Francesco Bagnaia yesterday won a dramatic Malaysian Grand Prix, but the champagne for the Italian’s maiden MotoGP World Championship remains on ice after rival Fabio Quartararo finished third.
Bagnaia would have clinched the title had Quartararo has not finished on the podium at Sepang, Malaysia, but the Ducati Lenovo Team rider instead extended his lead to 23 points ahead of the season’s final race at Valencia, Spain, in two weeks.
Bagnaia took the checkered flag in 40 minutes, 14:332 seconds, 0.270 seconds ahead of fellow Ducati rider Enea Bastianini. Quartararo completed the podium 2.7 seconds adrift.
Photo: AP
Bagnaia started ninth on the grid, but made a blistering start which saw him swoop through the field to second by the end of the first lap, on the back wheel of Jorge Martin, who had clocked the fastest lap ever at Sepang to land pole position.
“I did the best start I ever did in my life,” Bagnaia said. “It was perfect.”
The dynamics of the race changed on the seventh lap when Martin crashed out, enabling the Ducati rider to charge into first with Bastianini hot on his tail.
“I took some risk at the front,” Bagnaia said. “Following Jorge was a bit too much for the rear tire and I was starting to stress, then unfortunately he crashed.”
Bastianini managed to overtake his countryman on turn four of the 10th lap, but his lead was short-lived as Bagnaia regained the No. 1 spot.
Quartararo, who earlier in the season had been 91 points ahead of Bagnaia, was meanwhile being drawn in a battle against Marco Bezzecchi for third, but held his ground to stave off the Gresini Racing rider.
At the front, Bastianini continued to pressure Bagnaia, but the Italian kept his cool to cross the finish line for his seventh win of the season.
“Today we did a really, really good job in terms of the championship. It’s also my seventh win, so we can be very happy,” Bagnaia said.
With a maximum 25 points available in Valencia, Quartararo must win the final grand prix of the year and hope Bagnaia finishes 15th or lower to have any hope of retaining this world championship.
“It’s been a long time since I made the podium,” Quartararo said.
“I gave my maximum today, couldn’t do any better, but I’m proud of myself, because I felt this is one of my best rides of the season,” added the Frenchman, who was riding with a fractured finger, sustained when he fell in the fourth free practice on Saturday.
“I’m happy at least we’re bringing it to Valencia. Even if the chance is super small, we did everything to bring it to Valencia,” he said.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Manchester City FC halved Arsenal FC’s lead at the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home defeat of Fulham FC, and Aston Villa FC stayed in the frame with a late 1-0 victory at home to Brighton and Hove Albion FC on Wednesday. Nottingham Forest FC squandered a chance to put some distance between themselves and the bottom three as they drew 0-0 at home to bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. Second-from-bottom Burnley FC pulled off a remarkable 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace FC to boost their slender survival hopes. City have little margin for error in their pursuit
RSS