The Malaysian GP at Sepang this weekend was the start of three weekends of MotoGP on the bounce, with Australia next weekend and Japan the weekend after, it’s amazing all the bikes make it to the circuit on time.
Marc Marquez took his fourth consecutive pole position in Malaysia, but didn’t manage to convert it to a win. Jorge Lorenzo took an early lead, before being overtaken by Dani Pedrosa and getting into a battle with Marquez. Marquez eventually made it past Lorenzo with 11 laps to go, but he couldn’t catch his Repsol Honda teammate. Dani Pedrosa took his first victory since Le Mans almost five months ago. All three podium finishers, Pedrosa, Marquez and Lorenzo, all still stand a chance of winning the championship, but Marquez has enough points to clinch the title in Australia. If Lorenzo finishes third or lower and Marquez wins, he will take the Championship. Marc Marquez would be the first rookie MotoGP winner for 35 years if he were to take the championship this year. Kenny Roberts was the last rookie to win in 1978.
Valentino Rossi came home in a rather lonely fourth position. He was pleased to have closed the gap to his Yamaha team mate, Lorenzo, but was disappointed to see the advantage the Repsol Honda team had over him. Despite starting in second place he dropped to fourth off the line behind Marc Marquez. Rossi narrowly escaped an incident when Alvaro Bautista overshot turn one and ran wide. Rossi said “Starting from second I hoped to arrive on the podium but I knew the top three guys were very strong. At the beginning of the race I lost some time as I had a problem with the front brakes. We continue to work and push and fight to be in with the top three.”
