MotoGP Sprint Sepang: Pedro Acosta beats Marc Marquez – Jubilation at KTM!

The MotoGP field at Sepang has shrunk to 20 riders: Raul Fernandez withdrew on Friday due to his hand injury, whilst his Aprilia team-mate Jorge Martin pulled out after FP2 on Saturday morning. The World Championship runner-up broke his right arm near the wrist a week earlier during his crash in Australia. Also absent are the injured Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha), who are being replaced this weekend by Iker Lecuona and Raul Fernandez.

In qualifying, the top five – Alex Márquez (Ducati), Marc Marquez (Ducati), Pedro Acosta (KTM), Ai Ogura (Aprilia) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) were a step ahead of the rest of the field; this quintet also made history in the sprint race in Malaysia.

Start: Ai Ogura caught Marc Marquez off guard

As the lights went out and the riders sprinted towards the first corner, it was pole-sitter Alex Márquez who led the way, whilst Ogura held off Marc Márquez to take second place. Acosta also managed to get the better of Marc Marquez in the opening corners, whilst Aprilia ace Marco Bezzecchi emerged from the first lap in fifth place behind the world champion.

After a very turbulent opening phase, the action settled down; after two laps, Alex Marquez led ahead of Ogura, Acosta, Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi.

Black clouds were already gathering in the sky at the start of the race, signalling that rain was on the way. On the second lap, it began to drizzle in some corners; Jack Miller was the first to pull into the pits for a bike change – but his Pramac Yamaha crew weren’t ready! The Australian was furious; his race was effectively over.

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01.11.2026 - 03:35

Alex Márquez crashed whilst leading

On the third lap, Alex Márquez crashed whilst in first place, leaving Ogura to lead the sprint ahead of Acosta and Marc Márquez. There was a flurry of activity in the pit lane, with all teams preparing bikes fitted with wet tyres.

Lap 5: Joan Mir, Iker Lecuona and Franco Morbidelli took a huge risk and changed their bikes, even though the track was still dry. They reckoned it would start pouring any minute.

Lap 6: Ogura, Acosta and Marc Marquez were at the front, separated by just 0.7 seconds, with Bezzecchi following a second behind. From fifth place onwards, Bagnaia, Di Giannantonio, Bastianini, Binder and Zarco were in the top nine, all of whom scored points. The riders on wet tyres were 10 seconds slower than the rest.

Although it was raining lightly almost everywhere on the track, the tarmac was 50 degrees Celsius, so the water evaporated instantly as soon as it hit the ground.

Lap 8: Maverick Viñales was the next to take the risk of switching to wet tyres, whilst his KTM team-mate Acosta took the lead from Ogura. Marc Márquez also overtook the Japanese rider, and Bezzecchi bided his time, waiting for his chance.

Penultimate lap: Bezzecchi overtook Ogura, putting Acosta and Marc Marquez alongside the Italian in the podium positions.

Second sprint victory for Pedro Acosta

Final lap: Acosta rode flawlessly to win his second sprint of the year, 0.7 seconds ahead of Marc Marquez and 1.3 seconds ahead of Bezzecchi. The remaining points-scoring positions were taken by Ogura, Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, Binder, Moreira and Bastianini.

Die Top-3 (v.l.): Marc Marquez, Pedro Acosta und Marco Bezzecchi

Foto: Gold and Goose Photography

Just seconds after the chequered flag fell, it began to pour with rain – a few minutes too late for those who had switched to wet tyres.

Marc Marquez had managed to turn a two-point deficit in the World Championship to Jorge Martin (Aprilia) into a ten-point lead in Australia; in the Sprint in Malaysia, the 33-year-old took the nine points for second place and now leads Martin by 19 points.