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ROUND 19 / OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 1, 2026 SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / SELANGOR, MALAYSIA ROAD RACE I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P66 isn't done yet, and there are still many moments to come." Marc Marquez can secure the championship at the Qatar Grand Prix, where the season's first potential title-deciding op- portunity awaits. He needs to score 30 points or more than Martin and eight points more than Bezzecchi. The former is the more challenging task, as Martin will again attempt to ride and, given he'll have an extra week of recovery, will be doing all he can to delay the Marquez celebrations. overtake me. Apart from that moment, I focused solely on riding at my own pace, and I'm happy with the 34 points scored this weekend. We have reached the point in the season where we need to think about the overall situation. We're leading the championship, and there are very few races left, but the job Ogura finished fourth af- ter passing Bezzecchi, who dropped to sixth following a late mistake at turn 14. Bastianini claimed fifth, ahead of Bezzec- chi, Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) and Fabio Di Giannan- tonio. Brad Binder and Franco Morbidelli completed the top 10. "The goal for today was to lead from start to finish," Marc said. "Based on the previous sessions, it was clear that my pace was good and I felt com- fortable. Luckily, Alex went wide at turn four after trying to chances of scoring points here in Malaysia were looking slim, so I felt it was worth taking a gamble. In my mind, the timing was right, and I genuinely thought we had a chance to make something happen with that decision. Unfortunately, the bike wasn't ready when I arrived. I'd spoken with the team before the race about having the second bike prepared, but we clearly had differ- ent understandings of the timing. I thought it would be ready imme- diately, while the team understood that they had another four or five laps. It was a miscommunication, and by the time I realized the tires hadn't even been changed, I knew the race was over. I apologized for my reaction afterwards. When you arrive in the pit lane, you're still in the race, and in my mind, I wouldn't have made that decision unless I believed it was the right one. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, but given our position and the conditions I was seeing on track, I thought it was worth a shot." Briefly... The sorry state of the Yamaha factory team continued in Malaysia. Fabio Quartararo (20) got by Alex Rins (42) for 11th, but both were over 25 seconds behind winner Marquez at the flag.