Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) rode to his ninth win of the 2018 MotoGP season and his 70th career win after taking victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The 2018 Champion looked set to lock horns with nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), but the race would end in disaster for ‘The Doctor, after long-time leader Rossi of Italy crashed, as Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the podium at the Sepang International Circuit.
When the lights went out it was Rossi who got a stellar launch from P2, with pole man Zarco slightly sluggish off the line – ‘The Doctor’ got at the Malaysian Motorcycle International Circuit a comfortable holeshot, with Zarco managing to brake late to slot into P2. Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) was able to leapfrog Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) into P3 at the start, with Marquez making up one position in P6.
Marquez also quickly set about making up for his six-place grid penalty for impeding Italy's Andrea Iannone in qualifying and by the end of the fifth of the 20-lap race, was already behind Rossi.
Rossi was able to extend the gap over Marquez but lost the advantage after the halfway mark of the Malaysia race.
The Spaniard reached second place and was slowly closing the gap on Rossi,
when the Italian fell off his bike as he leaned into a corner.
He got up and continued but by that point victory had already slipped out of his grasp.
The start was not perfect but then I started to take out the riders step-by-step,” said Marquez.
“I started to feel better and better, and I started to see I was catching (Rossi).”
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