More from a press release issued by Ducati Lenovo Team:
Francesco Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team win the Sepang Sprint starting from pole. Michele Pirro finishes twentieth.
The Ducati Lenovo Team enjoyed a dominant Saturday at the Sepang International Circuit courtesy of Francesco Bagnaia, who came out victorious in the Sprint from pole position. Michele Pirro completed the encounter in twentieth place.
Bagnaia, who took pole after progressing through Q1, had an excellent start to the race and gradually pulled away from his opponents lap after lap up to the chequered flag. This is Pecco’s second win of the season in a Saturday race. Michele Pirro, twenty-second on the grid, finished twentieth at the flag.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow morning at 9:40 local time (GMT +8) for the warm-up, followed by the Grand Prix of Malaysia, which will be contested over a 20-lap distance from 15:00.
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“This win is for the team, who work tirelessly. This season we’ve been alternating between excellent performances and very complicated moments, and all together we’re trying to find the reason behind these ups and downs. After yesterday’s difficulties in the time attack, we made some adjustments that helped me quite a bit, both in qualifying and in the Sprint. We had a small issue that limited me a little under braking, but I still managed to be incisive – and the feeling was good.”
Michele Pirro (#51 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 20th
“It was a tough and hot race, but if I look at the overall gap I had in the Australian Sprint, we made significant steps forward. The level of this MotoGP is extremely high and my role is different from the other riders’, so I focused on keeping a consistent pace and managing the tyre wear. I’m super happy about Pecco’s result; it was great to see him competitive again.”
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More from a press release issued by BK8 Gresini Team:
A Gresini podium: Alex Marquez seals the runner-up spot, Fermin Aldeguer is rookie of the year.
Sprint – MalaysianGP
- 2nd – ALEX MARQUEZ #73
- 3rd – FERMIN ALDEGUER #54 (7th after being disqualified)
World Championship Standings
- 2nd – ALEX MARQUEZ #73 (388 points)
Runner Up MotoGP 2025 - 8th – FERMIN ALDEGUER #54 (186 points)
Rookie of the Year 2025
Alex Marquez: “It was a great season, we deserved it and I had never thought I would have done better than Marc or Enea this season. We did it and we’re happy. I wasn’t honestly happy with the Sprint, I didn’t ride as I could have, I was stiff. Let’s see if tomorrow we can do something to improve and be more competitive.”
Fermin Aldeguer: “It was a great season, we deserved it and I had never thought I would have done better than Marc or Enea this season. We did it and we’re happy. I wasn’t honestly happy with the Sprint, I didn’t ride as I could have, I was stiff. Let’s see if tomorrow we can do something to improve and be more competitive.”
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More from a press release issued by Monster Energy Yamaha:
Sepang Sprint Ends in P5 & P15 for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo showed his mettle in the opening laps of the Grand Prix of Malaysia Sprint. He completed the race in P6. However, following a post-Sprint 8-second penalty for Fermín Aldeguer, Quartararo ranked fifth in the amended classifications. Álex Rins lost some ground in the middle stages of the 10-lap dash and went on to finish in 15th place.
Starting from P4 on the grid, Quartararo initially held his position but soon got in a scrap with Franco Morbidelli, and Joan Mir grabbed the opportunity to slip through. While Quartararo kept battling with Morbidelli, also Aldeguer snuck past, so the number-20 rider settled in seventh. On lap 5, Mir crashed, allowing El Diablo back into the top 6. The Yamaha man eventually lost touch with Morbidelli and instead focused on making sure that Marco Bezzecchi wouldn’t catch up. Quartararo finished in sixth place, 8.468s from first.
Rins commenced the 10-lap dash from P10 but fell back to twelfth on the first lap. In the two following laps he engaged in a brief battle with a charging Bezzecchi and Enea Bastianini and was relegated to P14. The number-42 rider briefly gained a position when Mir crashed on lap 5, but over the course of lap 3-6 he dropped to P16 as he was unable to ride defensively like he wanted to. A crash by Luca Marini on lap 8, had the Spaniard holding 15th position when he arrived at the chequered flag, which he took 17.721s from the winner.
After today’s results, Quartararo stays in 9th place in the overall standings with 171 points, and Rins holds 19th position with 60 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP are 6th in the team championship with 231 points, and Yamaha remain in 5th position in the constructor championship with 210 points.
The team will be back in action tomorrow* for Warm Up, held from 10:40-10:50 GMT +8, and the 20-lap Race, which starts at 15:00.
*On Sunday, October 26th, daylight saving time will start in Europe. The clocks in Malaysia do not change, increasing the time difference between Malaysia and Europe by one hour for the Sunday.
