JAKARTA - Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia won the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, but had to continue the hunt for the world title to Valencia after Fabio Quartararo kept his hopes to a third finish in Sepang.
Enea Bastianini had given Bagnaia a meaningful fight before finishing second, but the Gresini was already knocked out of the competition for the title this season because it was 47 points from Bagnaia. Likewise Aleix Espargaro from the Aprilia team who finished P11 today, according to the official MotoGP website.
Towards the season-ending race in Valencia, Bagnaia now has a 23-point lead over Quartararo thanks to his seventh win of the season.
Knowing that his rivals only need three points in the deciding series, Quartararo looks at all the opportunities that exist in Spain later.
"I feel good, I haven't finished on the podium for a long time. I fought my best today... This is one of the best races of the season," Quartararo said after the competition, quoted from Antara, Sunday, October 23.
"To Valencia, although the chances are very small, we want to give everything in Valencia."
Best rookie of the season Marco Bezzecki (VR46) finished P4 ahead of Alex Rins (Suzuki), Jack Miller (Ducati), and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda).
Starting from P9, Bagnaia launched well after the red light went out until it went up to second to the first corner behind polesitter Jorge Martin and in front of Enea Bastianini.
Quartararo, who tried to turn things around from P12, also pushed across the top five in the first lap.
On lap 7, Bagnaia inherited the race leadership position after Martin fell. However, Quartararo still has the opportunity to bring the title fight with the Ducati rider to the final series in Valencia as he stalks in third place.
However, Quartararo received a threat from Marco Bezzecki who was one second away from the podium zone. Bagnaia can lock up the world title if he wins the race and Quartararo finishes outside third place.
On lap 11th, Enea Bastianini, who is also still likely to win the title, maneuvered to overtake Bagnaia and take over the lead from her prospective team-mate in the factory's Ducati team,
The Ducati team paddock was made noisy when they saw the two riders fighting each other during the critical period of the title race.
Three laps later, Bagnaia restored his position and Bezzecki cut his distance to 0.4 seconds behind Quartararo.
Despite recording the fastest laps, Quartararo did not get enough time to catch up to the two front riders with a distance of 1.5 seconds in the last four laps.
Bagnaia defended desperately to withstand the onslaught of Bastianini before locking up a 0.270 second victory ahead of his compatriot.
Quartararo completed the podium to force the title race to be determined in the closing series of the Valencia season two weeks later.
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