Francesco Bagnaia claimed victory in a tense race at Sepang to take his seventh victory of the season. The Italian fended off well against a charging Enea Bastianini and with his championship rival Fabio Quartararo finishing third, the title race will head onto the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for the Valencian Grand Prix which is set to be the final race of the season. Bagnaia with a 23 point lead.
Polesitter Jorge Martin went into turn 1 leading the pack. Bagnaia who started ninth on the grid, got off to a dream start as he dived his way into second position into turn 1. Quartararo on the Yamaha had a very good start too as he climbed from twelfth to fifth.
Aprilia’s main man and championship contender Aleix Espargaro was in a fit of bother as his championship hopes started to fade as he dropped five places in the first few laps.
Martin on the Pramac Ducati was able to stretch his advantage over Bagnaia to over a second. Enea Bastianini slotted into third place and was closely trailing his teammate for next year. On lap 7, Martin crashed out of the race, gifting the lead to Pecco.
With the two Ducatis up front fighting for the lead, Fabio was managing to hang out but the gap was considerably tough for the Yamaha man to close down. Meanwhile, behind him in fourth was Marco Bezzechi on the Mooney VR46 Ducati who was closing down on Quartararo.
While all that was happening, Bastianini overtook Bagnaia with a lunge up the inside into turn 8 as tension started to build in the Ducati garage. Bagnaia eventually took back the lead after a few tense laps of following the Gresini Ducati rider ahead of him. Meanwhile, Quartararo was seemingly closing the gap to Bastianini as Bezzechi was no longer able to apply pressure on the Yamaha man.
Despite Bastianini trailing so close behind Bagnaia, he did not make a move on the factory Ducati rider. But in the closing stages, Fabio was seemingly getting closer as he took off four tenths from the leading duo on the 15th lap. With the two squabbling for the lead up front, it was looking like a chance for Quartararo.
But a few laps passed and the duo were able to stop Quartararo’s charge as they stopped fighting with themselves. But Bastianini was not gone as he started to look for a gap to pass Bagnaia on the penultimate lap. He managed to find time on his fellow Italian, but he got too close trying to make a move in sector 4 and lost his chance. Bagnaia eventually held on as he fought off immense pressure to take the chequered flag in an intense race at Sepang.
With Quartararo managing third place, he was able to force the title race into a decider at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia in two weeks time. The final showdown is all set as Fabio Quartararo has got some work to do and hope that things go his way. It would seem as if Pecco already has the upper hand with the points margin. But anything could yet happen. Onto Valencia we go in two weeks time…
Image credits: Twitter
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