MASSIMO MEREGALLI – Team Director, Monster Energy Yamaha:
Fabio Quartararo: “I did my best. At the beginning, various rivals around me had a really good pace, and I lost a lot of time battling with Franky. But I have to say, I haven’t enjoyed a battle that much in a long time. I think my pace was not so bad too, considering where we were yesterday. I gave it my 100%. I expected to be faster at the end of the race, with a bit less tyre drop, but it was similar to the guys in front.”
Alex Rins: “It was really tough, but we already knew from FP2. We can be competitive on one lap, but not over a whole race distance. The tyre drop after some laps is really big for us. We need to analyse it and see what we can do.”
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More from a press release issued by Aprilia Racing:
Comeback sprint for Aprilia Racing at Sepang.
The sprint at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit concluded with a strong performance from Aprilia Racing. Starting from 14th on the grid after narrowly missing out on Q2, Marco Bezzecchi pulled off an excellent comeback. The Italian rider managed the sprint with composure amid the early-lap battles, steadily climbing through the field to finish sixth.
Focusing on the development of the RS-GP25, Lorenzo Savadori continued fine-tuning new components under race conditions, crossing the finish line in 18th place.
Marco Bezzecchi: “The start wasn’t bad, and I managed to recover, pulling off a few nice overtakes. My race pace throughout the weekend hasn’t been bad, but unfortunately, I missed the flying lap on Friday and in qualifying. Clearly, things aren’t going quite as well as in the last few races, but we expected to struggle a bit more here. However, it’s proving useful because we’re working on lots of things that can help us in the future.”
Lorenzo Savadori: “My race pace was good, and I was close to the pack. Unfortunately, I had some front-end drop-off and had to back off a bit. I also ran wide at the final corner on the last lap. In general, we tried some new things during the race that still need a bit of fine-tuning and improvement. On Sunday, we’ll aim to take another step forward.”
Fabiano Sterlacchini: “It was definitely a rather challenging day. The layout, temperature and rear grip levels, an issue for all riders, made things a bit tricky for us. There are also a couple of stop-and-go sections we’re still working on. We’ve made good progress over the season, but clearly it’s not enough yet. As we did from Friday to Saturday, we’ll work to identify some solutions to apply in the full race.”
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More from a press release issued by CASTROL Honda LCR:
CASTROL Honda LCR rider Johann Zarco has finished 8th in Saturday’s Sprint at the Sepang International Circuit.
- After a strong qualifying performance, French rider Johann Zarco started from 9th position on the grid.
- Zarco made a good start, found his rhythm, and controlled the situation throughout the race, ultimately finishing 8th and securing valuable points.
- The Frenchman admits to feeling more comfortable on the bike and is pleased with his ability to ride confidently, which is a positive sign as he continues to pursue his goals.
- Today’s data will provide valuable insights for Zarco and his crew, helping them refine the final details ahead of tomorrow’s main race.
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More from a press release issued by Idemitsu Honda LCR:
IDEMITSU Honda LCR rider Somkiat Chantra has finished 17th in Saturday’s Sprint at the Sepang International Circuit.
- The Thai rider faced a comeback Sprint, starting from 20th on the grid, but did so with great confidence on a circuit he enjoys.
- Chantra made a solid start and managed to handle the situation without mistakes while fighting for his goals.
- The rider didn’t give up and pushed hard, finishing 17th and gaining important insights for tomorrow’s race.
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More from a press release issued by Red Bull KTM Tech3:
Enea Bastianini and Pol Espargaro both delivered solid sprint performances on Super Saturday at the Malaysian Grand Prix, under the hot and humid heat of Sepang. If Bastianini failed to qualify well, with a P19-start, he did once again a solid job in the afternoon’s sprint, as he recovered 10 positions to see the checkered flag in 9th, and score a sprint point, something he had not reproduced since his 5th place in Catalonia’s sprint. Meanwhile, Pol Espargaro took the 11th place of the Tissot Sprint, after he had qualified in 12th.
Qualifying
As qualifying followed the classic FP2 opening Super Saturday, Enea Bastianini was the first of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 squad to hit the track as he joined a busy Q1 session, alongside the 3 latest race winners, and in-form Marco Bezzecchi. Enea’s first lap was a 1’58.402 while Fermin Aldeguer set the tone with a 1’57.698, before Bastianini found a way to gain a few hundredths to clock a 1’58.189 on lap 3, before his pit stop. He was in a provisional 7th place with Luca Marini and Fermin Aldeguer both provisionally qualified. For run 2, Bastianini could not put it all together to do a good enough lap to make some improvements, and his earlier lap remained his best. He finished in 9th, therefore qualifying in 19th on the grid. Francesco Bagnaia and Fermin Aldeguer were the two riders to go through Q2, joining our own Pol Espargaro, in the fight for the 20th pole position of the season. Espargaro’s first lap was a 1’58.174 while Pedro Acosta was the first to take the top of the timesheets with a 1’57.363. The number 44 was in a provisional 9th place as he rejoined the track for run 2, just behind teammate Acosta. Meanwhile, Fabio Quartararo was in pole with a 1’57.195. Unfortunately for Pol, Acosta crashed in front, and he did not make further improvements. Espargaro is set to start the Malaysian Grand Prix from 12th on the grid, while Francesco Bagnaia meant business as he grabbed his 3rd pole of 2025, followed by Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli closing the front row.
