SEPANG: MotoGP defending champion Francesco Bagnaia kept his title hopes alive after winning what was - for the first three laps - the most thrilling Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia of recent times today (Nov 3).
Bagnaia, after some early drama, in the end secured a comfortable victory in 38 minutes and 4.563 seconds in the Sepang heat.
Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac) settled for second, 3.141 seconds back while Bagnaia's Ducati Lenovo teammate Enea Bastiani finished a distant third (+10.484s).
The race was forced to be restarted after Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) as well as Red Bull KTM duo Jack Miller and Brad Binder got tangled up in a crash in the opening lap.
Bagnaia and Martin, who started from first and second on the grid, swapped the lead numerous times after the restart - even making light contact on a number of occasions - for the first three laps until Bagnaia opened up a gap.
Once Bagnaia, who started the race trailing championship leader Martin by 29 points, had an advantage there was no looking back and managed to keep the lead until the finish.
The Italian, who now trails Martin by 24 points, was pleased to claim his 10th race win of the season.
"Jorge was very aggressive because he knew he needed to finish ahead of me (to win title here)," said Bagnaia, better known by his nickname Pecco.
"But my pace was too good and as always on Sunday's (main race) I was able to attack and be more aggressive.
"We did an incredible job to win our 10th race of the season but we need to understand why I am struggling to do the same on Saturdays (sprint races)."
Bagnaia crashed out of the sprint race yesterday whilst in second behind Martin, after lowsiding at turn nine. Martin went on to win the sprint race.
Martin, who started the weekend with a 17 point advantage over Bagnaia, admitted that it was "impossible" to overtake the latter once he had a gap in today's main race.
"For sure, I wanted to win but Pecco was very aggressive and we had a good fight for the first three laps," said Martin.
"But once he overtook me it was impossible to overtake him.
"It is still incredible to get eight more points here (Sepang) and now we will go to the final round of the championships (to determine title). It will be a big challenge and we will have to do our best."
The final round of the World Championships was initially scheduled to be held in Valencia on Nov 15-17 but will now likely be held in Barcelona on the same dates.
The Valencia GP has been cancelled following the serious flooding that occurred there earlier this week. Hundreds of people have lost their lives.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim presented the trophies during the prize giving ceremony today. Anwar had toured the Sepang Circuit facilities earlier.
A total of 184,923 spectators attended the event over the past three days, which is a new record. The previous three-day record was set last year when 182,912 fans attended.