18th round of the calendar, a 11 point gap at the championship, with the main contenders aling at the front spots of the grid. Massive race coming up at Sepang Circuit for the 2023 Malaysian GP.

Lights went off and the race was underway with a massive start to the first turn, as both Martin and Bagnaia went wide on the first turn, as Enea Bastianini and Alex Marquez went 1st and 2nd respectively, meanwhile Bagnaia was 3rd and Martin got 4th from Bezzecchi after some battles on the opening lap; Big battle between the championship contenders was cooking up.

The battle intensifies as Bagnaia was able to respond to each attack that Jorge Martin throw on the Ducati rider, as his game to separate Martin for the possibility of the race win, as well protect 3rd from the Spaniard rider. As both Bastianini and Alex Marquez were ahead by +1.5 seconds of the championship contenders. Still a long race still ahead for the involved riders.

As the race continues, the 4 riders involved had to manage their respective pace, as Bastianini started to separate from his closest rival Alex Marquez, as Bagnaia did as well with Jorge Martin. All 4 riders were separated between them by more than a second of gap. Meanwhile at the standings, several riders were falling of their bike, as Joan Mir, Brad Binder, Aleix Espargaro and Miguel Oliveira were some of the involved riders on different incidents.

The main focus on the meantime was the position climbing from Fabio Quatararo, as the Frenchman show a display of riding, after successfully overtake both Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, with the Yamaha bike. As ahead of him, the gaps were spreading and little big action was happening on the 4 positions at the standings.

It was a back in form win for Enea Bastianini, as the Italian bounce back from a complicated season overall and gets his first win on the factory brand. As Alex Marquez emulates his best race finish once again, since Aragon 2020 and Francesco Bagnaia holds the championship gap for one round more, as the Ducati rider recovers 4 points ahead from Jorge Martin, who crossed the line in 4th place.

Race results:

1. Enea Bastianini /// 2. Alex Marquez /// 3. Francesco Bagnaia
4. Jorge Martin /// 5. Fabio Quatararo /// 6. Marco Bezzecchi
7. Marco Morbidelli /// 8. Jack Miller /// 9. Fabio Di Giannantonio
10. Luca Marini /// 11. Maverick Viñales /// 12. Johann Zarco
13. Marc Marquez /// 14. Augusto Fernandez /// 15. Pol Espargaro
16. Iker Lecuona /// 17. Alvaro Bautista /// 18. Takaaki Nakagami

DNF: Brad Binder, Aleix Espargaro, Raul, Fernandez, Miguel Oliveira, Joan Mir

As the 18th round wraps up, there’s only 2 more rounds left on the championship, the 11 point gap goes to 14, as Bagnaia manages to recover some distance from yesterday’s sprint. Martin still has a chance to snatch the lead on two tracks, first on next week at Qatar and then Valencia at the season finale.