Malaysian GP: Marc Marquez wins on softs and takes a match point
Marc Marquez won the 20-lap race at Sepang by just over four seconds, with the whole field on soft tyres in 57°C track heat.
2 min readSepangMalaysiaBy PitPin Desk
The result
Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo) won the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday 1 November from second on the grid. Pedro Acosta (KTM) finished second, just over four seconds behind, and polesitter Alex Marquez (Gresini) was third.
Ai Ogura was fourth and Enea Bastianini fifth. Marco Bezzecchi was sixth after an error at Turn 14 on the last lap. Luca Marini, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Brad Binder and Franco Morbidelli completed the top ten. Francesco Bagnaia finished 13th.
How the lead changed
Alex Marquez led early. Marc Marquez took the lead at Turn 1. Alex ran wide at Turn 4 trying to take the place back, and Marc pulled away over the remaining laps. Acosta passed Alex at Turn 9 on lap 10.
In Ducati's release, Marc Marquez said: "The goal for today was to lead from start to finish… I focused solely on riding at my own pace."
Soft tyres in 57°C heat
Michelin reports that every rider used the soft compound front and rear in both the sprint and the race. Air temperature for the race was 36°C, and the track surface was 57°C.
Ducati's general manager Gigi Dall'Igna said that "it was necessary to keep an eye on rear-tyre wear".
Championship
It was Marquez's 80th MotoGP win and his seventh of 2026. He leads Jorge Martin by 44 points and Bezzecchi by 67. MotoGP says the next round, the Qatar Grand Prix at Lusail on 6 to 8 November, is his first chance to seal the title.