As the circus moves to the
final round at Valencia in two
weeks, Bagnaia sits 23 points
clear of Quartararo, 258 to 235,
so, essentially, all he has to do is
finish 14th or better if Quartararo
wins. Espargaro is third at 212,
one point up on Bastianini with
Miller fifth at 189.
MOTO2
Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Rac-
ing Team) took victory in the Moto2
race in Malaysia as the title race
was turned on its head yet again.
Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda
Team Asia) looked to have one
hand on the crown as he ran
second on the road and Augusto
Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
However, he would come up
2.7 seconds shy of the win, one
that Bagnaia took by 0.270 sec-
onds from his future teammate,
Bastianini.
Bezzecchi was fourth, 5.4
seconds down, with Phillip
Island winner Alex Rins (Ecstar
Suzuki) fifth in the brand's penul-
timate race in MotoGP.
Jack Miller staged a remark-
able comeback after finishing
lap one outside the top 20 in
sixth, ahead of Marc Marquez
(Repsol Honda), Brad Binder
(Red Bull KTM), Johann Zarco
(Prima Pramac Ducati) and Aleix
Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), who
finally saw his faint title hopes
extinguished in Malaysia.
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 25, 2022 P69
MYOWNRACE
23 ENEA BASTIANINI
2ND MOTOGP
"At the start, I think my poten al was to
try to make the gap, but a er two or three
laps in front, something changed, and I
lost some confidence on the rear," said
Enea Bas anini. "A er that, I was slower
and Pecco overtook me again. I pushed
really hard to stay really close to him and
tried to overtake again, but, nothing. I
tried to overtake Pecco again on the last
lap, but it was a li le bit dangerous. Some-
mes we have to see also there are other
ques ons, and he ba les for the Champi-
onship, and it's like this. I think Pecco will
win the Championship in Valencia. He has
a lot of points distance over Fabio. Fabio,
I think, also had a good race today but I
think it will not be easy for him."
20 FABIO QUARTARARO
3RD MOTOGP
"I hoped it would not be victory for Pecco,
of course, but at least we gave our maxi-
mum today," Fabio Quartararo lamented of
Bagnaia's win. "The start was the key point,
[and] the first lap. We changed the strategy
a li le bit compared to Australia when I
wanted to keep the re fresh for the end.
Today, I just pushed myself quite hard at the
beginning because our bike is not super-
good at saving the re, so I had to push
for three or four laps un l I was in front of
Marc (Marquez), so it was pre y good and
I'm happy to get that result today."
