Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales picked up a win in Malaysian GP MotoGP race from Honda’s Marc Marquez and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Pole-sitter and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales headed the field in Malaysian GP MotoGP race at Sepang International Circuit despite a slower start as Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller and Honda’s Marc Marquez battled each other for second place.
It was a supreme start from Marquez, who moved from 11th to third on Lap 1. The Spaniard eventually went past Miller to take second. Behind them, it was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso in fourth with Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi just behind him.
Petronas SRT Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli dropped back to sixth as teammate Fabio Quartararo was eighth with Suzuki’s Alex Rins in between. Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci was ninth with LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco rounding the Top 10.
The rest of the points position had Pramac Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia 11th, LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow 12th, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro 13th, KTM’s Pol Espagaro 14th and Suzuki’s Joan Mir 15th. The order though kept changing as the race progressed.
As Vinales continued to lead the way, Marquez steadied in second as Miller lost out to Dovizioso and Rossi. In the fight against Rins, the Australian was hit from the back with both shedding some bodywork but Miller suffering more.
He dropped back to eighth behind Morbidelli and Quartararo, while being hurried on by Zarco, who did go past him at one stage but Miller got back ahead. Behind, Mir was the man on charge as he gained five places to be 10th.
Pertucci, though, lost out to be 11th from the Espargaro brothers (Aleix and Pol) as Baganaia was 14th and Honda’s Jorge Lorenzo fought back up to 15th. In a space of few laps, LCR Honda had double crash with Crutchlow falling before Zarco.
Replays showed that Frenchman collided with Mir after the Spaniard barged his way in, in the right-hander. The incident was put under investigation by the FIM Stewards. Mir was then handed a Long Gap Penalty for causing a collision.
Vinales, meanwhile, led Marquez to win the Malaysian GP and score his second win of the 2019 MotoGP season – first since the Dutch GP. There was a bit of redemption as well for the Spaniard after the last-lap crash in Philip Island.
Marquez had to settle for second but with 395 points, he has now most points in a MotoGP season with a race to spare. The fight for third, on the other hand, spiced up but Dovizioso held on to keep away Rossi with Rins ending up fifth behind.
The Petronas SRT Yamaha riders were sixth and seventh with Morbidelli ahead of Quartararo in their home grand prix. The Frenchman tried multiple moves on the Italian but didn’t have enough as Miller was eighth ahead of Petrucci and Mir.
The Suzuki rider took the penalty and only lost one place as KTM’s Espargaro made up couple of places to be 11th from Bagnaia. Aprilia’s Espargaro was looking good but lost out on a couple of places to be 13th from Lorenzo and KTM’s Mika Kallio.
Kallio almost took 14th from Lorenzo but the Honda rider held on as Tech 3 KTM’s Hafizh Syahrin missed on points, to finish ahead of Avintia Ducati’s Karel Abraham. DNF: Zarco, Crutchlow, Andrea Iannone.
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