Celestino Vietti (KTM Ajo) won the Moto2 Malaysian Grand Prix after leading every lap of a hot, tough race at Sepang.
After grabbing the lead at the first corner, Vietti’s lead fluctuated throughout a race that proved tough on both bikes and riders. The Italian, who was riding injured in Malaysia, streaked to a 1.6s advantage as early as lap two, but could not maintain such a comfortable gap.
American Racing Team’s Marcos Ramirez was briefly ahead of Vietti after the leader made a mistake at Turn 1 on lap six, before Vietti reclaimed the top spot at Turn 2.
As Ramirez then began to fade, American Racing Team’s Jorge Navarro (substituting for Joe Roberts) emerged as Vietti’s main challenger. He looked set for a move with a few laps remaining, but Vietti was able to put in another charge late in the race to cross the line with a lead of almost 1.5s over Navarro.
Newly-crowned world champion Ai Ogura was running third by the time his bike suddenly lost power with a technical failure on lap 11, a development which took Jake Dixon by surprise. The British rider only narrowly avoided running into the stricken MT Helmets-MSi machine at high speed.
Dixon then suffered the ultimate embarrassment by giving away a podium in the misguided belief that the race was over a lap ahead of the chequered flag. He backed off over the start/finish line one tour from home, and by the time he had realised his mistake, his Aspar team-mate Izan Guevara had grabbed third place.
Tony Arbolino (Marc VDS Racing Team), Ramirez and KTM Ajo’s Deniz Oncu completed the top seven.
Aron Canet secured second place in the world championship with a round to go. His eighth place for Fantic Racing was enough to ensure that Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets-MSi) cannot catch him at the Barcelona finale.
Moto2 Malaysian GP – Race results
Alonso’s winning run continues in Moto3
David Alonso, CFMOTO Aspar Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
In Moto3, David Alonso survived late pressure from Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato to take his 13th win in MotoGP.
The Aspar rider’s victory made him the first rider in the junior category to score six consecutive wins since Valentino Rossi managed the feat in 1997.
It was another of the world champion’s trademark comeback rides. Alonso was forced out of the top 10 as he took evasive action to avoid Tech3’s Daniel Holgado, who highsided after an attempt to try and pass Ivan Ortola went awry on lap two.
Alonso hit the front on lap 12 of 15, but remained in a seven-bike lead group until the end, unable to pull away from Furusato.
Jose Antonio Rueda (KTM Ajo) kept a close eye on the battling Alonso and Furosata over the final lap but had to settle for third place.
Holgado’s accident on lap two had implications for the battle over second place in the championship. Holgado came into the race 11 points clear of Collin Veijer in third and 32 ahead of Ortola in fourth.
With Ortola (MT Helmets-MSi) and Veijer (Intact GP) sewing up fourth and fifth places respectively at Sepang, that picture has now changed with one round remaining. Veijer will head to the Barcelona finale level with Holgado, with Ortola an outside shot 19 points back.
Joel Kelso (BOE Motorsports) and Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets-MSI) were the last two riders to cross the line in the leading group, claiming sixth and seventh.
Moto3 Malaysian GP – race results:
| 1 |
D. Alonso CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team |
80 | CF MOTO | 15 | 150.8 | 25 | ||||
| 2 |  T. Furusato Honda Team Asia |
72 | Honda | 15 | 0.088 | 150.8 | 20 | |||
| 3 |
J. Antonio Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
99 | KTM | 15 | 0.323 | 150.8 | 16 | |||
| 4 |
I. Ortola MT Helmets – MSI |
48 | KTM | 15 | 0.585 | 150.8 | 13 | |||
| 5 |
C. Veijer Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
95 | Husqvarna | 15 | 0.095 | 150.8 | 11 | |||
| 6 |  J. Kelso BOE Motorsports |
66 | KTM | 15 | 0.134 | 150.7 | 10 | |||
| 7 | R. Yamanaka MT Helmets – MSI |
6 | KTM | 15 | 0.271 | 150.7 | 9 | |||
| 8 |  S. Nepa LEVELUP – MTA |
82 | KTM | 15 | 5.748 | 150.3 | 8 | |||
| 9 | M. Bertelle Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team |
18 | Honda | 15 | 0.102 | 150.3 | 7 | |||
| 10 |
L. Lunetta SIC58 Squadra Corse |
58 | Honda | 15 | 3.460 | 150.0 | 6 | |||
| 11 |
D. Almansa Kopron Rivacold Snipers Team |
22 | Honda | 15 | 0.098 | 150.0 | 5 | |||
| 12 |
J. Roulstone Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 |
12 | GASGAS | 15 | 5.115 | 149.6 | 4 | |||
| 13 |
F. Farioli SIC58 Squadra Corse |
7 | Honda | 15 | 4.526 | 149.3 | 3 | |||
| 14 |
X. Zurutuza Red Bull KTM Factory Racing |
85 | KTM | 15 | 0.248 | 149.3 | 2 | |||
| 15 |
T. Buasri Honda Team Asia |
5 | Honda | 15 | 0.208 | 149.3 | 1 | |||
| 16 |
E. O’Shea FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing |
8 | Honda | 15 | 0.230 | 149.2 | ||||
| 17 |  D. Munoz BOE Motorsports |
64 | KTM | 15 | 22.474 | 147.6 | ||||
| 18 |
N. Dettwiler CIP |
55 | KTM | 15 | 1.454 | 147.5 | ||||
| dnf |
N. Fabio LEVELUP – MTA |
10 | KTM | 10 | 5 Laps | 144.8 | Retirement | |||
| dnf | T. Suzuki Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP |
24 | Husqvarna | 8 | 2 Laps | 150.4 | Retirement | |||
| dnf |  S. Ogden FleetSafe Honda – MLav Racing |
19 | Honda | 8 | 2’04.162 | 134.6 | Retirement | |||
| dnf |
Á. Piqueras Leopard Racing |
36 | Honda | 5 | 3 Laps | 144.3 | Retirement | |||
| dnf |  A. Fernandez Leopard Racing |
31 | Honda | 2 | 3 Laps | 147.8 | Retirement | |||
| dnf | D. Holgado Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 |
96 | GASGAS | 1 | 1 Lap | 144.4 | Accident | |||
| dnf | R. Rossi CIP |
54 | KTM | 0 | Accident | |||||
| dnf |
J. Esteban CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team |
78 | CF MOTO | 0 | Accident |
