Francesco Bagnaia overcame Jorge Martin ’s early challenge to win the Malaysian Grand Prix, making a light dent in the Spaniard’s championship lead as he finished second. The pair duelled in spectacular fashion after factory Ducati rider Bagnaia converted his pole to a first-corner lead. So Martin ultimately had to settle for second and 20 points aboard his Pramac Ducati.
It means Bagnaia has cut his deficit at the top of the points table to 24, giving him a chance of retaining his title for a third consecutive year at the Barcelona finale in two weeks. Two starts were required to get the race going after an incident in the opening sequence of corners caused a red flag. Bagnaia had taken the lead from Martin at Turn 1 when an accident developed behind, involving the KTMs of Brad Binder and Jack Miller as well as the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo .
The two-time champion still led when the red flags flew towards the end of the first lap, as Miller received attention on the circuit. There was some concern for Miller during the red flag delay, but the Australian was then seen walking away from the medical centre. Though he escaped major injury, he would not take part in the restarted race.
Binder joined him on the sidelines after the extent of a shoulder injury picked up in the accident became apparent on the second sighting lap. Quartararo did however take the restart despite walking with a pronounced limp following the incident. The ‘second’ race was reduced to 19 laps and.
