Gresini Ducati rider Alex Marquez took his third MotoGP grand prix victory of the season in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang after overtaking Pecco Bagnaia.
Running a one-off blue livery for Gresini, Marquez - who secured second in the 2025 championship behind brother Marc yesterday - came good on his reputation as a Sepang specialist after following Bagnaia home in the sprint.
Like in the sprint, Bagnaia kept the lead off the line but found it much harder to shake off Marquez and Pedro Acosta than the day before.
Marquez took the lead at Turn 4 and quickly established a lead, which held at around eight tenths to a second for the first half of the 20-lap race.
Finally, on lap 13, Bagnaia started to fade considerably, overtaken by Acosta - who defied his and KTM's reputation for struggling with tyre life - and then quickly dropping over a second back.
His race looked to have stabilised in third place, but he then slowed dramatically before coasting back to the pitlane to retire. Ducati reported afterwards that Bagnaia had a hole in his rear tyre.
Out front, Marquez finished 2.7s clear of Acosta, while Honda rider Joan Mir completed the podium - his second podium finish of the season.
After he had crashed in pursuit of the podium in the sprint, Mir's top-three chances looked to have gone again - especially as he got stuck behind Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo - but Bagnaia's issue allowed him into the top three, and he stayed clear of a late Franco Morbidelli charge to pick up the podium.
Quartararo had another race of going backwards but took a fifth place out of it, as comfortably Yamaha's best finisher.
Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer had been one of the anticipated contenders going off practice pace, but he surprisingly struggled for performance - before crashing out at the final corner of what would've been a relatively muted sixth.
The spot went to Fabio Di Giannantonio instead.
Tech3 KTM rider Enea Bastianini scythed through the mid-pack battle from 19th on the grid to pick up seventh, ahead of Honda's Luca Marini, who very narrowly fought off Brad Binder on the second works KTM.
Marco Bezzecchi's Saturday charge from a lowly grid position of 14th was not repeated - and he instead found himself in battle to be top Aprilia with Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura.
He was ultimately defeated in that battle, finishing 11th behind Ogura, but Bagnaia's misfortune means Bezzecchi is five points clear in the battle for third in the standings with two rounds to go.
The Yamaha V4 prototype's second grand prix yielded an 18th place for test rider Augusto Fernandez, who was 47s back from the winner.
In addition to Aldeguer, there was an early crash for KTM tester Pol Espargaro, and falls for Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) - Oliveira getting back on the bike to finish 19th.
Results
1 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati)
2 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +2.676s
3 Joan Mir (Honda) +8.048s
4 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +8.580s
5 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +11.556s
6 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +13.060s
7 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +15.299s
8 Luca Marini (Honda) +18.738s
9 Brad Binder (KTM) +18.932s
10 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +19.256s
11 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +19.824s
12 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +22.234s
13 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +23.509s
14 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +25.201s
15 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) +34.110s
16 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) +36.115s
17 Michele Pirro (Ducati) +43.914s
18 Augusto Fernandez (Yamaha) +47.060s
19 Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha) +1m17.942s
DNF Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati)
DNF Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati)
DNF Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia)
DNF Pol Espargaro (Tech3 KTM)
