Reuters
Sepang, October 26
Reigning world champion Marc Marquez won a season record-equalling 12th MotoGP race with victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. The Honda-riding Spaniard, who sealed his title defence in Japan two weeks ago, had a poor start on pole but clawed his way back to the front to finish nearly three seconds ahead of runner-up Valentino Rossi.
Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo briefly held the lead early but was reeled in to finish third, while Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was forced to retire after crashing twice in his eight laps.
Marquez’s win brought him equal with Australian Mick Doohan’s 12 race wins from 1997 and the 21-year-old has a chance to own the record with victory in the final race at Valencia. The win also sealed the constructor’s title for Honda, their 21st in premier class racing.
Marquez will head to Valencia on 337 points, carrying a 62-point lead over Yamaha’s Italian great Rossi. Lorenzo remains third in the championship on 263 points ahead of Pedrosa.
German Stefan Bradl was fourth on a Honda, with Yamaha’s Briton Bradley Smith fifth.
Spaniard Esteve Rabat earlier sealed the Moto2 championship with a round to spare at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday with a third-place finish behind winner Maverick Vinales.
Rabat takes an unassailable 37-point lead in the championship into the final round at Valencia over second-placed Finn Mika Kallio, who was runner-up at Sepang, over two seconds behind a third Kalex rider in Vinales.
The Moto3 series will head into the final round at Valencia with Alex Marquez, the younger brother of MotoGP champion Marc Marquez, taking an 11-point lead over Australian Jack Miller after finishing fifth at Sepang behind winner Efren Vazquez.
