The rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) finished this Saturday in 18th position the sprint race of the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix, the 18th round of the season, won by the Spanish Alex Márquez (Ducati).
Oliveira, who started from 19th position, finished the 10 laps 15.058 seconds behind the winner, Alex Márquez, who left his compatriot Jorge Martín (Ducati) in second position, 1.589 seconds away, with the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) in third position, at 3,034 seconds.
In this way, Jorge Martín recovered two points from the championship leader, ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, placing himself 11 behind first place.
But the Madrid rider had a scare right on the training lap, when he saw that a part came loose from his motorcycle, a problem that was solved by his mechanics.
Bagnaia started from pole, but soon showed that he had no pace to keep up with Jorge Martín and Alex Márquez, who dominated the weekend in Malaysia.
Miguel Oliveira made a bad start and finished the first lap in 21st place, after giving up two positions with respect to the start.
The Portuguese driver recovered throughout the 10 laps, finishing the sprint race in 18th position.
Meanwhile, up front, Alex Márquez began his attack for victory from the beginning but, on the third lap, he failed to brake and fell to third position. He would take the lead on the sixth lap, winning a sprint race for the second time this season, having won in Great Britain, breaking Jorge Martín’s five-race winning streak.
The Spaniard also got rid of Bagnaia in the sixth lap, gaining some more ground in the fight for the world title.
It is also worth highlighting the 27th crash suffered by the Spanish Marc Márquez (Honda), equaling his negative record that dates back to 2017.
The Catalan driver, who is leaving Honda, resumed the race finishing 21st.
With these results, Bagnaia reached 396 points, 11 more than Jorge Martín.
“I gave my best, but my best today was not enough to win,” stressed the Italian, after an exhausting race with high temperatures.
Miguel Oliveira maintains 15th place in the championship, with 76 points.
Source: TSF
