Alex Marquez defeated Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia, the two competitors in the championship, to win the Malaysian MotoGP sprint race at Sepang. Marquez’s lead at the top was reduced to 11 points.
With three races remaining in their title battle, Spain’s Marquez won handily on his Ducati, about 1.6 seconds ahead of his countryman Martin, who picked up two points on Italy’s Bagnaia.
The reigning champion, Bagnaia, who began the afternoon on pole position on his factory Ducati and led for half of the ten laps before falling to a distant third, had an especially poor afternoon.