Francesco Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team have taken the win in today Malaysian Gran Prix at the Sepang International Circuit. Enea Bastianini has completed the podium in third place. The race was contested over a 19-lap distance following a three-way crash at turn two in the opening lap, which led to a red flag situation.
At the restart, Bagnaia entered a spectacular battle with Martín for the lead that lasted until lap four, when the former was able to pull away on the rival. Pecco then managed his margin up the chequered flag, becoming the sixth rider in the history of the premier class to win ten races in a single season, courtesy of what was his 50th career MotoGP podium. Bagnaia also sets the new record for the overall number of wins since the introduction of the sprint race – eighteen.
Bastianini managed to make up one position at the start but struggled to get past Morbidelli in the opening stages of the race. Enea eventually managed to do so on lap six as he moved up one more place following Marc Marquez’s crash to cross the line a lonely third.
As the nineteenth Grand Prix of the season draws to a close, Bagnaia is second in the championship standings with a 24-point gap to Martín. Bastianini is fourth, one point away from Marc Márquez. The final event of the 2024 MotoGP season will take place on November 15-17 at Montmeló’s ‘Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya’, the venue chosen for the final round after the tragic events that have been affecting the Valencian community since the start of the week.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“Our pace today was really competitive, as it often happened on Sunday this year. Jorge (Martín) did all he could to stay in front of me in the early stages, but I was feeling very comfortable aboard the bike and was able to be a lot more aggressive. The only problem is that our pace was stronger than our rivals and that surely didn’t play in our favour. We need to understand why we can’t perform as good in the sprint races: this is an area we need to work on for the future, but right now we must focus on the final event of the season and try to do our best. This is our tenth Sunday win of the season and, which proves how excellent of a job we’ve done this year.”
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“It was a challenging race, even more than yesterday given the higher temperatures, and I kept struggling on corner entry. We tried to make a step forward in the warmup, but we didn’t manage to do so. When things go this way, it’s important to bring the bike home and on one hand, things played out in our favour as we could finish on the podium. Now the last event awaits us, and I’d like to dedicate this podium to the Valencian community that needs all our support in these extremely difficult times.”
Luigi Dall’Igna – Ducati Corse General Manager
“Obviously our thoughts go first to the Valencian Community, who’s enduring a very dramatic moment. They need all the support, and I hope the situation will improve as soon as possible. Speaking of the race, it was fantastic. The battle between Pecco and Jorge in the opening laps was outstanding and a very clean one. Both riders rode perfectly, and I must congratulate them on their performance as they delivered some incredible excitement. It was nice to see Enea also on the podium, despite the issues he had with the front-end. He did an excellent job in scoring the best possible result and we’ll try to put him in the right conditions to do well in the final race of the season.”
