Photo courtesy Motogp.com
Dani Pedrosa rode a nearly flawless race en route to victory in the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix Sunday in front of 82,000 fans at the Sepang International Circuit. Starting from the pole Pedrosa raced his Repsol Honda to the lead from the start and led the entire race. The Yamaha pair of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi finished second and third – Lorenzo 3.612 second back.
The big story was the lap seven clash between Rossi and Marquez that resulted in Marquez crashing out of the race. Race Direction reviewed the incident after the race and Rossi will be forced to start the final race of the season from the back of the grid. That incident may have serious championship implications as the series moves the final round in Valencia on November 8. Rossi, now only seven points up on Lorenzo, will be forced to start from the back of the grid as a penalty for the incident with Marquez.
The bottom line for Rossi is that in order for him to ensure winning the MotoGP title, he will have to finish second or better (if Lorenzo wins) and he’ll have to do that starting from last place.
Pedrosa gapped the field early on while Lorenzo, after a poor start worked his way to second in the opening laps. Rossi latched onto his teammate, but as he attempted to pass Marquez, who was experiencing grip problems on his Honda, the two began swapping third back and forth, sometimes fairly aggressively. Rossi, who already said he felt Marquez was trying to keep him from winning the title, looked irritated by the fight he was getting from Marquez. After four laps of intense battle Rossi dove inside and then looked to run Marquez wide by intentionally taking a high exit. But instead of running him wide, the contact caused Marquez to crash out of the race.
Up front Pedrosa came home with the victory. While Lorenzo was a lonely second, 3.6 seconds back. Then it was another 10 seconds before Rossi came past the finish line in third. Brits Bradley Smith and Cal Crutchlow finished fourth and fifth, while Danilo Petrucci took sixth.
Pedrosa spoke of the grueling conditions at Sepang.
“Really tough physically, a very hot race and the track is very demanding on this bike,” said Pedrosa after the victory, his second of the year and 28th in MotoGP. “The bike of this year moves a lot so you need to do a lot on the bike physically, you need to take a big breath down the straights. The pace was very good all weekend so I think we did a good job and winning this race I’m really happy for my team and everyone behind me. It was really hard so I’m really happy and we’ll try to finish the season in the same way.”
Lorenzo was clearly exhausted after the race, immediately removing the top half of his leathers in an attempt to cool down.
“You know I don’t remember a race that was hotter or more difficult than this in a physical way,” Lorenzo said. “On the bike with the hot engine it was terrible, like being in the sun. Very hot and difficult to finish the race but it was worth the effort and the championship is closer. It’s still very difficult but we will see what happens in the investigation with Marc and Vale. I didn’t see it so I can’t make an opinion but it looks like it was big.”
Results of the Shell Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, Oct. 25, 2015
1 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 163.7 40’37.691
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 163.4 +3.612
3 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 162.8 +13.724
4 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 162.1 +23.995
5 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 161.8 +28.721
6 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 161.3 +36.372
7 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 161.1 +39.290
8 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 161.1 +39.436
9 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 160.9 +42.462
10 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 160.7 +44.601
11 45 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 160.5 +47.690
12 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 160.2 +52.112
13 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 160.2 +52.360
14 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 160.1 +53.619
15 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 160.1 +53.631
16 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 159.6 +1’01.431
17 43 Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 159.6 +1’02.828
18 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 159.4 +1’05.075
19 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 159.1 +1’09.877
20 13 Anthony WEST AUS AB Motoracing Honda 158.2 +1’24.749
Not Classified
4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 162.1 10 Laps
93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 156.1 13 Laps
76 Loris BAZ FRA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 132.6 18 Laps
29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 155.6 19 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
55 Damian CUDLIN AUS E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 0 Lap
