Malaysian GP Sprint Race reports/results/points + Moto2/3 Qualifying

MotoGP 2023

Round 18 – Malaysian Grand Prix

Riders reflect on Saturday at Sepang

Alex Marquez – P1

“I made a mistake during an overtaking manoeuvre on Pecco, but aside from that it was a perfect race. We used the best strategy: we waited a little bit, also to keep the right pressure on the front tyre. Then, when I saw that Pecco was slightly slower than me, I attacked and thought only about winning. I didn’t look at the board until the last lap, and then when I saw +1.2secs of margin I stayed focused to finish the race the best way possible.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P3

“My feeling wasn’t the same already at the start with the bike compared to yesterday, then I started to struggle a lot with the front. It was very difficult to stop the bike to enter fast in the corner and make some corner speed. Fortunately, we have time to understand everything and try to be faster tomorrow. I don’t know what it was that the front wing of the bike picked up but for sure it didn’t help. Being in pole position is always positive and doing the all-time lap record is something to be proud of but it is more important to finish at the front of the race to take more points from Jorge so it will be important tomorrow to push hard.”

Enea Bastianini- P4

“Today I feel that I’ve come back up after my head was underwater because I did a really good qualifying and a good race so I’m happy. I struggled at the beginning but after a few laps, I found a good rhythm and managed to move forward. Then something happened in the sense that I wasn’t very comfortable on the front, and when I had Pecco in front, I preferred not to take any unnecessary risks. I know that he and the team are fighting for something big. For tomorrow we must try to understand exactly what happened, but I think it’s something that can be solved.”

Brad Binder – P5

“Today was a bit more tricky than I expected. Qualifying was quite difficult as I had a lot of chatter and I was trying to manage it. 7th place was quite good but in the race I just didn’t have any rear grip. I think I was unlucky, and at least it’s better to have that situation today in the Sprint, rather than the Grand Prix tomorrow. I hope we can sort things out, get a bit better and fight for the podium at least.”

Jack Miller – P6

“Somewhat satisfied but we still want better. Difficult qualifying and couldn’t quite get it going with the first tyre but I made up for it with that start in the Sprint and was battling with the boys. I could make my own rhythm and it will be interesting to see what we can do in the full distance and with managing the tyre. The KTM does a good job with the consumption so I hope we can be there fighting tomorrow.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P7

“I can’t say I’m satisfied with the Sprint, I wasn’t able to ride as I wanted. I have struggled from the start. In the first two sectors the sensations are not bad, but in T3 and T4, the bike doesn’t turn, I lose grip and I use to much the rear tyre. Let’s go back to the data to make a step tomorrow on the long run and being closer to the leaders.”

Luca Marini – P9

“I’m disappointed with the race, I expected more also because the sensations are still good. The start was perfect, but on the straight the tyre started to bounce and at the first corner I lost positions. In the battle, especially with the other Ducati, it’s really complicated. I’m not fast enough in the exit of the corners well and even if I brake hard, I’m not competitive. Let’s go back to the data for tomorrow.”

Maverick Vinales – P10

“I can’t say that I’m disappointed, because I think the result today was the best possible. I had managed to start well, but then in the chaos on the opening corners I lost a few positions and I didn’t have the speed I needed in order to attack. We made a few steps forward on various fronts and we still have the warm-up session to try and find a few tenths. We’ll need to continue working to improve for future races as well.”

Franco Morbidelli – P11

“I think this was close to the maximum of what we could do today starting from P15. I tried to make the right moves at the beginning and do some overtakes during the Sprint. I tried to recover as much as I could, and, for sure, when we‘re in a group our performance drops. I can‘t put into words the speed we have when we‘re riding alone. Also this morning the pace was really good. In the Sprint it was good enough to recover some positions, but not as good as it was this morning.”

Aleix Espargaro – P12

“The good thing is that I got back the “normal” sensations on the RS-GP with the change in settings. My time in Q1 (1’58.069) was the fastest yet for Aprilia in Sepang, but it wasn’t enough to go through to Q2. Starting a bit farther forward would certainly have helped, especially in the Sprint Race, but the fact is that I expected to be faster. We’ll have better chances tomorrow in the long race.”

