Marc Marquez has won the Malaysian Grand Prix after an impressive comeback from the seventh position at the Sepang circuit. The pilot from Catalunya, who had never before been able to rise to victory from the third line of the grid, has been flanked at the podium by his compatriot Alex Rins (Suzuki) and by French pilot Johann Zarco (Yamaha). 

The Spaniard has also conquered the Constructors Championship Title after Valentino Rossi crashed at just four laps from the finishing line. The Triple Crown is closer than ever!

Rossi leader and Marquez at the chase

Rossi had an extraordinary start in Sepang quickly grabbing the lead from pole-holder Zarco. Behind him took positions Jack Miller, Andrea Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez in that order. 

At the lead, Rossi was commanding the Sepang tarmac, followed closely by Zarco who was starting to struggle to keep up. 

Marquez continued with his relentless chase and magnificent show de force after he recovered from the fright. The Spaniard was on a mission: to stop the Sepang all-time champion to slip out of reach. On the fourth lap and in the blink of an eye, he was running third, followed at a distance by Miller and a lagging Dovizioso.

In his frantic chase, the Spanish pilot was pushing his bike to the limit but Rossi was not giving in an inch and continued with his ferocious rhythm keeping Zarco in second and Marquez in third position.  TheseThree Mosqueteers quickly became a well-defined leading pack with the Italian one full second ahead of the French pilot and with Marquez further behind. 

A little bit further back a second pack made up of Dovizioso, Pedrosa and Miller was quickly losing any chance of catching up with the leaders.  

Rossi set ferocious rhythm and Marquez follows suit

Rossi and Marquez were once more giving fans one of their exciting battles for the win with Zarco as a guest of honour. It was in Malaysia that the personal and professional differences between both champions first started and so this was a perfect setting for both to defeat their rival. 

Marquez finally passed Zarco on the fifth turn bang in the middle of the Malaysian Grand Prix (10 laps to go), and the fight for victory commenced. Rossi was still leading the race followed by Marquez 1,116 seconds behind, Zarco, Pedrosa, Rins and a lacklustre Dovi and extra second behind. 

From then one the two MotoGP giants performed a few extraordinary laps but never really got close to each other. Both Rossi and Marquez were giving it all they had, squeezing their bikes to the limit. The Spaniard, with his Italian nemesis on sight, was managing to scratch a few extra milliseconds on each turn, all at the risk of crashing out. In this way, he started getting closer to the nine-time world champion until he was literally breathing down his neck at five laps from the checkered flag. 

Rossi crashes and hands Marquez his 70th victory

Overwhelmed by Marquez’ ruthless pressure, ‘The Doctor’ fell over on the 1 turn of the following lap when both were running very close to each other. The Spaniard was then free to race to his ninth victory of the year, 70th of his career and 44th of MotoGP. He is now just 20 victories away from legendary Angel Nieto!

The last few laps were a triumphal march for the Catalan pilot who was also winning the Constructors Championship for the team of the Golden Wings. Behind him, the war for the second position was in full blow. Rins was now third and running behind Zarco. At just a few metres before the finish line, the pilot from Barcelona managed to steal the second position from the Frenchman, still his best MotoGP result to date. 

Last week’s Australian GP winner, Maverick Viñales finished fourth after recovering from a bad start. Dani Pedrosa was fifth and Andrea Dovizioso got a disappointing 6th position despite starting as one of the favourites for the Malaysian Grand Prix. 

Alvaro Bautista sealed a sensational seven position making it harder to understand why he doesn’t have a seat in MotoGP for next season and has to move on to the Superbike Championship, even if he does on board an official Ducati.

Main image: Twitter MotoGP.