‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati) finished in third place, which tasted like victory. The Italian has now risen to the top of the standings, partly thanks to the fall of former leader Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha). The Frenchman crashed out of the race as he was riding alone in the midfield and after making yet another mistake.

‘El Diablo’ has now moved down to second place in the table, 14 points behind the Italian pilot. This Sunday, Quartararo finished out of the points for the second consecutive race after Thailand, the third (Aragon) of the last four appointments.

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The French rider is undergoing a devastating confidence crisis, although the poor performance of his M1 is not much help either. With two races and 50 points at stake in the championship, he is still in the title race, but if Bagnaia wins again in Malaysia and has another weekend of no points, the title will go to the Italian right there. 

As for race winner Rins, this has been his first victory since Aragon 2020 as well as the first win of the season for the Hamamatsu team. The Spaniard has done it by replicating his fight with Marquez at Silverstone in 2019 when he also defeated his compatriot for the win in an equally vibrant duel. 

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The six-time MotoGP champion, for his part, can pat himself on the back with that result despite that final defeat in extremis. His 100th podium finish is a testament to his progression and the complete recovery of his right arm. 

The other great disappointment of the day, besides Quartararo, was Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia). Third in the standings, the also Catalan pilot needed to get closer to his title rivals but he could only manage an insufficient ninth-place finish. Now, Aleix is 27 points behind Bagnaia in the standings.

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Martin leads and Quartararo crashes out

Martin held on to first place against Marc Marquez when the lights went out at the MotoGP´s Australian GP 2022. Bagnaia, on the other hand, gave up third place to a feisty Aleix Espargaro, albeit for a short period of time. One place behind was Quartararo completing the big three.

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On lap four something happened that could cost Quartararo the championship, even in Sepang. After giving in to Miller and on the verge of losing control in the curve of the same name, he went off track, falling to twenty-second place. Thrown off focus by the incident he would crash seven laps later. 

Rins, who was climbing the track from tenth place, overtook Miller shortly after Bagnaia had done so. The Catalan rider was now in fourth place behind the Italian, who was trying to hunt Martin and Marc down. Moments later Miller crashed onto the floor following an unfortunate move by Alex Marquez. 

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Constant battles…leading up to the final one   

Martin, Rins and Marc led a group of eight bikes at a low pace. Past the halfway point of the Australian MotoGP, Rins jump to the lead, while Martin fell from first to fifth place in just one lap. But the leadership was constantly changing. Next Bagnaia took command followed by Marc, with Rins now in third at the MotoGP´s Australian GP 2022. 

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Reenacting some of their old fights, Rins and Marquez passed Bagnaia in the final lap. After his final duel with the #93, Rins demonstrated once again that he is one of the few rivals capable of defeating Marc in a head-to-head.

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