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Fabio Di Giannantonio – P13

“It hasn’t been an easy weekend so far. I didn’t have a great feeling and I ended up crashing while trying to push at the limit in Q2. It’s also true that we did a great lap in Q1, but we need to work in order to sort a few things out and be back on the right level of performance tomorrow.”

Augusto Fernandez – P14

“A difficult Sprint after a pretty good Quali. We didn’t make Q2 but it was a good lap. The race pace was missing a little in the Sprint and we had that feeling from the third session. It’s something we need to improve and I hope we can make a step tomorrow.”

Pol Espargaro – P15

“The race was not bad at all, although my start was not perfect and I was stuck behind several riders. It was a bit messy in the first laps and I lost some time but then I made my rhythm and caught back up. I reached my teammate and a few others but then it was so hard to overtake as the front tyre temperature and pressure went up. We’ll see if we can improve that for tomorrow and go again.”

Fabio Quartararo – P16

“That first lap was the worst one I‘ve done. The device remained blocked, I didn‘t brake hard enough and had a touch with another rider on the first lap. From there, the front tyre pressure went super high, and that made it complicated to overtake. But it‘s good experience for tomorrow. Now we know exactly what not to do on the first lap.”

Raul Fernandez – P17

“Today was quite difficult. I felt that I don’t have more to give, we need to improve but we need to find where to improve first. We are in almost the same situation with the Aprilia factory boys in terms of speed. We expected more during this weekend, but honestly our pace is slower compared to the others. We need to be calm and we need to try again for tomorrow, and if it’s a wet race we can try something different. We improved but it’s not enough and we need to do something different, especially to take on this hot temperature.”

Miguel Oliveira – P18

“Well starting from our position on the grid, the goal was just to get a good pace and gather information for tomorrow. It’s a normal scenario when you are in the back, everything is really hard and it’s not easy to make any overtakes to make up places. It’s quite hard to pass in the small corners to prepare some good lines. It will be a tough day tomorrow for the race, I don’t expect much to improve overnight so we just have to give our maximum from the start to finish and see what we can do.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P19

“Today’s Sprint has been difficult because I missed some feeling with the bike’s front end. I kept pushing to understand every detail to do better tomorrow, as today we’ve struggled and didn’t have enough pace. The Sunday race will be tough, but we’ll try our best”.

Iker Lecuona – P20

“It wasn’t the Sprint I expected because it was tough to keep the pace; we missed something. I felt comfortable on the bike, but not enough to improve lap after lap. I tried to stay with the group to understand where we need to work ahead of tomorrow’s race”.

Marc Marquez – P21

“This is a difficult weekend, our pace has not been too bad but we made a big mistake during Qualifying practice and starting down in 20th is a big battle. In the Sprint race I started really well in the first two laps and made up a lot of positions, but when you push like this you overheat the tyres and I lost the front. We got back up and finished the race, getting the information for the team which is necessary for tomorrow. Finishing 21st or 15th in the Sprint doesn’t really change much. We go again tomorrow.”

Alvaro Bautista – P22

“We can say that today was one of the best days for me. First, a technical problem in qualifying didn’t allow me to make the second run, then before the start, I couldn’t engage the front lowering device and I got off to a bad start. I tried to recover straight away but at the last corner on the second lap, also because of the slipstream created by the group, I couldn’t brake hard and went off the track. It’s a real shame because the feeling I had in FP2 was really good and I was convinced I could be much more competitive in the race. Anyway, we are improving in terms of times and feeling, session after session, and that’s why I am confident we can take another step forward tomorrow”.

Joan Mir – P23

“An intense day with the conditions and what we had to do. I was able to keep improving my feeling throughout the day and our times weren’t too bad as we went into Q1. If we did this time last year we would have been on the front row I think! But we still need to find more speed in Qualifying. Again, starting where we did made the race a bit complicated and falling at the last corner was not ideal. We got back on and finished the race to get as much information as possible for Sunday.”

