MotoGP points leader Francesco Bagnaia says that while he is happy to have extended his overall advantage over Jorge Martin across the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, it is “not enough.”

The factory Ducati rider aimed to open up a greater margin at the Sepang International Circuit as he saw his lead whittled down to just 13 after Martin won in Thailand two weeks ago. His weekend started well after securing pole on Saturday, though lost two points to his chief rival after finishing third in the sprint race.

He enjoyed a stronger Sunday outing though, Bagnaia fending off an attack from Martin in the early laps before pulling away to the tune of six seconds across the remainder of the race to claim third behind victorious team-mate Enea Bastianini and sprint victor Alex Marquez. He extended his points lead to 14 in the process, a total gain of one over the event.

While Bagnaia admitted that he was “satisfied with the work” he had achieved in Malaysia, he is hoping to extend his lead by a greater margin next weekend in Qatar having admitted that his current point margin is “not enough.”

“I’m satisfied with the work, but not completely the result because I prefer to be more in front but we have to be happy because we ended the weekend a point further ahead than we started and the feeling was back,” explained Bagnaia.

“I was able to push at the start (of the weekend) and get pole position for the first time since Barcelona, and everything went well apart from yesterday in the sprint where I had an issue with chattering from the front. I had a great feeling with the bike, so I’m very happy overall.

“It will be important to open the gap more (in Qatar) because 14 points of a lead is good, but not enough so it’ll be important to do a good weekend.

“I’m glad that Enea (Bastianini) is performing well again, and I’m looking forward to going to Qatar as it is a good track for us.”

Bagnaia added that he struggled to make much of an impact on the lead duo in the Malaysian GP due to suffering from a “strange feeling under braking”, which he put down to the front end of his machine moving around too much.

“Today was quite good and the battle with Jorge (Martin) was fun, and we managed to open up the gap to him. I did everything to try and close the gap to the front guys, but I had a strange feeling with the front under braking due to a lot of movement,” continued Bagnaia.

“It maybe was the temperature, it was risky to push more so I did everything I could to close on the front guys, and this is the result.

“Considering the pace we had after the (Martin) battle, we were more competitive than him today so this is important after many races (where he was faster).”

Francesco Bagnaia snatched away a crucial Malaysian MotoGP pole position from Jorge Martin at the death after the Spaniard crashed on his final flying effort.

From the outset, it seemed Martin was once again the man to beat over a single lap as he posted a new lap record of the Sepang International Circuit as the opening runs concluded, the Pramac Ducati pilot banging in a 1:57.549s effort to head Gresini’s Alex Marquez.

Bagnaia meanwhile could only manage fifth in the opening salvo, the reigning world champion left with a stiff 0.445s deficit to make up on his championship rival.

He was thrown a bone during the final runs though after Martin asked a little too much from his machine into Turn 4, resulting in him losing the front of the bike and sliding off into the gravel – leaving Bagnaia up front and Martin powerless to stop his onslaught.

The Italian strung together a belting effort to record a 1:57.491s to grab the provisional pole by just 0.058s over Martin, with few others looking quick enough to deny him.

This is ultimately how the session would end as Bagnaia picked up his seventh pole of the year – his first since Catalunya over two months ago – while Martin held onto second by virtue of his strong opening effort, giving him a good opportunity to attack Bagnaia early in the races.

Enea Bastianini meanwhile found some much-needed form after escaping the clutches of Q1, the factory Ducati rider lapping just 0.099s away from team-mate Bagnaia to secure the final spot on the front row behind the title hopefuls.

Alex Marquez came up next for Gresini in fourth, while VR46 pairing Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi completed an all-Ducati top six. Marini looked to have the speed to challenge for pole before a late crash scuppered his chances.

Brad Binder was best of the rest in seventh for KTM, albeit well over half a second adrift of Bagnaia’s scorching benchmark.

Fabio Quartararo ended up eighth for Yamaha ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, while the other factory KTM of Jack Miller completed the top ten.

Fabio Di Gianantonio took 11^th after crashing ahead of his final run, while Johann Zarco never posted a competitive tour after continually getting compromised by yellow flags.