Tissot Sprint
Under the scorching sun of Malaysia, it was all lights out at 3pm local time for 10 laps of sprint madness, and it was pole sitter Francesco Bagnaia who took the holeshot straight away. From his 12th position, Pol Espargaro took a rocket start himself as 3 positions were gained in the first 3 turns to 8th, but Johann Zarco was quick to answer back as he pushed through Pol, so Espargaro found himself in 9th after one lap. Meanwhile, another one to also take a solid start was Enea Bastianini, who gained 5 positions in one lap to enter lap 2 in P14 behind Marco Bezzecchi. The Italian showed solid early pace with his fastest sprint lap clocked on lap 2 with a 1’59.318, one that saw him close the gap ahead, to then overtake Alex Rins on lap 3 and progress to 13th. Meanwhile, Espargaro was still in 9th, while Bagnaia had already made a 1.1 second-gap on rivals Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta. The number 44 produced some solid early pace, which allowed him to apply more and more pressure on Zarco ahead, and Joan Mir making a mistake ahead on lap 5 gave Pol his opportunity to move past the LCR rider, and gain two positions to sit in P7 halfway through the 10 lap-shootout. The crashes ahead of both Mir and Oliveira had Bastianini sit in 11th after 6 laps, with now Zarco just 0.2 seconds ahead. Four laps to try making it out to the points! Just a bit further ahead, Pol Espargaro was losing a bit of rhythm as he was overtaken by Bezzecchi, and soon, Luca Marini arrived from behind. Unfortunately, a contact was made between Espargaro and Marini with the HRC rider trying to overtake Pol on the inside. Marini crashed while Pol managed to avoid the worst, but he was back to 12th. In a last effort, he caught back on Raul Fernandez ahead to cross the finish line in 11th. This contact between Espargaro and Marini gifted the two spots Bastianini needed to make it to the points, and that was a P9 for Enea! 10 places gained in 10 laps, an encouraging achievement for the ‘Bestia’ heading to the long distance on Sunday! Don’t miss the final showdown of the Malaysian Grand Prix, with the main race starting at 15:00 local time (UTC+8), for 20 laps!
Enea Bastianini: “As the weekends go by, we improve, day after day, so for sure we improved a bit from yesterday, and we got closer to the others. To be honest, I am not really happy, because the problem remains the same. Every time we jump on the bike at the start of the weekend, we are lacking confidence, and then qualifyings are all the same, I struggle to turn the bike where and when I want, I don’t have a lot of traction especially on the dry. Then during the races, we usually manage to do a good pace. P9 is good, but we must solve our issues.”
Pol Espargaro: “I am happy more or less! We had a good pace from the start of the sprint, I could stay with the top guys while managing the rear drop of the tire, which killed us in Australia. I was about to take P8-P9, but then I had a small contact with Luca Marini, nothing bad, but I lost positions, even if I managed to get back one to finish 11th. It is good for us, but we are looking for more tomorrow!”
Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “Today was a good day at the office for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team, despite the little frustration still going on on Enea Bastianini’s side, as weekends keep looking alike. Our main target was clearly to try improving the one-lap performance, but we failed again, as he qualified in P19, which makes everything complicated. The frustration is obviously higher when you see him finishing in P9 of the sprint after recovering 10 positions. Our goal remains the same, and we won’t stop until we have improved this weak point. Pol Espargaro had another strong day, although he struggled a bit in Q2 with the 12th place, but he rode a solid pace in the sprint, and he was fighting for P8 when contact was made with Luca Marini. He dropped to 11th, but he has done a really good job so far, and I think that we can realistically target top 10 finishes for both our riders on Sunday.”
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More from a press release issued by Honda HRC Castrol:
Disappointing end to promising Sprint Saturday in Sepang.
A double DNF for Honda HRC Castrol, a tough pill to swallow after Joan Mir chased the podium and Luca Marini was in the midst of another impressive recovery.
The rains held off for the entirety of Saturday at the Sepang International Circuit, allowing for another busy day of work. With ample track time, the gaps between riders only continued to tighten and both Honda HRC Castrol riders looked primed to continue their top five performances with Marini leading the morning session and Mir close behind in fourth with mid 1’58s.
