Bastianini scorches Sepang

It was the intense lecture Enea Bastianini copped from Ducati Lenovo team boss Davide Tardozzi on the grid that set the scene for the 20-lap Malaysian Grand Prix, held at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit over November 10 to 12.

Strategic thinking

Faster than his teammate in Saturday’s Sprint, the back-in-form Ducati rider opted to sit behind Pecco Bagnaia, allowing him to finish third behind his title rival Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati), thereby limiting the damage the Spaniard could inflict on what was a 13-point gap when they arrived at Sepang.

The gap was 11 points heading into Sunday’s full-length grand prix. Six Ducatis filled the first two rows, headed by title contenders Bagnaia and Martin with Bastianini on the outside of the front row. Sprint winner and pre-race favourite Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) headed row two, ahead of the Mooney VR46 Ducati pairing of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi.

The three GP23 machines were all quick off the line but it was Martin who released the brake the latest to edge in front into the first corner. He was little too late, however, running slightly wide. Bagnaia eased past his title rival, but it was Bastianini who had the tighter line, as both he and Marquez relegated Bagnaia to third as the field exited the two tight opening turns of the Sepang International Circuit.

Bezzecchi muscled his way into fourth into Turn 3 as Martin found himself in an unfamiliar fifth place early on in the race.

A desperate move into Turn 9 sent Martin wide, but he muscled past Bezzecchi at Turn 11 to find himself behind Bagnaia in fourth to start lap two. However, Bastianini and Marquez were already six-tenths clear of the title contenders, who had so much more at stake than the two men at the front who were both chasing their maiden win of the season.

Meanwhile, Australian Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) had gained four positions to find himself in sixth after qualifying 10th on the grid.

Hot on the brakes

Keen to get in front of his title contender and not wanting to let the two at the front break away, Martin ran a wide line heading into the last corner of the second lap in a bid to get superior drive down the start-finish straight, but Bagnaia was too good on the brakes heading into the tight Turn 1.

Marquez extended his lead to almost nine-tenths of a second over Bagnaia, as Bastianini in front started to edge away from the Gresini rider.

Martin made his first move on Bagnaia into Turn 14 on the third lap, but the Italian passed him straight back. He pulled out of Bagnaia’s slipstream over the line to start the fourth but, again, Bagnaia was just too good on the brakes for Martin to find a way through.

A block pass into Turn 4 put the Spaniard in front but an aggressive and determined Bagnaia rode around the outside of Martin through Turn 5 to assert his dominance over the satellite rider.

Feeling the heat

With Marquez now over 1.4sec ahead of Bagnaia, the Italian had clear air ahead of him. At the same time, Martin spent the previous three-and-a-half laps on the rear wheel of both Bezzecchi and Bagnaia and, in the stiflingly hot conditions, the cracks began to show.

Bagnaia reeled off his quickest lap of the race so far but Martin had a moment on the front of his Prima Pramac Ducati, and later revealed he decided the risk of falling was greater than the potential reward.

With 15 laps left to run, Bastianini was almost a second clear of Marquez, who was in turn another second ahead of Bagnaia. And as the Italian responded to the early pressure of Martin behind, he put almost eight-tenths of a second between himself and his title rival over the line to start lap six of the 20-lap contest.

Almost 1.4sec further back, Bezzecchi was still holding off Miller for fifth, while Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) was backing up the speed he showed to top the morning warm-up session in seventh place, ahead of Fabio Di Gianntonio (Gresini Ducati), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Marini in 10th.

First casualty

Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) became the first casualty of the race, notching up the HRC squad’s record 50th crash of the year, as Aprilia men Miguel Oliveira (RNF), Raul Fernandez (RNF) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) recorded DNFs on laps six, seven, and nine respectively.

As the leading four remained relatively spread out, their pace was superior to that of the chasing pack, the 1.4-second gap to Bezzecchi on lap six increasing to 2.7 seconds on lap eight, as the searing conditions made this a race of tyre management rather than close combat.

And Bastianini, who is highly regarded for his ability to nurse his tyres in the latter stages of a race, remained in complete control at half-race distance, with Marquez unable to get within cooee of the factory Ducati rider ahead.

Bagnaia, meanwhile, was 1.5sec behind Marquez and the same gap clear of Martin, and he was keeping his nose clean during this pivotal race of the tight season.

Martin, likewise, was now 4.2sec clear of Bezzecchi, who had broken the resolve of Miller, with Quartararo, Digi, Binder and Marini all bunched up behind the Aussie in a tense battle for sixth place. Quartararo found a way past Miller at Turn 10 on lap 12, just as Binder’s front tyre cried no more and the South African slid out of the race.

Closing stages

With four laps to go, more than seven seconds separated Bastianini out front and Martin in fourth, as the Yamaha pairing of Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli dug deep to relegate Bezzecchi to sixth place and his VR46 teammate Marini to 10th respectively.

As they crossed the line to start the final lap, Bastianini put all of the dark days his injury-strewn season behind him and showed exactly why he was chosen to join the factory Ducati squad over Jorge Martin. He rode his GP23 to a dominant victory of over two seconds clear of Marquez, while Bagnaia – almost seven seconds clear of Martin – rounded out the podium. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) was the top Honda man in 13th place, albeit over 27 seconds behind Bastianini.

Quartararo hung on for fifth ahead of Bezzecchi, while Morbidelli had a strong end to the race, finding a way past both Digi and Miller for seventh place, while Marini rounded out the top 10.

Qatar up next

The result means Bagnaia finished the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend with one more point in his pocket over Martin than he arrived with, with 412 points to Martin’s 398. There are two rounds left in the next two weeks, with the first bout set to take place in Qatar, with Round 19 to be held in the Middle Eastern nation from November 17 to 19.