Aleix Espargaro meanwhile missed out on the pole shootout despite looking much more at home on his Aprilia compared to Friday, primarily due to changes to the setup of his front forks. The adjustments meant he could at least grab 13^th on the grid.

Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli was one of the expected challengers to escape Q1, though he got distracted as Marc Marquez doggedly searched for a tow. Trying to shake off the Honda racer, he never got into his flow and could only manage a best effort half a second away from session leader Di Gianantonio.

This left him 15^th ahead of the other Honda of Joan Mir, while a crash for Marquez while trying to pass Augusto Fernandez on his quick lap left him a lowly 20^th for both races.

RNF Aprilia pair Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira struggled to make headway with their RS-GP’s and could secure only 18^th and 19^th respectively, while LCR Honda duo Takaaki Nakagami and Iker Lecuona also struggled en route to 21^st and 23^rd.

They sandwiched Ducati wildcard Alvaro Bautista, who struggled to make much headway with his Desmosedici after a tricky Friday. He managed to narrow the gap to the leading riders, though a mechanical failure late in Q1 meant he couldn’t improve on 22^nd.  

Francesco Bagnaia was left relieved to have survived a tough opening portion of the Thai Grand Prix, the Italian remarking that “the battle commenced before the first lap ended.”

The factory Ducati racer made a better start than he did in the Saturday sprint encounter to move into fourth off the line, though soon found himself engaged in a cut-throat battle with KTM’s Brad Binder, the South African putting a tough move on Bagnaia at Turn 9 that relegated him back to sixth.

Conceding after the race that he soon had to abandon his plan to save his rear tyre in the early stages for a late attack due to the aggressive nature of the mid-pack tussle, Bagnaia later managed to catch up to the battle for the lead between title rival Jorge Martin and Binder.

He ultimately found himself unable to pass either rider and took the chequered flag third, though would later inherit the runners-up position after Binder was penalised for breaching track limits by hitting the green astroturf on the final lap. 

The reigning premier class world champion admitted the “intense” battles he found himself involved with didn’t allow him to manage the race the way he wanted, though felt his final result was “not bad considering how the race went” even though his points advantage had been reduced to 13 from 27 entering the event.  

“I was very happy that my start went perfectly, and I was considering that I could maybe control the race and the rear tyre,” said Bagnaia.

“I was angry with yesterday because I missed too much with the start and lost many points when I was fast. We need to improve this, and also the speed in qualifying and the sprint race.

“The battle commenced before the first lap (of grand prix) ended and there were a lot of battles with contacts, it was quite intense so I didn’t have time to manage the rear tyre and just had to push a lot to close the gap.

“Luckily I was able to reach the lead group, but not in the best shape with the rear tyre. In any case, I could recover a good position and finish second thanks to Brad (Binder) touching the green on the last lap, it’s not bad considering how the race went.”

At one point in his pursuit of the leadership Bagnaia nearly rode around the outside of Binder and Martin at the final corner, though was ultimately run out wide by the Pramac Ducati rider. Bagnaia admitted he would have done the same in Martin’s position, but felt the passes he made during the contest “were some of my best.”

“My overtakes were some of my best over the last years, because overtaking around the outside at the last corner was great. It’s normal though when you’re on the outside that the rider on the inside releases the brakes and runs you wide, I was doing the same,” added the 17-time MotoGP race victor.

“I was expecting it but I was hoping I’d be further ahead (in the corner.) The overtake would have changed the result, but I’m still happy overall with the race and more than this would have been difficult.”

MotoGP points leader Francesco Bagnaia affirmed that he “knew” opting for the medium compound rear tyre was the “correct” choice to fight for victory in the Australian Grand Prix.

The factory Ducati pilot started the weekend on the back foot compared to title rival Jorge Martin having failed to reach Q2 directly after managing only 11^th in Friday’s FP2 session. He did well to limit the damage to the Spaniard, who scored pole at Phillip Island, in qualifying though by salvaging third on the grid.  

The Pramac Ducati rider elected to gamble and run the soft compound rear tyre for the race however, Martin enjoying a gap of 4.5 seconds at its peak ahead of Bagnaia as the reigning world champion saved his rubber. This proved to be a clever play as Bagnaia chased him down as Martin began to struggle for rear grip late on.

