Michael Scott | November 3, 2019
2019 Sepang MotoGP Results and News
Sunday
MotoGP, 20 laps – MAVERICK PULLS IT OFF
From the front row to the flag, Monster Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales avenged his defeat a week ago in Australia, making himself untouchable throughout.
The man who pushed him to a last-lap crash last weekend, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, made a blazing start from the fourth row of the grid, and by the end of the first lap was disputing second with Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller.
Marquez won that by lap three, and was now 1.3 seconds behind the leader.
But he would never get closer, and soon after half distance Vinales had stretched it to two seconds … and to more than three seconds at the flag.
Fellow front-row starters Franco Morbidelli and Petronas Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo, on pole, were never in the action, run in blazing heat in front of more than 103,000 highly vocal fans at the Sepang circuit adjacent to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
It was Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) chasing behind, after his own brilliant start, also from the fourth row. Dovi had his hands very full fending off a persistent Valentino Rossi (Monster Yamaha), who got ahead a couple of times, but never for more than a few yards.
By the end, Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) had joined the pair, and they were all three over the line inside seven tenths, with Dovi’s trump card his extra speed and power on the straight.
Vinales was cock-a-hoop. “I felt like I’d won in Australia, but it meant we arrived here with things very clear. We prepared really well for the race, and I knew I had good potential.”
Like almost all rostrum finishers, he dedicated his victory to the “the kid who died yesterday”, Indonesian rider Munandar, who crash in yesterday’s Asia Talent Cup race. “He was my favourite in that series. My condolence to all the family.”
Marquez had saved the day, after a heavy fall in qualifying yesterday, and starting from 11th on the grid. “What I did on the first lap was incredible … but also the same for Dovi,” said Marquez; acknowledging however that “Vinales today was too fast for me. But I got my target, which was the podium.”
Dovizioso had enjoyed his battle. “It is nice to race with Valentino, because he is aggressive, but also clean … he doesn’t do anything crazy.” He added: “This is our best result in the dry in Malaysia, which is always difficult for us.”
Morbidelli was sixth, four seconds down; a disappointed Quartararo another three away.
Miller’s early charge went bad as the tyres dropped away, and he was eighth, but still almost three seconds clear of factory Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci.
Suzuki’s Joan Mir had been briefly ahead of the pair, but had earlier collided with another rider, and dropped back to tenth after a long-lap penalty.
Mir’s victim was temporary Honda rider Johann Zarco, who’s strong second race on the bike ended in the gravel. Team-mate Cal Crutchlow also crashed out.
Marquez’s 395 points are a new 18-race record; Dovizioso (256) was already safe in second. Vinales took over third from Rins, 201 points to 194; Petrucci has 176.
Moto2 18 laps – BROTHERLY BOOST
Brad Binder and Thomas Luthi did everything they could to keep the championship alive until the last round; Alex Marquez did everything he needed to do to prevent that happening.
While Binder (Red Bull KTM) won a third victory in five races, Marquez (EG-VDS Kalex) successfully kept second permanently out of reach of the ever-pressing Thomas Luthi (Dynavolt Kalex).
With Marc having tied up MotoGP four races ago, this is the second time two brothers have won titles in the same year. The last was in 2014, when Alex won the Moto3 title and Marc his second in premier-class. Alex is also the first to win both Moto3 and Moto2 titles.
“I don’t know what to say – I’m so tired,” he said, dedicating the win to the Asia Talent Cup rider Munandar fatally injured the previous day.
The front race was tense, but lacked variety. Binder led away, losing it only briefly after running wide; while Luthi had got past front-row starter Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX KALEX) and Marquez team-mate Xavi Vierge by lap eight.
Vierge hung on to fourth, less than five seconds down, from Speed Up rider Jorge Navarro, though from 15th on the grid; Iker Lecuona (KTM) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex), with Nagashima dropping to eighth.
With Marquez impregnable on 262 points, Binder moved to second on 234 past Luthi (230)’ then Navarro (210) and Fernandez (197), who was 12th today.
Moto3 – CHAMPION TAKES THE TRIPLE
New Moto3 World Champion Lorenzo Dalla Porta took a third win in a row in a hard-fought first race of the day at Sepang. The Leopard Honda rider, already the first Italian champion in the class since Dovizioso in 2004, became the first to win three in a row since the freshly retired Marco Melandri 20 years ago.
As usual, positions including the lead changed constantly; and when the big lead group was broken up when Gabriel Rodrigo at the front fell, bringing down Tatsuki Suzuki and Alonso Lopez down and pole starter Marcos Ramirez onto the grass and out of contention.
By the end, seven had got together again, over the line in less then 1.5 seconds.
Rookie Sergio Garcia (EG Honda) was a career-best second; while a brilliant third went to Spanish teenager Jaume Masia (Mugen KTM), after starting from the back of the grid following a bike failure on the sighting lap.
Japanese rookie Ai Ogura (Honda) came through for fourth, ahead of the frequent leader Celestino Vietti (KTM) and the recovered Ramirez.
Dalla Porta is untouchable on 279 points. The battle for second continues, with Aron Canet – eighth today – on 190, ninth-placed Tony Arbolino 175, and Ramirez 174.
Saturday
MotoGP Qualifying – QUARTARARO TAKES SENSATIONAL POLE
Stunning class rookie Fabio Quartararo took a stunning fifth pole of his first MotoGP season – and it was a double victory for the Petronas Yamaha rider, at his new team’s sponsor’s home GP in Malaysia.
2019 Sepang MotoGP Results and News
Not only did the 20-year-old Frenchman snatch pole with yet another fastest-ever lap of the challengingly varied 5.543-km Sepang circuit; not only did he get to the get to the top of an all-Yamaha front row – but he did it while comprehensively besting six-times World Champion Marc Marquez.
The Repsol Honda rider was playing psych-out games with his new rival, following him earlier in the session, pitting in his wake, then following him out again, slowing when Quartararo slowed to look over his shoulder; speeding up again when the Frenchman did.
Eventually Quartararo had no choice but to run for it. Marc dived underneath Petrucci to follow him through the tight Turn One/Turn Two set … but halfway through was betrayed by tyres that had cooled too much. The bike flicked him high and hard, he landed on his feet but fell heavily onto his face as the Yamaha rider continued safely on his way.
“I knew he wanted to follow me and we made quite a slow lap, so I was not confident about the tyres, then I made a mistake in Turn Two and nearly high-sided in Turn Five … but I managed to make a good lap, and I am happy about that,” he said, declining to be drawn into making comments about his high-profile rival.
Marquez walked away from the crash, but was clearly in pain as he got back to the pits; and was bumped down from and earlier front-row position to 11th and row four in the final rush … only the third time in his career he has not qualified on the front or second row.
Factory Monster Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales had been on what would have been a second consecutive pole until his independent-team colleage snatched it by 0.103 of a second. Quartararo had been fastest on Friday as well, but Vinales was confident in his race pace. “Last weekend I felt strong; here it seems we are strong also,” he said. “We are ready to fight.”
The third front-row Yamaha belonged to second Petronas rider Franco Morbidelli, often over-shadowed by his younger team-mate. This was nonetheless his third front-row start of the year. “It was a pity about the lap … I had some traffic,” the former Moto2 champion said.
Yamaha’s strength at this sinuous track was reinforced by second factory rider Valentino Rossi, who was an ultra-close sixth on the second row; but narrowly ahead of him was fifth-fastest LCR-team rider Cal Crutchlow, the top Honda; and leading both Crutchlow’s Australian GP podium companion Jack Miller, top Ducati rider, for the independent Pramac team.
Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) heads the third row from the factory Ducati of Danilo Petrucci, who like Crutchlow had to come through from Q1. Alongside the Italian, French renaissance-man Johann Zarco, in only his second ride on the second LCR Honda, where he is subbing for Taka Nakagami.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) completes the top ten, then Marquez and second Pramac Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia. Joan Mir (Ecstar Suzuki) was best of the rest.
Moto2 Qualifying – MARQUEZ HOLDS THE ADVANTAGE
Would-be World Champion Alex Marquez claimed a fifth pole of the year, as the EG-VDS Kalex rider again faces possible match point in the series.
He holds a lead of 28 points over Dynavolt Kalex rider Thomas Luthi and 33 ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), and if he ends up with an advantage of 25 after Sunday’s race, he will have done enough.
Binder, winner of two of the last four rounds, will start from the front row, qualified third, with Japan’s Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX Kalex) in between the rivals.
Second EG-VDS rider Xavi Vierge leads row two from Luthi and second Red Bull rider Jorge Martin; Briton Sam Lowes (Federal Oils Kalex) heads the third from two more Kalexes, ridden by Luthi’s team-mate Marcel Schrotter and Nagashima’s Remy Gardner; with Luca Marini (Kalex) completing the top ten.
Beta Tools Speed Up rider Jorge Navarro, who also has a mathematical if not realistic chance of the title, qualified 15th after slipping off early in the session, getting out again only in the last five minutes to scramble for a time.
Moto3 Qualifying – TWO IN A ROW FOR RAMIREZ
Leopard Honda rider Marcos Ramirez – freed from having to help team-mate Lorenzo Dalla Porta in the championship – timed it perfectly to take a second pole position in succession in Malaysia, one week after his maiden pole in Australia.
Rain flags and spots on the visors caused trepidation but no problems for the first two qualifying sessions; and Ramirez got his time in right in the last seconds.
He deposed long-time session leader Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Honda), with John McPhee (Petronas Honda) third, and Albert Arenas (Gaviota KTM – through from Q1) dropped to lead the second row from two more KTMs, ridden by rookie Celestino Vietti and Darryn Binder.
Dalla Porta, who secured the title last weekend, leads an all-Honda row three from Ayumu Sasaki and Gabriel Rodrigo.
Aron Canet (Sterilgarda KTM), qualified 12th. He is defending second from Ramirez, McPhee and Tony Arbolino (Honda), who narrowly failed to escape from Q1 and will start from 19th.
Saturday News
Oliveira Injury Update
Satellite-team Red Bull KTM rider Miguel Oliveira landed back in Europe today, heading straight for the sponsor’s medical team in Austria to assess the shoulder injury that has ruled him out of this and the previous GP.
The Portuguese star was a high-speed crash victim of gale-force winds in Australia, injuring both hands – but the more serious problem is a right shoulder injury sustained when he was knocked off by a headstrong erstwhile KTM team-mate Johann Zarco at Silverstone.
At the previous round class rookie Oliveira had placed a best-yet eighth in Austria, but since that time has struggled because of the painful injury.
“We need to clarify that with our medical team to understand the current condition,” said Oliveira on Friday. “If surgery is the correct treatment for what I have then we are talking about a three-month recovery.”
In this case, he will not be seen again until next year’s pre-season tests, Tech 3 team boss Hervé Poncharal confirmed.
Zarco’s Positioning for 2020 Gets Stronger
Repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig has set tongue’s wagging with frequent visits to the LCR team pit, where quixotic French star Johann Zarco has been riding the 2018-model Idemitsu-sponsored RC213V in place of Takaaki Nakagami.
In only his second race on the bike, Zarco managed to get well into the top ten in free practice, securing a place directly in Q2, and in the process forcing new temporary team-mate Cal Crutchlow out of the top ten, and obliged to fight for a top-12 grid position in Q1.
He qualified ninth; while Crutchlow came through and placed fifth.
With current second Repsol Honda Jorge Lorenzo struggling badly to come back from injury, unstoppable rumours that Honda will replace him with Zarco have been lent extra impetus (as if any were needed).
Nakagami withdrew from the last three races for shoulder surgery, with a report of a successful rotator cuff operation coming in the week before the Malaysian GP.
Friday
MOTOGP: QUARTARARO DOES IT AGAIN
MotoGP rookie Fabio Quartararo not only topped both free practice sessions at Sepang today. He also smashed the circuit’s absolute record, and put himself six tenths ahead of the next best in the session, Andrea Dovizioso; and half a second ahead of his Petronas Yamaha team-mate Fabio Morbidelli, on his morning time.
2019 Sepang MotoGP Results and News
Again the Yamahas were strong on the first day, with four of them inside the top five on combined times.
As always, today’s times might be crucial for qualifying, should it rain tomorrow morning – always possible at this steam tropical venue. The top ten will go straight into Q2, the rest will have to battle for the top two slots in Q1, to get into the top dozen on the grid.
Quartararo had already broken the outright record in the morning; then he carved almost half a second off to become the first and only rider below 1’59, at 1’58.576. The race lap record stands at 2’00.606, to Lorenzo in 2015.
It was Dovizioso third, also on a morning time; then the factory Yamaha pair. Maverick Vinales was barely one hundredth down on Dovi; and Monster team-mate Valentino Rossi well under a tenth down on him, at a track where he led much of last year’s race, before falling under pressure from eventual winner Marquez.
And it was new champion Marc next up, only in the closing minutes, as he resisted the temptation to fit soft tyres and concentrated on his weekend strategy – interrupted by a still unexplained break-down that saw his Repsol Honda pushed back to the pits in the morning session.
Alex Rins (Ecstar Suzuki) was seventh overall; Jack Miller (Pramac Honda) eighth; then Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) ahead of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), filling out the top ten, now 1.2 seconds down on Quartararo.
Potentially already out of Q2 were the Ducatis of Bagnaia and Petrucci, 22th and 13th to sandwich Joan Mir’s Suzuki. LCR Honda substitute Johann Zarco was 14th; Repsol Honda’s Lorenzo 17th.
Moto2 – ROOKIE MARTIN SURGE CONTINUES
The late-season surge of class rookie Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM) got another boost in Malaysia, where the 2018 Moto3 champion topped free practice times for Sunday’s Malaysian GP.
The Spaniard, on the podium for the two previous races, was better than two tenths clear of morning leader Tetsuta Nagashima (ONE XOX Kalex) and points leader Alex Marquez (EG-VDS Kalex), who needs a strong finish if he is to tie up the title this weekend.
His closest challengers fill the next three positions, with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) and Thomas Luthi (Dynavolt Kalex) all within less than seven tenths of the leader.
Fabio di Giannantonio (Speed Up), Xavi Vierge, Mattia Pasini and Augusto Fernandez (all Kalex) complete the top ten.
Out of the top 14 and hoping tomorrow morning will be dry are Chantra, Lecuona and Baldassarri.
Moto3 – TOBA ON TOP
Kaito Toba, winner of the opening round in Qatar, was back on top in Malaysia, topping the combined times on a day what started damp for the smallest class.
The Honda Team Asia rider was 0.235 ahead of another Honda rider, Misano winner Tatsuki Suzuki; with Darryn Binder’s CIP KTM third, on an afternoon that could possible prove important for tomorrow’s Q1 and Q2 sessions.
The Honda of Ayumu Sasaki headed the KTMs of Andrea Migno and Aron Canet to complete the top six; with Alonso Lopez, Romano Fenati, Sergio Garcia and Tony Arbolino completing the top ten.
New world champion Lorenzo Dalla Porta was 13th, but several star riders were out of the top 14, potentially having to go through Q1 to try to move up the grid for Sunday. This included race winners Marcos Ramirez, Albert Arenas and John McPhee – who fell at the end of FP2; as well as star rookie Ai Ogura.
Friday News
Petronas to Get Yamaha A Bikes in 2020
As predicted, superstar MotoGP rookie Fabio Quartararo is to have a full “A-spec” factory Yamaha M1 next season, as a reward for his glamorous debut season.
The news was confirmed on the first day of the sponsor Petronas’s home GP at Sepang, after what team principal Razlan Razali described as “an incredible first season for Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team in MotoGP.”
Yamaha made the commitment to supply both riders after Petronas provided the extra money to back the proposal. Franco Morbidelli already had a top-level bike this season, but Quartararo’s results – including four pole positions and six podiums – have outranked the former Moto2 champion, putting him fifth overall, easily top rookie, and 22 points ahead of Jack Miller for top Independent Team rider.
According to the team’s statement: “This new agreement means that both Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo will run with equal machinery next year.”
More Speculation on Lorenzo Retiring?
The “Jorge Lorenzo to retire” rumours continued in Malaysia, with both rider and Repsol Honda team continuing to deny that there are any such plans. But with Johann Zarco already faster than the triple MotoGP champion in only his second ride on the Honda, the expectations that HRC are considering slotting the Frenchman into the factory team in Lorenzo’s place next year simply won’t go away.
Lorenzo again said he planned to see out the second year of his contract, and he and Honda were continuing to work on adapting the bike to suit his style. At the same time, he admitted he has only felt comfortable on the RC213V “on three occasions”; at the pre-season Qatar test, in FP2 at Le Mans, and in the opening laps at Barcelona. On the first and third occasions, however, any growing confidence was almost immediately undermined by crashes.
More significantly, breaking his back in two places in practice at Assen has left the 32-year-old Spaniard visibly lacking confidence, as he fears further crashes might cause more serious damage.
Repsol team manager Alberto Puig told Dorna today that Honda had no plans to dispense with Lorenzo prematurely. “The rider must decide. We are told he can improve and we are trying to help him,” he said.
Dovizioso Hoping for More Speed from Ducati
Second overall for the third time in succession, secured last weekend in Australia, was something of a disappointment for Andrea Dovizioso – with a gap in points that has grown exponentially.
In 2017, the fight went to the last round, with Marquez ending up 37 points clear. Last year, the gap had grown to 76 and the title was settled at the Japanese GP, at the start of the flyaway rounds.
This year, Marquez secured the crown one race earlier in Thailand, and they arrived in Malaysia for the penultimate round with the gap standing at 135 points.
“We don’t have the speed we had last year, and it is difficult to have a strategy for the races,” Dovi explained on the eve of practice in Malaysia, describing the size of Marquez’s advantage as “ridiculous”.
He continued: “Marc is playing in another position: How to catch up? I know what I would like to have different, and everyone is working very hard, but …”
Another Possible Record for Marquez
Marquez needs just nine points (seventh place) on Sunday to set a new record for points gained in 18 races. That was set in 2010 by Jorge Lorenzo, when he won the title on a Yamaha, with 383 points, a massive 138 ahead of Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.
The six-times MotoGP champion started the day with yet another miracle save, losing the front completely only to pick it up again with knee and elbow without falling, then had to tour and eventually be pushed back to the pits after an engine problem in the morning session.
Sharp-eyed pit-lane observers noted a new piece of kit for the Spaniard – an extra left-handlebar near the clutch, operating the rear brake.
Many riders already use a thumb-operated lever, pioneered by Mick Doohan in the 1990s after his right leg injuries hampered his ability to use the rear brake pedal; Marquez opted for a scooter-style full lever … which makes sense, since riders generally only use the clutch lever for starting off the line.
Granado Out in Sepang
Brazilian rider Eric Granado faced disappointment after a journey of almost 40 hours from Brazil to Malaysia. Expecting to take a first ride in the MotoGP class, the former Moto2 and Moto3 riders was instead denied.
He was due to take the place of Tito Rabat on the Reale Avintia Ducati, with the Spaniard withdrawing from the race, still suffering from hand injuries that ruled him out in Japan and (after three laps) in Australia.
The team, however, spoke of “different circumstances” that had scotched the plan, leaving the Ducati vacant after all. It’s believed that Granado’s lack of MotoGP testing was the cause; the same team faced criticism and the rider a later ban after bringing in the GP virgin Christophe Ponsson as a substitute last year.
“The team called me on Sunday. I left Brazil on Monday and arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday – but finally it didn’t work out,” said Granado.
As a consolation, however, the team did confirm renewal of his contract to ride for them for a second year in the MotoE championship.
Malaysian Injury Report
Injury problems from Australia spilled over to the third of three GPs in a row, with at least two doubtful starters across the classes, and MotoGP’s Miguel Oliveira turning that doubt into certainty on the first day of practice.
The Portuguese star was victim of gale-force winds in Australia, blown off course into a crash at close to top speed at the Phillip Island circuit’s daunting Turn One.
Although escaping fractures, he suffered painful hand and wrist injuries that ruled him out of the race; as well as aggravating a right shoulder injury sustained at the British GP, where erstwhile Red Bull KTM colleague Johann Zarco knocked him off.
Oliveira was passed fit to ride, but still suffering severe pain from right wrist ligament damage, as well as from his shoulder, he rode only four times laps, before withdrawing. It is possible he might pull out for the final race in Valencia as well, following the example of Taka Nakagami in undergoing shoulder surgery as early as possible to be fit for start of the 2020 season.
Fabio Quartararo and Danilo Petrucci were both back in action. Quartararo admitted there was still some pain from the ankle he bruised badly on Friday in Australia, but added “when you are on the bike, you have other things to think about.”
Niccolo Antonelli was also adopting a “suck it and see” policy in Moto3. His return from Misano injury in Australia was badly dented by a crash in practice, forcing him to pull out of the race. On the first day in Malaysia, the Italian former GP winner was placed 28th, second from last.
Fernandez Gets Help After Theft
The Angel Nieto Moto3 squad started the first day of practice with a shock – after a theft from the garage of second rider Raul Fernandez. Spare parts and computers were reported missing, but the SKY VR46 team, run by the late Angel’s son Pablo, was able to get them going again by loaning some parts and equipment.
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