Malaysian MotoGP Race Results: Vinales powers to Sepang win

Maverick Vinales has taken a commanding second win of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship season after powering clear of a recovering Marc Marquez in the Malaysian MotoGP.

Though overshadowed by pole sitter Fabio Quartararo in qualifying, it was Vinales that came into the Sunday event having displayed superior race pace in free practice and it certainly showed as an early break allowed him to clear out for victory.

After a frantic first few bends headed initially by Jack Miller, Vinales struck to the front before the end of the opening lap and got the hammer down as the Australian held everyone up enough for him to lose the tow to the Yamaha.

In clear air Vinales couldn’t be matched, comfortably eking his advantage out over the opposition to take his first win since Assen and move himself up to third in the overall standings.

Following his huge crash in qualifying, Marquez certainly had a point to prove at the start of the race from 11th on the grid and quickly established himself with an aggressive first two bends that had him up to fourth place. He swiftly progressed to second, but once there he didn’t have an answer to Vinales, only getting as close as 1.2secs before settling in position.

An engrossing battle for third place went the way of Andrea Dovizioso, the Italian’s rocketing start getting him up the order before controlling pace and holding a feisty Valentino Rossi at bay, the Italian enjoying one of his strongest races of the year but not being quite able to unseat the Ducati with its stronger top speed advantage.

Alex Rins worked his way up to the third place battle towards the end of the race but ultimately ran out of time to make an impression on it, though the Spaniard was lucky not to crash when he slammed into the side of Miller’s Ducati as they disputed fifth place after their alternate lines into the final corner saw them find the apex – and each other – at the same time.

The impact appeared to unsettle Miller, who slipped back thereafter behind the Petronas SRT Yamahas of Franco Morbidelli and pole man Quartararo.

A desperately disappointing race for the Frenchman, who was tipped for his first win, a poor start preceded a tentative opening lap that dropped him to eighth and he couldn’t mount a challenge from there, finishing a distant seventh.

Miller held onto eighth, though he was helped by Joan Mir wiping out Johann Zarco towards the end of the race. Zarco was on the tail of Miller for what would have been a strong eighth place result in only his second race with LCR Honda but an ambitious dive by Mir behind him forced him to crash and earned the Suzuki rider a long lap penalty that dropped him to tenth behind Danilo Petrucci.

Pol Espargaro led the way for KTM in 11th place from Pecco Bagnaia, with Aleix Espargaro In 13th, while Jorge Lorenzo secured his first points in six races with 14th. Mike Kallio scored the final digit.

Elsewhere, Cal Crutchlow made it a double DNF for LCR Honda with a crash out of 12th late on.

Malaysian MotoGP Race Results - Sepang