With Bagnaia securing the runners-up result behind new winner Johann Zarco, he extended his points lead over Martin to 27 ahead of Sunday’s sprint encounter after his rival slipped to fifth on the last tour – the Italian after the race explaining that he knew Martin’s early advantage was “not enough” for him to hang on once his tyres began to degrade.

“It was a very long and very tough race, and I think I missed Q2 yesterday because I focussed on using the medium more and trying to do more laps with it,” began Bagnaia following the Australian GP.

“I think he (Martin) was the only one with the possibility to race with the soft because yesterday and today he did many laps and was quite fast, but I think the maximum amount of laps he did was 19, and even this was stopping and starting again.

“Doing the full race is always a different story, and when I saw the gap he made in the early part of the race I knew it was not enough to stay there with margin in the last laps.

“During the race I was just trying to be careful with the rear tyre as I knew it was the correct choice, and I knew when Brad and Fabio (Di Gianantonio) started to fight we were catching him without pushing.

“I knew then it was the correct strategy, but I couldn’t quite do enough to beat Johann (Zarco), he deserved the victory today.”

Bagnaia added that is not getting too far ahead of himself despite having outscored Martin by 34 points in the last two race outings, the Italian remarking “anything can happen” across the final nine races of the year.

“We have to be careful because I had 62 points of a gap before Barcelona, and we lost the lead very quickly so anything can happen,” said Bagnaia.

“It’s easy to start having problems, so it’s important to have weekends like this in trying to be faster when you’re struggling and doing your best to be at the front.”

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia lauded his emphatic Indonesian MotoGP win, where he won from 13^th on the grid, as “a great moment” as he looks to secure a second straight title.

Bagnaia managed to cure the braking problems that afflicted him across the Indonesian Grand Prix weekend, which led to a lowly qualifying run of 13^th before limiting him to eighth in the Saturday sprint encounter, ahead of Sunday’s warm-up test.

The effects of this set-up breakthrough were clear to see as he swiftly charged up from 13^th to sixth on the opening lap, before working his way into the rostrum positions after just a few laps. He later inherited second after title rival Jorge Martin crashed from a dominant lead, Bagnaia then securing victory after passing Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales in the closing stages.

With his sixth win of the year firing back into the lead of the points standings by a handy 18 over Martin, Bagnaia labelled his impressive comeback as “a great moment” and likened it to his crucial win in last year’s Malaysian GP that ultimately led to his charge to a maiden premier class title.

“It’s a great moment for sure. Yesterday I was quite upset after the qualifying and sprint race as I was struggling to set a fast lap with new tyres, and then in the sprint I was struggling to overtake riders so I was stuck,” explained Bagnaia following the Indonesian GP.

“The pace was not bad but I was stuck and had no chance to overtake my team-mate. Today I tried to work hard overnight and find a better feeling, and in the warm-up, I already felt better because I was able to overtake a rider.

“It was very important to win the race for the points, so I couldn’t make many mistakes and it was not easy, especially in the right corners because I was always having moments with the front.

 “This win is very important, this feels like Malaysia last year where it was very important to get the win and I managed to achieve the maximum in both cases.”

Bagnaia added that his decision to opt for the harder compound front tyre, which gives more stability under hard braking, helped his frenetic opening lap where he recovered seven spots. The Italian said he could “go down the inside of everyone” with the help of the harder front rubber.

“In the race, I tried to do the maximum at the start and just tried to go down the inside of everyone, and the front hard tyre helped me to outbrake everyone.

“When I saw I was in third (after a few laps) I just tried to push and catch Maverick (Vinales) because I could see (Jorge) Martin going away. I was also thinking the pace of Jorge was very fast and I was feeling some drop from the rear, so I started to look after them more. 

“When I saw his crash I just tried to push for a few laps and passed Maverick, and then it was my race so I was able to really enjoy everything on the last lap.”

Francesco Bagnaia fought through from 13^th on the grid to secure victory in a dramatic Indonesian Grand Prix that saw MotoGP points leader Jorge Martin crash from the lead.