Sprint Race Report

Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) got away well off the line alongside team-mate Pecco Bagnaia. Poleman Alex Marquez struck soon after to take second from Bastianini as Jorge Martin was shuffled down to fourth early on.

Bagnaia led Alex Marquez led Martin but Martin hit back against Bastianini later on the opening lap, and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was past the second factory Ducati early on also.

Heart rates then hit the roof at the end of Lap 2 as Alex Marquez went for a dive on Bagnaia for the lead at the final corner. The reigning Champion let the Gresini machine steam past and head wide, taking back the lead, and that left Alex Marquez nearly side by side with Martin instead, squabbling for second. The Gresini rider decisively grabbed it at Turn 1, however, and from there was able to start reeling Bagnaia back in.

He did just that, with Martin able to stay close and Bastainini coming back at them too, back past Miller, and with five to go Alex Marquez struck with a brutal, clean move for the lead. And then came Martin, the number 89 attacking Bagnaia almost immediately. The hammer went down.

That left Bastianini with some decisions, right on the tail of his team-mate and Pecco looking to recover after losing two positions in fairly quick succession. There was another twist in the tale too as something white then appeared on the front fairing of the #1 Ducati, some debris stuck on the bike. But it didn’t last too long as the battle for third was allowed to continue regardless.

Bagnaia held on, and Bastianini may not have attacked, but he definitely put on some pressure and proved two points at once – his speed and a little team spirit, certainly in terms of avoiding too much risk. It almost cost him fourth too, with a late charge from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) saw the South African and the Beast nearly side-by-side over the line after a last corner squabble.

One second back from that battle was Miller as the Aussie kept himself within the mix for most of the Sprint to bring home a solid 6th-place finish. Another second back was Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), who fended off Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) to take 7th place. The Italian’s team-mate Luca Marini took the final Sprint point in 9th ahead of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) who rounded out the top 10.

As the title battle continues to rage on there’s no telling which way the pendulum will swing. The Malaysian Grand Prix still has plenty to give in the 2023 Championship story with 25 Grand Prix points up for grabs on Sunday and a gap of just 11 between the top two.

Sprint Race

MotoGP Championship Points

MotoGP Qualifying Results

Moto2 Qualifying

It’s now back-to-back-to-back pole positions for Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp), the Spaniard set a 2:05.288 during qualifying at Sepang to pull an incredible half a second clear at the top. Joining Aldeguer on the front row will be Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing), who bagged second place despite hitting the deck, with Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Mastercamp) just 0.025s behind Vietti in third.

Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) suffered a small off and just missed out on a front-row start by 0.038s as he took P4, but he also crashed under Yellow Flags so recieved a Long Lap for the race. Marcos Ramirez’ (OnlyFans American Racing ) great form continued as he rounded out the top five, just ahead of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo). The Championship leader needs to finish fourth or higher on Sunday to lift the title, regardless of rival Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team), who starts just behind him at the head of Row 3.

Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) is alongside Arbolino, and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) locks out that row. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) rounds out the top ten.

Moto2 Qualifying Results

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3 Qualifying

Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) absolutely smashed it out the park in qualifying, setting the first-ever 2:10 lap on a Moto3 machine at Sepang. Masia’s 2:10.846 sits as the new all-time lap record at Sepang and secured the Leopard rider pole position by an incredible 0.906s. Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) will line up alongside the polesitter after the Dutchman finished best of the rest in P2. Rounding out the front row will be Matteo Bertelle (Rivacold Snipers Team) who finished just 0.026s behind the Husqvarna machine.

Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team) took 4th place after missing out on the front row by 0.121s. The Spaniard is set to head Row 2 ahead of title challenger Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) and rookie Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo).

Joel Kelso (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP) is next up in 7th place. The Aussie will be joined on row three by David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) and Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo), the latter riding to keep his title hopes alive.

Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) rounds out the top 10. Championship hopeful Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) suffered from a mid-session crash and could only manage P15.

Moto3 Qualifying Results

Moto3 Championship Points

Malaysian Grand Prix Schedule
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2023 MotoGP Calendar