted into a nine-point advantage.

Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO RCB Aspar Team) got the dream launch in the original start but further back, there was drama for Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team), who fell on the exit of Turn 5. This brought out the red flag and whilst the American was able to walk away, everyone would need to go again in a shortened 11-lap scrap for honours. On the second restart, it was a carbon copy as Holgado again grabbed the holeshot whilst Dixon battled intensely behind with 2020 Moto3 World Champion and arch-rival Albert Arenas (ITALJET Gresini Moto2). By Turn 14, the #96 was through and began hunting down Holgado.

At Turn 4 on Lap 3, the British star made his move into the lead, getting the job done and then setting a relentless pace to break away. The scrap was further behind as Gonzalez had his hands full with Baltus, with the Belgian still in title contention and thus not giving an inch to the #18. Behind, Moreira was fighting his way through. Having previously had contact with Izan Guevara (BLUCRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) at Turn 6 whilst fighting for P9, he’d moved up to P6 with just four laps to go, passing a fading Arenas.

With just one place between the two title heavyweights, it all came to a crashing halt for Gonzalez who fell at Turn 15 with just three to go. The long-time Championship leader dropped the ball at the wrong time and with a clear view of it, Moreira knew this was his chance. Inheriting fifth, all he had to do was get to the finish, whilst Gonzalez’s crash had also brought Baltus and Dixon back into mathematical contention.

Across the line, it was a seventh Moto2 victory and a third of the season for the Brit, who is now 41 behind new Championship leader Moreira with 50 remaining. Alonso took his fourth podium of the season and his second in as many rounds, ahead of Baltus who, like Dixon, remains in mathematical contention and is 35 points from the lead. Holgado strengthened his grasp on finishing 2025 as top rookie with fourth, whilst Moreira leads the way after his P5.

Arenas took the chequered flag in sixth place whilst Daniel Muñoz (Red Bull KTM Ajo) finished seventh. Alex Escrig (KLINT Forward Factory Team) was magnificent in P8 for his first points since Austin, whilst Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Tony Arbolino (BLU CRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) rounded out the top ten.

Check out full results here and see you in Portugal.

Furusato takes maiden Moto3™ victory at Sepang

Moto3 got their Grand Prix underway later than previously scheduled; during the sighting lap, there was an incident involving Noah Dettwiler (CIP Green Power) and Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), which led to the Grand Prix being delayed. Both riders were taken to hospital by medical helicopter and the new race start pushed back until the medical helicopter could return.

Rueda was confirmed to be alert and awake in hospital with a number of contusions and a suspected fracture in his hand. Dettwiler's team, CIP Green Power), offered the following update on the Swiss rider later in the day:

This morning, during the sighting lap at Sepang, our rider  Noah Dettwiler was involved in a serious accident. He was taken to the hospital in Kuala Lumpur and will need to undergo multiple surgeries.

He is in good hands, and we kindly ask you to respect his privacy. We will not be sharing further details at this time.Noah is a true fighter, and the entire CIP Green Power team is right behind him. We will keep you updated as soon as possible.

When the Grand Prix got underway over 10 laps, Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) took a first win in the class ahead of Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) and Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing).

Grabbing the holeshot, Furusato led the way throughout the opening lap whilst polesitter David Almansa (Leopard Racing) was just ahead of a fast-starting Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Power Electronics Aspar Team). By the end of Lap 3, Almansa had briefly retaken the lead but soon enough, the #72 of Furusato battled back to P1. By half distance, Guido Pini (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) had worked his way into P2, getting ahead of Quiles at Turn 4 on Lap 5 before the Spaniard retaliated at Turn 9. Fernandez had also surged into contention from the fourth row of the grid and picked Pini’s pocket, the #94 now fourth. Fernandez was now into P2 whilst at Turn 2 on Lap 6, Quiles had the most remarkable of front-end slides but somehow kept it upright.

It was a Honda 1-2-3 at the front with Furusato’s lead hovering at around a second, ahead of Fernandez and Almansa, although the second of the Leopard Racing Hondas was shuffled back to fifth by a hard-charging Pini and Piqueras, although the #22 responded at Turn 9 to retake fourth. Pini had likewise elevated himself into second and all the fighting of the remaining podium positions gave Furusato a one second lead with three laps to go. Almansa lost the front at the final corner on Lap 8 but managed to stay on track, dropping him down to P6 and out of the podium battle and instead behind Quiles. A lap later and Turn 15 spelt the end of Pini’s Grand Prix, the Italian out of podium battle in an attempt to pass Fernandez.

Onto the final lap and with Furusato clearing off into the distance, the fight was for second but at Turn 9, soon settled as Fernandez had a huge slide, handing it to Piqueras. Across the line for his first Grand Prix victory, Furusato was unstoppable to bag Honda’s first win of 2025. Piqueras clinched second whilst Fernandez came home third ahead of teammate Almansa, with three Hondas in the top four. Ryusei Yamanaka (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) came through to complete the top five, ahead of Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo).

Quiles came home seventh and with that was crowned Rookie of the Year ahead of Scott Ogden (CIP Green Power) who came up from 15th for his first top ten since his P7 at Assen. In ninth place, Brian Uriarte (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) who was forced off-track by Quiles on the final lap at Turn 7 whilst Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3) clinched P10. Elsewhere, home wildcard Hakim Danish (AEON CREDIT SIC Racing MSI) set the fastest lap but retired with a technical issue.

Check out the full results from Moto3.