Bagnaia managed to get a blinding start from the mid-field to sit in sixth by the end of the opening tour. The Italian then soon moved up to fourth after an incident between pole man Luca Marini and Brad Binder after the latter smashed into the side of the VR46 rider, taking him out of the race.

The reigning world champion then snatched away a rostrum position from Fabio Quaratraro before too long, though by this point title rival Martin was around three seconds ahead of him in the lead after the Pramac rider rocketed to the front from sixth on the grid on the run to the first bend.

Disaster was just around the corner for Martin though after he crashed just past mid-distance at Turn 11 after losing the front of his Ducati.

This moved Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales into the lead and Bagnaia up to the runners-up position, though he began to edge closer as his choice to opt for the more durable hard front tyre began to pay off.

Following several laps of pressuring Vinales, Bagnaia finally managed to slide through into the leadership with just half a dozen laps remaining.

He did his best to manage things over the remaining tours while remaining under siege from Vinales and a charging Fabio Quartararo, Bagnaia eventually taking the chequered flag for his sixth win of 2023 by just 0.306s.

Vinales narrowly held onto second after batting away the advances of Quartararo, the Yamaha rider saving his rubber expertly across the distance, but not quite enough to allow him a safe passage past the Aprilia.

Quartararo’s Indonesian run marked his third rostrum finish of the year, and his second in the past three events as he continues to enjoy a strong conclusion to the term.

Fabio Di Gianantonio enjoyed a spirited comeback following a poor start to claim his best premier class result of fourth for Gresini Ducati, while VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi rounded off the top five as he tried to save his energy across the contest due to the collarbone injury he suffered last week.

Binder meanwhile salvaged sixth despite serving two long-lap penalties across the race. The first came after he was deemed responsible for the clash that took out Marini, while the other came after he fired off Miguel Oliveira at Turn 2 later on.

The South African got the better of factory KTM team-mate Jack Miller for the spot in the closing stanza as he began to fade.

Enea Bastianini posted the fastest lap of the race en route to eighth in the final classification, while LCR’s Alex Rins enjoyed a decent run to ninth in his first outing since June’s Italian GP sprint race.

Aleix Espargaro completed the top ten after a tough day for the Aprilia ace, his gamble of choosing soft tyres for the front and rear costing him a chance at a top five.

Only 14 riders made the finish of the attrition-filled encounter, with Takaaki Nakagami claiming 11^th for LCR Honda ahead of RNF Aprilia duo Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez. Franco Morbidelli was the final classified finisher, the Yamaha man taking 14^th.

Johann Zarco joined his team-mate on the side-lines after losing the rear of his Desmosedici late on, while factory Honda pair Marc Marquez and Joan Mir crashed early while challenging within the top ten.

Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro also failed to make the end for the GasGas squad, the duo dropping their KTM RC16 machines in the searing heat of Sunday.

Francesco Bagnaia concedes that Jorge Martin currently “has the momentum” in their battle for the 2023 MotoGP title following his defeat to the Spaniard in the Japanese Grand Prix.

The reigning premier class world champion battled with Martin throughout Sunday’s encounter at a sodden Mobility Resort Motegi venue, the duo swapping positions on multiple occasions throughout the different stages of the race.

Bagnaia passed Martin on the opening lap as the field took the green flag on slicks on a slippy track surface before the pole-man moved ahead in the pits as they changed to wet tyres at the end of the opening tour, before Bagnaia then moved back ahead after Martin ran wide at Turn 3.

The charging Pramac Ducati rider though later caught and passed Bagnaia before snatching the leadership away from Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, Martin ultimately holding the advantage before the race was finally ended on lap 13 due to worsening weather conditions.

Bagnaia admitted after the race that he was disappointed the race didn’t go the full distance as he felt he was looking after his rear tyre better than Martin, and believed that he could have fought him for the win in the closing stages. He also conceded that his chief rival for this year’s title now “has the momentum” as his lead shrinks to just three points ahead of the Indonesian GP.

“The rest of the season will be interesting (title fight), It will be a great fight and for sure it’s more intense right now and quite difficult because Jorge has the momentum,” said Bagnaia after finishing second in the Japanese GP.

“We will fight and we’ve worked well this weekend as we managed to find something that helped me a lot yesterday, and today for sure was a bit better too.

“We will have our time, the next races at Mandalika we’ll battle against everyone as it’s important to be at the top again.  

“It was unlucky we didn’t have time to finish the race because I think with the tyre management I would have been quite competitive in the last part of the race, but I’m happy with second.  

“We just had two different ways of riding today, he (Martin) was pushing a bit too much on the entrance (to corners) and using more traction on exit and I was just trying not to have too much consumption on the rear.

“I had the medium and the asphalt at the start of the race wasn’t too wet so I just tried to control things, but it turned out to be useless because of the red flag, so we lost a possibility (to win.)”

Bagnaia added that he felt race control throwing the red flag when it did was the right call as “aquaplaning became too much” as the rain continued to hammer the Motegi track surface.

“It was quite tricky, I did a good flag-to-flag (pitstop) but then I got stuck with the pit limiter and lost three or four positions,” continued Bagnaia.

“I was trying to gain lap by lap without pushing too much, but then when the red flag came out I understood.

“It was the best time to have the red flag because it was really risky as aquaplaning became too much.”

Francesco Bagnaia conceded that he was “destroyed” by mid-distance of the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix due to not being able to use his legs while riding his Ducati.

The factory Ducati ace suffered severe contusions on his legs as a result of being hit by an unsighted Brad Binder after he crashed at the start of last weekend’s Catalan GP, meaning the heavy bruising that resulted limited his movement on the bike and prevented him from using his legs to help him manoeuvre his Desmosedici around the tight and twisty Misano venue.

With Bagnaia thus having to primarily use his arms to navigate his bike around the course, he struggled to maintain peak physical shape across the entirety of the race – the Italian lucky to hang onto a rostrum in the short Saturday sprint over 12 laps due to his drop in performance in the closing stages.  

An increased dosage in painkillers for Sunday’s 27-tour San Marino GP helped his cause to an extent, Bagnaia challenging eventual race winner Jorge Martin across the opening half of the outing before his sub-optimal physical condition caught up to him – the reigning world champion first falling behind Marco Bezzecchi before narrowly hanging on ahead of KTM tester Dani Pedrosa to claim third.  

Bagnaia admitted he was “destroyed” after just 15 laps due to having to overuse his arms to move around his Ducati, but felt that his achievement of securing a podium finish just seven days after his horrific Catalan crash was an “incredible” way to end the weekend.

“It was a hard weekend for sure but I think we did something incredible because being ready for a fight like we had this race wasn’t easy,” explained Bagnaia.

“I was destroyed because normally I use my legs a lot to ride and don’t have problems with my arms, but this weekend I couldn’t use the legs so I had to do something different.

 “I tried everything because I knew it was important to be at the front so I tried to overtake Jorge (Martin) in one or two places but he had a clear advantage in terms of performance.

“I was struggling overall and could gain in the fast corners like Curvone so that I could have a chance, but after 15 laps only using the arms to ride left me destroyed and the front tyre pressure with the new regulation was too high so I couldn’t do anything.

“When I lifted a bit for a couple of laps after Marco (Bezzecchi) passed me I could find more energy to push in the last laps to not allow Dani (Pedrosa) overtake me, but it was tough.”

With Bagnaia having only given away 14 points to main title rival Martin across the Misano event – his points lead standing at 36 heading to India in two weeks time – he declared that finishing on the rostrum this weekend was “massively important”, adding that he felt the race could have been “a different story” had he been fully fit.

“It was massively important to be on the podium for myself, Dani was pushing a lot and when I saw that with six laps to go he was 0.2s behind I said ‘oh fuck’,” continued Bagnaia.

“I did a couple laps with a 1:32.7s and was struggling, but then tried to push again to in the last couple laps to just stay ahead and managed to do a couple low 1:32s.

“Jorge did an amazing job all weekend, maybe if I was in a better condition it could have been a different story where I could fight more, but it’s difficult to say.

“It was easy to give up the race and just finish, but we did a great race which makes me really happy.”

Francesco Bagnaia looks to have escaped serious injury from his nasty crash at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, according to MotoGP Medical Director Dr Angel Charte.

The factory Ducati rider suffered a large impact after landing hard following a violent high-side exiting Turn 2 on the opening lap of the Spanish GP at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, Bagnaia subsequently run over in the leg area by the unsighted KTM of Brad Binder.

With a red flag swiftly issued to help remove the conscious Bagnaia from the circuit, the Italian was transported to the medical centre and then to the local hospital in Barcleona after a “small injury” in the “femoral and tibial area” was picked up by the circuit medical centre’s facilities.  

Speaking to Spanish broadcaster DAZN, Charte said that Bagnaia needed to undergo a further CAT scan in hospital in order to ascertain whether the injury is one picked up in the crash or potentially one from a previous incident.

“Pecco has had severe polytrauma, a motorbike ran over him in the femoral and tibial area,” explained Charte.

“We have taken x-rays of this area and have detected a small injury that we don’t know if it is current or old.

“We need to do an urgent CAT scan and that is why we have sent him to the general hospital.

“At cranial, thoracic and abdominal levels, he has been normal at all times. He was conscious and oriented. The image we have seen is from conventional radiology, so it is difficult to be sure that there is no fracture.

“It is necessary to do a CAT scan.”

It remains to be seen whether Bagnaia will be able to take to the track for next weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix, where he will need to defend a reduced 50 point margin in the championship ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin – who claimed third behind Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales in the Spanish GP.

Francesco Bagnaia batted off the advances of Aprilia to storm to a sixth pole position of 2023 in Barcelona, the Italian recording a new lap record to boot.

Bagnaia made sure to be in the conversation with the so-far dominant looking Aprilia’s of Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales and Miguel Oliveira as he ended the first runs of the pole shootout in fourth as Vinales led the way on a 1:39.099s, though Brad Binder looked strong too for KTM in second.

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia though came out ready to fight on his final set of tyres as he fired in a pair of times ultimately fast enough to head to the top of the times, his first effort of 1:38.639s – a new two-wheeled lap record of the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya – leaving him well clear of the pack.

Espargaro though looked to have a little more in the tank just as he did towards the end of the second practice session on Friday afternoon, the Aprilia ace around half-a-tenth-of-a-second up on Bagnaia half-way around his final tour.

He couldn’t hang onto his time advantage however and ultimately slipped to 0.104s adrift of Bagnaia as the series leader secured pole, Espargaro forced to make do with second on the grid as a result.

It was still a strong showing from Aprilia though as Oliveira claimed third for the RNF squad despite having had to fight through Q1 to claim a passage in Q2, while Vinales was fourth just a fraction further back – the RS-GP trio covered by just 0.029s.

Jorge Martin followed in fifth for Pramac Ducati despite being held up by Honda’s Marc Marquez on his last attempt, the Spaniard narrowly heading team-mate Johann Zarco and Gresini Ducati pairing Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Gianantonio.

Brad Binder ended up slipping all the way to ninth despite his promising early session pace, the South African just clear of VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi who continued to lack speed at the Spanish venue.

Enea Bastianini will start both the sprint race and grand prix from 11^th on the grid, while Marc Marquez failed to take much profit from securing the final pole shootout spot and will start 12^th for both encounters as by far the best-placed Honda rider.

Jack Miller ultimately was the orchestrator of his own demise having unintentionally dragged Marquez around on his best lap, the six-time premier class champion just pipping him to second overall in Q1 and leaving the Aussie out in 13^th.

He at least managed to get the better of fellow RC16 rider Pol Espargaro for GasGas, while a decent early showing from Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo led to nothing as he managed a disastrous 17^th just behind team-mate Franco Morbidelli, the Frenchman having dominated this event just over a year ago.

Luca Marini also had an uncharacteristically tough Saturday morning en-route to 18^th on the sister VR46 Ducati entry, the Italian leading only GasGas rookie Augusto Fernandez and the struggling Honda trio of Joan Mir, Takaaki Nakagami and Iker Lecuona who completed the field.