Having clinched the top ten on Friday, Joan Mir converted his Q2 speed into seventh on the grid and set about making his presence known in the Sprint. Attempting to ride around the outside of Fabio Quartararo into Turn 1, the #36 was on the move as he chased the leading trio. Lapping half a second faster than Acosta, the distance evaporated rapidly as Mir gave chase. Losing the front just as he reached the podium battle, Mir was unharmed in the fall, but his Sprint would end prematurely. Despite the crash, Mir and Honda HRC were able to take a number of positives away from the day and will return stronger on Sunday.
Missing Q2 just a few tenths, Luca Marini launched from 13th and put together one of his most aggressive races of the season. With Bezzecchi hot on his heels, Marini muscled his way through and into the top eight to enter the fight for the points. Resuming his intense battle with Pol Espargaro from Phillip Island, Marini attempted to pass the former Honda rider but contact between the two would see Marini fall and Espargaro pushed wide. This is Marini’s first crash of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship season.
The Honda HRC Castrol team have taken valuable lessons from Saturday and will return stronger for the 20-lap Malaysian GP on Sunday. Scheduled for 15:00, the Honda RC213V clearly has more to show around the 5.5 kilometres of the Sepang International Circuit.
Joan Mir: “Not how we wanted to end today, that’s for sure! Our pace was really good even after a disappointing Qualifying, because our partials were better than our overall lap. In the Sprint, my start was positive, and I am riding with a lot of confidence – I think you can see that on TV as well! We need to try and find a bit more grip, I am making a lot up under braking and it’s easier to make a mistake which is what happened. It was my mistake; we checked the data – one of those crashes where you open the throttle a bit earlier than normal. Our speed is there, this is the positive point and it gives the engineers another example of what and where we need to work.”
Luca Marini: “I saw Pol going wide, so I went for the gap but I entered a bit too slowly so he didn’t see me and he came back into the corner. It was my mistake and we touched, I fell. It’s something that can happen and I am OK, a little knock to my finger but nothing serious. A pity because our pace is looking really good and we have the potential to show ourselves. Let’s see what tomorrow can bring, the bike is improving but we need to focus on our one lap speed to make the step that the other riders are able to make. I am confident Honda HRC can do this because the time we have found in just a year is incredible.”
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More from a press release issued by Prima Pramac Yamaha:
Challenging Sprint for Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP at Sepang: Miller 14th, Oliveira Crashes Out Early.
The Sprint Race that awarded the first points of the Malaysian GP weekend — round 20 of the MotoGP World Championship — proved tricky for the Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP riders. Jack Miller completed the 10-lap race in 14th place, while Miguel Oliveira was forced to retire after a harmless crash at Turn 1 at the start of lap six. Tomorrow brings a chance for redemption in the 20-lap Grand Prix (start at 3:00 p.m. local time / 8:00 a.m. CET), with Miller starting 11th on the grid and Oliveira 16th.
It was a tough Saturday for the Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP squad at the Sepang International Circuit, hosting the 20th round of the MotoGP season. After a challenging qualifying session — with Oliveira eliminated in Q1 and forced to settle for 16th, and Miller unable to piece together a perfect lap despite a promising Friday, ending 11th — the Sprint Race turned into a difficult one for both riders.
Caught in the chaos of Turn 1, Miller lost several positions at the start and ended the opening lap in 15th place. Oliveira also dropped back to 20th. His race was cut short by a low-speed crash at Turn 1 early on lap six, while occupying 18th place. Miller, after battling in the opening laps, stabilized his pace and finished 14th. Tomorrow‘s Grand Prix, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. CET), will be a chance to fight back.
Malaysian GP schedule:
Sunday: 10:40 (3:40 CET) Warm-up; 15:00 (8:00 CET) Race (20 laps – 110,86 km)
GINO BORSOI – Team Director, Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP
“It was a very difficult race for both riders. They actually started well, but then got caught in traffic at Turn 1 and lost several positions. From there, the race became complicated — stuck in the pack, unable to take their lines, and forced to defend down the straights. For tomorrow, we‘ll try to work on the electronics, as rear-tire management will be a key factor. We haven‘t decided which tire to use yet; we‘ll need to analyze and make the best choice.”
Jack Miller: “We maybe could have done a little bit more, but it was a difficult race — the front tire was struggling pretty much from the start. And then you‘re racing in the middle of the group, it‘s hot, you can‘t use the rear tire much to stop, and you just suffer. Turn 1 was a nightmare, turn 4 the same, and turn 9 as well. We need to understand how to keep the temperatures more under control. Tomorrow we‘ll try again and see what we can do.”
Miguel Oliveira: “There aren‘t many positive things to take from this Sprint. Qualifying was a bit better, but still not enough to get into Q2. Then in the Sprint it was just about surviving — you can‘t push and there‘s very little you can do. I felt the tires overheating right from the beginning, and then I crashed. I did exactly the same as in the previous laps, but the tire just couldn‘t handle it anymore. I‘m disappointed about that, but we‘ll try again tomorrow, even though it‘s going to be a long and tough race.”