"Shark" Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) managed to avoid the treacherous track to claim victory in the Sprint of the 2026 Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix , a lively flag-to-flag race marked by Alex Marquez 's (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) crash while in the lead and the close duel for the championship between Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing): but what will happen in this Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit?
Of course, the key takeaway from Saturday is Jorge Martin's (Aprilia Racing) withdrawal after FP2: while nothing is ever certain, the championship now seems wide open to number 93, and neither the announcement of the Martinator 's return in Qatar, nor Marco Bezzecchi 's solid but subpar performance in the Sprint, suggests that Marc Marquez 's 10th title will elude him . However, even though we certainly don't wish for it, a "stupid" crash…
A "stupid" fall, which is unfortunately what happened to Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), while he was largely dominating the Sprint. An excess of optimism undoubtedly linked to the confidence brought by his pole position and victory last year.
Number #73 will undoubtedly be even stronger during the Grand Prix.
Solid is also a fitting adjective to describe the performances of winner Pedro Acosta and Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team). Acosta demonstrated his tenacity and opportunism at the right moment, while Ogura proved he's not just a second-half specialist. His overtaking of Marc Marquez at the start and his subsequent battles with him revealed a previously little-known facet of his talent, even if he ultimately missed out on a podium finish.
At more than 5 seconds, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) completed the 10 laps solo, three points ahead of a compact group including Francis Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR) Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP).
Conversely, without even mentioning the disagreement that caused the anger and withdrawal of Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP), Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol), Iker Lecuona (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) lost all chance of a good result by taking the gamble of rain tires when the expected downpour finally delayed its arrival just after the checkered flag.
With 19 points ahead of George Martin, and 52 on Marco Bezzecchithe objective of Marc Marquez is now very clear: score big points without risking falling, even if it means surrendering victory to those who have nothing to lose.
That's exactly what he did this Saturday…
MotoGP Sprint standings at Sepang:
This morning during the warm-upThe top of the standings has returned to a configuration largely seen in qualifying, in which only Johann Zarco managed to infiltrate.
The starting grid:
While we wait to find out more, as the 20 riders prepare under rather overcast skies with air temperatures of 37°C and track temperatures of 54°C for this 20-lap Grand Prix, let's enjoy these few moments of live coverage thanks to the official MotoGP.com website :
Here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.
|
MotoGP™ Malaysia, Sepang |
2025 |
2026 |
| FP1 | 2'00.199 Fermin Aldeguer (See here) | 1'58.942 Marc Marquez (See here) |
| Practice | 1'57.559 Pedro Acosta (See here) | 1'57.000 Marc Marquez (See here) |
| FP2 | 1'58.415 Luca Marini (See here) | 1'58.516 Enea Bastianini (See here) |
| Q1 | 1'57.148 Fermin Aldeguer, 1'57.190 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) | 1'57.431 Johann Zarco, 1'57.552 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) |
| Q2 | 1'57.001 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) | 1'56.493 Alex Marquez (See here) |
| Sprint | Bagnaia, A. Marquez, Acosta (See here) | Acosta, M. Marquez, Bezzecchi (See here) |
| Warm Up | 1'58.979 Alex Marquez (See here) | 1'58.902 Marc Marquez (See here) |
| Grand Prix | A. Marquez, Acosta, Mir (See here) | M. Marquez, Acosta, A. Marquez (See here) |
| All time lap record | 1'56.337 Francesco Bagnaia 2024 (See here) |
MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang
