MARQUEZ WINS AT SEPANG AND CAN SEAL THE TITLE IN QATAR

Marc Marquez turned the Malaysian Grand Prix into a decisive step toward the 2026 MotoGP crown, controlling the race at Sepang to claim his seventh win of the season and open a 44-point championship lead. The Ducati rider now has his first chance to secure the title at next weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, where he could claim an eighth premier-class crown and 10th world title overall.

Marquez started second and took the lead from polesitter Alex Marquez on the run to Turn 1. His younger brother briefly attacked at Turn 4, but Marc held on and began to pull away. By lap five he had a half-second cushion, later extending it as Alex and Pedro Acosta battled for second. Acosta passed Alex on lap 10 but could not close the gap. Marquez finished 4.172 seconds clear, with Acosta second and Alex third.

Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura took fourth, while Enea Bastianini passed Marco Bezzecchi for fifth on the final lap. Bezzecchi finished sixth, leaving him 67 points behind Marquez; neither Aprilia rider reached the podium. Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi praised Marquez’s racecraft and tyre management, calling him “one of the most important riders ever.” He said Marquez had been “so clever from the beginning” and “managing the rear tyre in a perfect way,” adding that the rider’s closeness to the team was crucial: “We know Marc’s head, we know how he trusts, how he pushes us, the team, to believe in it.”

Tardozzi also dismissed speculation that Marquez might retire after winning the title. He said the rider has a Ducati agreement for 2027 and 2028 and that he is “sure that he will be with us.” Tardozzi acknowledged Marquez is “not 100%,” with his right shoulder and arm still troubling him, but said he is compensating through “the brain, the focus.” He added that Marquez’s commitment to training and preparation was unlike anything he had seen before: “A guy so focused every minute of the day on the result.”

Marquez said adapting his riding, rather than simply rehabilitating after surgery, had helped drive his comeback. He returned to racing at Mugello after surgery on his left foot and right shoulder, having been more than 100 points behind the championship lead. “I just tried to adapt my riding style. I'm riding in a different way to last year, but I’m still able to be fast,” he said. He also described an unusual change in his cornering: “I’m worse in the left corners and I’m better in the right corners.” He said he lacked control in left turns, though he was still performing better there than in right-handers.

The rider said he had spent much of the season conserving energy, but changed approach in Malaysia. “I’m just trying to flow,” he said, explaining that he had attacked from the first lap of FP1 and given everything. He described learning to control his instinct to maximise every opportunity as a key adaptation in the second half of the season.

The result followed Marquez’s second place behind Acosta in Saturday’s sprint. His advantage over Jorge Martin had stood at 19 points before the Sepang Grand Prix, but Martin missed the weekend after fracturing his wrist in a crash at Phillip Island. Marquez’s victory extended the margin to 44. The standings show Marquez on 399 points, Martin on 355 and Bezzecchi on 332. Acosta is fourth on 295.

At Lusail, 111 points will remain available across the final three rounds. To clinch the championship in Qatar, Marquez needs to outscore Martin by 30 points and Bezzecchi by eight. He has seven grand prix victories this season, compared with Martin’s one, so a 74-point advantage is enough to beat Martin on the wins tie-break. Bezzecchi has five wins, however, and Marquez may need a 75-point lead over the Aprilia rider, depending on the Qatar results.

A Qatar title would put Marquez level with Giacomo Agostini on eight premier-class championships and one ahead of Valentino Rossi’s seven. It would also make him the first rider to recover from a deficit of more than 100 points and win the championship. In May, after injuring his foot at Le Mans and bringing forward surgery on his troublesome right shoulder, even those around him could scarcely have expected a title bid so soon. After the Italian Grand Prix, he was 102 points behind then-leader Bezzecchi; five months later, he is on the brink of a 10th world crown.

The title race had been tightly contested for much of the season: at the summer break, five riders were separated by only 24 points, before Marquez, Martin and Bezzecchi emerged as the leading trio. Martin’s crash in the Australia Sprint and subsequent wrist injury have now cast doubt over his remaining campaign. The new report argues that repeated injuries are increasingly undermining MotoGP’s spectacle, with absences affecting both the championship contest and the experience of fans who tune in or attend races. Marquez himself missed the French and Catalan Grands Prix earlier in the year. A potential late-season showdown between Martin and Marquez has consequently lost much of its prospect of a dramatic conclusion, while the report warns that the demanding 2027 schedule could make injuries a major factor again.