Bagnaia wins and Quartararo prolongs the fight for the title until Valencia

Augusto Fernández recovers the leadership of Moto2 after the fall of Ogura

Sergio García Dols approaches the second Moto3 championship with a podium

MADRID, 23 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Italian rider Francesco 'Pecco' Bagnaia (Ducati) has taken a vital step towards the title of MotoGP champion after winning the Malaysian Grand Prix race, the nineteenth and penultimate round of the Motorcycle World Championship, although third place for Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) has canceled his first 'match ball', while the Spanish Augusto Fernández (Kalex) has regained the leadership of Moto2 after the fall of the Japanese Ai Ogura (Kalex) and Sergio García Dols (GasGas) has approached the runner-up of Moto3 with a podium.

The fight for the championship in the premier class seemed to come to an end in Sepang with the victory of 'Pecco', but the podium of 'El Diablo', third behind Bagnaia and his compatriot Enea Bastianini (Ducati), will make everything is decided at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo during the Comunitat Valenciana Grand Prix.

The leader of the World Championship went from ninth to second in a spectacular start and took command of the race, which he would not leave, with 14 laps to go, when Saturday's 'poleman', the Spanish Jorge Martín (Ducati) , went to the ground when leading the appointment.

Meanwhile, the man from Nice was able to overcome the pain in his left hand, which was caused by a fall in free practice, to reach a third place that leaves him as the only one capable of challenging Bagnaia for the title, after Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia ) stayed out of the fight with a tenth place. Even so, a fourteenth place would be enough for 'Pecco' to become champion, and only a victory for Quartararo could spoil his dream.

As for the rest of the Spanish, Alex Rins (Suzuki) finished fifth, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) was seventh, Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) was fourteenth, followed by Raúl Fernández (KTM), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) and Alex Márquez (Honda), and Joan Mir (Suzuki) finished nineteenth.

For his part, in Moto2, the Italian Tony Arbolino (Kalex) won in a race in which the Japanese Ai Ogura (Kalex), who came to Sepang as the leader, paid dearly for his ambition and crashed on the last lap trying to overtake the transalpine.

With this, the Japanese serves the leadership of the intermediate category to the Spaniard Augusto Fernández (Kalex), for whom a fourth place was enough, after Arbolino, Alonso López (Boscoscuro) and the British Jake Dixon (Kalex), to recover the first place of the general and arrive with an advantage of 9.5 points to Cheste.

Ogura, who started as 'poleman', gave up his privileged position as soon as the traffic lights went out to Arbolino, while the Mallorcan remained in sixth place. Alonso López, now leader of the 'rookies', joined the list of candidates for victory, with Manu González (Kalex) discussing the position.

Everything was blown up on the last lap. Ogura, aware that a victory would speed up his chances of becoming champion in Malaysia, went for Arbolino and with two corners to go he ended up in the gravel, losing his match point and the lead.

Among the Spaniards, Alonso López took a deserved second place, while Augusto Fernández was fourth, ahead of Manu González, and Aron Canet (Kalex), Jeremy Alcoba (Kalex) and Fermín Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) finished eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.

In Moto3, where the title is already decided, the British John McPhee (Husqvarna) won again two years later to lead the one-two for Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max Racing alongside the Japanese Ayumu Sasaki, and Sergio García Dols (GasGas) took a step towards the runner-up with a third place.

The one from Burriana thus gives a blow to guarantee arriving second in the general classification in Valencia, after the Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda), who started from pole, could only be sixth to stay eight points in the pilot's classification Gaviota GasGas Aspar Team.

For his part, the already world champion of the small category, Izan Guevara (GasGas), settled for a twelfth position that placed him as the sixth best Spaniard of the day, after his teammate García Dols; Jaume Masià (KTM), fourth; Dani Holgado (KTM), seventh; Iván Ortolá (KTM), ninth; and Xavi Artigas (CFMoto), eleventh.

Adrián Fernández (KTM) closed the points, fifteenth, Ana Carrasco (KTM) was twenty-second and neither Carlos Tatay (CFMoto) nor David Muñoz (KTM) could finish the race.