Enea Bastianini continued to excel in just his second season in MotoGP™ as he stormed to second place at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. Here is all you need to know:
Having once again excelled in qualifying, it was Pramac rider Jorge Martin who started from P1 in Sepang. The Spaniard led by more than a second after five laps and looked to be heading to a first win of the season before crashing out two laps later.
This allowed Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia to take the lead, closely followed by Bastianini who continued to heap pressure on his future teammate.
Bastianini would show just why he was picked to partner Bagnaia at Ducati next season as he stormed into the lead on lap 11. Three laps later the lead would change again and this time Bagnaia would make it stick as he secured his seventh win of the season.
Bastianini would go on to finish well ahead of title contender Fabio Quartararo to claim second, his sixth podium finish of the season, and move to within one point of third-place Aleix Espargaro in the championship standings with one race to go.
Jack Miller, who is moving to KTM next season and will be replaced at Ducati by Bastianini, was never able to get close to the leaders and had to settle for sixth, while Spain’s Marc Márquez took seventh and South African rider Brad Binder finished in eighth.
Pramac rider Johann Zarco grabbed another top-10 finish as he secured ninth place, while Red Bull KTM Factory’s Miguel Oliveira took 13th and Pol Espargaró of Repsol Honda claimed 14th.
Rookie Raúl Fernández finished 15th, fellow Spaniard Álex Márquez took 17th and Australian Remy Gardner was 19th.
Malaysian GP result 1. Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo 40m 14.332s 2. Enea Bastianini ITA Gresini Ducati +0.270s 3. Fabio Quartararo FRA Yamaha +2.773s 4. Marco Bezzecchi ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati +5.446s 5. Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar +11.923s
2022 MotoGP rider standings 1. Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo 258pts 2. Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha 235 3. Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Racing 212 4. Enea Bastianini ITA Gresini Ducati 211 5. Jack Miller AUS Ducati Lenovo 189
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