MotoGP Vinales Wins the Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix

Roberto Magni By Foto ReD Photographic Agency - Maverick Viñales was dubbed the favourite to win the Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, and he pulled through with a dominant victory at the Sepang International Circuit today. Valentino Rossi was also battling for a place on the podium and finished in fourth position.
Sepang (Malaysia), 3rd November 2019
The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team are celebrating their second victory of the season today, as Maverick Viñales returned to the top step of the podium with a flawless race at the Sepang International Circuit. Valentino Rossi was also a strong contender, showing solid pace in the Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix. He put up a fight for third place and crossed the line in fourth.

Viñales did exactly what he had planned yesterday. He had a good start, hung on in second place through the first corners and soon battled his way to the front. Once he hit the number-one spot, the Spaniard was off and gradually built a solid lead of 1.5s. The number-12 rider's campaign was all about focus. Riding on his own in the hot and humid Sepang conditions, he had to remain fully concentrated as he set the pace and managed the gap to Marc Marquez in second place. Viñales didn't put a foot wrong all race and took a text-book victory, with a 3.059s advantage over second. The Yamaha rider dedicated the win to the late Indonesian rider Afridza Munandar, who was his favourite in the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup. Yamaha once again extend their sincere condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Munandar. Rossi was hyping up the fans from the grid before the start and gave them more to cheer about during the race. He was in a busy part of the pack, starting from sixth, and emerged from the first corners in ninth place. He didn't stay there for long though. The Doctor carried some serious early race pace and went in swinging, taking just seven laps before he overtook Miller in Turn 9 for fourth. With eight laps to go, the Italian started to ask questions from Andrea Dovizioso in third place. With Álex Rins approaching and three laps to go, Rossi was trying to make moves on the rider in front of him but wasn't quite able to make it is stick. He finished in fourth place, 5.965s from first. Viñales´ brilliant win moves him up to third place in the championship standings. Rossi holds seventh in the overall rankings, six points behind the rider in sixth place. Yamaha maintains third position in the constructor standings, and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP also stay in third place in the team classification.

Comeback-king Marc Marquez continued to break records in Sepang, his 395 points after finishing second becomes the highest points scored in a single MotoGP season. Jorge Lorenzo, the previous holder of the record, returned to the points with 14th. After the unfortunate loss of Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup rider Afridza Munandar on Saturday, the MotoGP Championship rallied together to remember him with fantastic racing at the Sepang International Circuit. There was no stopping Marc Marquez who bounced back from his biggest crash of the year to put in a champion´s performance. Lightning off the line, the 55-time MotoGP race winner gained six positions in the first two corners alone and ended the first lap in second place. With nine places gained, the reigning World Champion settled in behind Jack Miller for a short while. After muscling past the Australian, Marquez began to work on closing the 1.6 second gap to Viñales. With the gap not reducing after several laps in the 1´59s, Marquez eased his pace to take a well-earned second place in the blazing Malaysian heat. Returning to Europe with 395 points, Marquez now holds the record for most points scored in a single season and passes Jorge Lorenzo´s record of 383 World Championship points from 2010. The result in Malaysia also earns Marquez the honour of being the first rider in history to score 17 MotoGP class podium finishes in a single season, extending his unbroken run of top-two finishes to 15. Marquez´s last finish outside of the top two came at the Czech GP in 2018 when he was third. Sunday in Sepang proved to be more difficult than predicted for Jorge Lorenzo, but the Repsol Honda Team rider was able to return to the points for the first time since Misano with a 14th place finish. The result also saw him halve his distance to the winner compared to Phillip Island, a return to the form he showed in Motegi. With both riders in the points, the Repsol Honda Team sit just two points behind the Ducati Team in the Team Championship with one round still to go as they hunt the Triple Crown.

Andrea Dovizioso stepped onto the podium today in the Shell Malaysia Grand Prix thanks to an excellent third place obtained at the end of a race that was a challenging test for bikes and riders due to the very high temperatures reached today at the Sepang circuit. The rider from Forlì, who powered away well at the start from his row 4 grid position, crossed the line in fourth place at the end of the opening lap. Andrea then passed Miller on lap 4 and held on to third place until the chequered flag, defending the position steadfastly from the attacks by Rossi. With third place today, the number of podiums achieved so far by Ducati in the 2019 season rises to 16, the best result by the Italian manufacturer since 2007, the year in which it won the World Constructors´ and Riders´ titles. Danilo Petrucci, who started from row 3, finished the race in ninth place. In the Riders´ standings Danilo remains in fifth position, with a four-point lead over Quartararo. With one round of the MotoGP World Championship remaining at Valencia, the Ducati Team is still in first place in the special Teams´ classification, while Ducati remains second in the Constructors´ standings with a one-point lead over Yamaha.

Maverick Viñales Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider “It was an incredible race. We prepared for the race really well all weekend. I felt I had a big potential after the first lap. I took the lead after the first two splits and I kept pushing, pushing, and pushing. Honestly, I'm so happy. We did a good job. What a shame in Australia, because that was a race where I felt I had a lot of potential too, but being in first place here is amazing. I would like to dedicate this race to Munandar, the kid that passed away yesterday. He was my favourite in the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup. I offer my condolences to all the family.“

Marc Marquez 2nd “It was an incredible race, a great first lap. Maybe the best of my career, alongside Mugello 2015 ““ I watched this lap last night to see what I did! It was a very nice first lap but unfortunately the tyre dropped a lot in those first three laps and I lost a little time with Miller. Viñales was faster than us today and the target was the podium. I tried to do like in Phillip Island and stay right behind him but the gap was too big at 1.1 seconds and I made a mistake and dropped back. I´m happy with my race, but you can´t imagine how happy I am for my brother´s victory ““ he deserves it so much. It´s an incredible day but we also have to remember Munandar, a young and talented rider who we unfortunately lost. A big hug to his family and friends.“

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) ““ 3rd “I´m very pleased because it was the fastest race we´ve ever done at Sepang in the dry, and so we have to be satisfied with this result. We knew that with a good start we could have aimed for a good result, but unfortunately in the race I didn´t have the same feeling as I had in practice: the tyres dropped a lot and I couldn´t stay with Viñales and Marquez. Pity because I was hoping I could, but in any case I´m happy with this podium, which is very important for me“.

GP of Malaysia - Race Classification:

1. Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 40'14.632
2. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team +3.059
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team +5.611
4. Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +5.965
5. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +6.350
6. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT +9.993
7. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT +12.864
8. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing +17.252
9. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team +19.773
10. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +22.854
11. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +24.821
12. Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing +30.251
13. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +30.447
14. Jorge LORENZO Repsol Honda Team +34.215
15. Mika KALLIO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +34.461
16. Hafizh SYAHRIN Red Bull KTM Tech 3 KTM +44.319
17. Karel ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing +47.343
Not Classified
5 Johann ZARCO LCR Honda IDEMITSU
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL
29 Andrea IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

MotoGP World Championship Standings:

1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda 395
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 256
3. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 201
4. Alex RINS Suzuki 194
5. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 176
6. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 172
7. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 166
8. Jack MILLER Ducati 149
9. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 133
10. Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 115
11. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 94
12. Joan MIR Suzuki 83
13. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 74
14. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 56
15. Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 54
16. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia 43
17. Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 33
18. Johann ZARCO KTM 30
19. Jorge LORENZO Honda 25
20. Tito RABAT Ducati 18
21. Stefan BRADL Honda 16
22. Michele PIRRO Ducati 9
23. Hafizh SYAHRIN KTM 8
24. Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki 7
25. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 7
26. Mika KALLIO KTM 3
27. Bradley SMITH Aprilia