OGURA TAKES FOURTH AFTER CONTACT WITH BEZZECCHI IN SEPANG

Marco Bezzecchi left the Malaysian Grand Prix frustrated after contact with Ai Ogura in the closing stages cost him a chance to hold fourth place. The Aprilia rider was his team’s sole representative in Sepang after Jorge Martin withdrew because of the injury he suffered at Phillip Island, but he could not keep pace with Marc Marquez and the leading group.

Bezzecchi had slipped to fourth after attempting to move into the podium positions, ending up behind Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez. Ogura, who had followed him for much of the race, caught him on lap 17 and tried to pass at Turn 1. The pair made contact, sending bodywork from Ogura’s Trackhouse Aprilia flying, but both continued and Ogura got ahead. He said a lack of drive out of Turn 14 and Turn 3 had allowed him to close in and create passing opportunities.

The clash was another instance of Aprilia riders getting in each other’s way, a recurring theme in the championship. Ogura accepted most of the responsibility for the collision. “I didn’t see him and I expected that he holds his line going into Turn 2, but he tried to hit the apex again in Turn 1,” he told MotoGP.com. “That’s something I didn’t expect. So I feel like 70/30, and 70 on me.” He had earlier said he intended to find Bezzecchi and apologise.

The incident also raised questions about team orders. Ogura had not been given restrictions, and his move confirmed there were no instructions preventing him from attacking his team-mate. Reports had suggested he appeared reluctant to make a move earlier in the race. MotoGP cameras showed Bezzecchi looking angry in the Aprilia garage afterwards, but he played down the prospect of a dispute.

Bezzecchi said Ogura was quicker and would probably have passed him soon regardless, though he felt the contact was avoidable. “We risked to crash both of us,” he said, adding that there were “no hard feelings”. He said riders naturally try to overtake when they have the speed, and that the incident was something that could happen. His main difficulty, he explained, was front-end wear: after spending three or four laps in Alex Marquez’s slipstream, he lost confidence in the front and feared crashing at every corner.

Ogura moved to within a second of Alex Marquez by the finish, but admitted that getting close to the podium made him wonder whether an earlier attack might have changed the result. “But it was my race, I have to accept it and move forward,” he said.

Bezzecchi then lost another place to Enea Bastianini on the final lap after running wide at the penultimate corner. He said the front began to slide as soon as he touched the brake, forcing him off track and putting him at risk of crashing. He managed to save the bike, but finished sixth. His third place in the Sprint and sixth in the Grand Prix left him further behind title leader Marc Marquez; he headed to Qatar third in the championship, 23 points behind injured team-mate Jorge Martin.