The 2024 Malaysian Grand Prix could be the final judge of this season’s MotoGP title. And although it has not been like that, the feeling is that it has been the scenario in which everything has been seen for sentencing. We still have one last Grand Prix left this season, which unfortunately cannot be held in Valencia for reasons we all know. But in that last event, which, almost certainly, will be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the person in the best position to win the title is Martín.
And that will not be because Pecco Bagnaia is not bringing out all his quality, quite the opposite. He took the lead from free practice, taking pole position and putting pressure on Martín who knew that, being second on both Saturday and Sunday, and repeating it in the final round, that result had a huge advantage.
PECCO BAGNAIA GOES TO THE FLOOR!
THE ITALIAN ADDS HIS FIFTH ZERO IN THE SPRINT, WHICH CAN DECIDE THE WORLD CUP IN FAVOR OF JORGE MARTÍN!#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/4ttla2zzpe
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) November 2, 2024
But races are races and from outside the bike everything looks much simpler than it is. And even more so when the pace that Bagnaia and Martín are leading this year is practically unattainable for the rest of the grid. And, of course, when that is the case, making mistakes is more likely. Neither Martín nor Pecco could commit them, but Bagnaia did, again in a Sprint. A minimal failure in Malaysia and a new zero while Martín added 12 points for the victory, with Marc Márquez second and Enea Bastianini third.
Bagnaia is not going to throw in the towel until there is no other option and he showed it in Malaysia
Suddenly, the classification became very favorable for Jorge with 29 points before Sunday’s race, so the Madrid native could become champion if he won the race and Bagnaia was third. That plan had a serious problem and that is that the two are so superior to the rest, either in mechanics or in driving, that with the exception of Marc no one was going to be able to follow them. And all this after the scare that Binder, Quartararo and Miller had at the start, and for which the race was suspended for a few minutes that seemed long until Miller was seen in good condition.
🟥 RED FLAG
The race was stopped #MotoGP right after starting due to a very hard fall by Jack Miller, Brad Binder and Fabio Quartararo#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/62FS0RqfrG
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) November 3, 2024
Then, when they started again, the duel resumed and, once again, no one seemed to be able to handle either the Italian or the Spanish. They engaged in a fight in which Martín showed his most aggressive side and Bagnaia his most resistant and although they gave us a spectacle that we had not seen this year, they were able to escape from the rest.
In the midst of the fight, continually advancing, only Márquez could be relatively close and he took risks that ended with Cervera on the ground after six laps. After that and with Bagnia always in charge, it became time for both of them to manage. The two did their job with Pecco pulling and Martín trying to follow him but without taking the unnecessary risks that, perhaps, he did take at the beginning of the race.
And so, by managing, Pecco was able to stop the blow, win his tenth (Sunday) race of the year and cut five points from a Martín who only has to wait for the laps to pass in Barcelona to be champion. It’s easy to say, but with 24 points difference and 37 at stake, Jorge just has to be in the place he has been all year. And, to be honest, only Bastianini and Márquez have been more or less recurrently close to them, and that gives them a lot of room.
WHAT A FIGHT
WHAT A SHOW
WHAT A GIFTJorge Martín and Pecco Bagnaia playing the World Cup #MotoGP ON EVERY DAMN CURVE 😍#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 #TheRematch pic.twitter.com/INXSAARFMF
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) November 3, 2024
Bastianini was precisely the one who took advantage of Marc’s fall to get back on the podium and cut the difference between the two in the general standings to one point. So not only the title will be at stake, but also third place. But returning to Malaysia and not thinking so much about the last race of the season, Álex Márquez did a good job as did Pedro Acosta, to be fourth and fifth respectively on Sunday.
Quartararo, after all, finished sixth, which is great news for Yamaha because those “green shoots” that we have seen in recent weeks are maintained and confirmed with Rins who was eighth. Between the two there was a Maverik Viñales, who was the best Aprilia rider, a bike that seems to be suffering at this part of the year. Marco Bezzecchi was ninth and Augusto Fernández, in one of his best races of the season, achieved tenth position in what could be his penultimate race in MotoGP.
Now, after three long weeks of competition, the MotoGP World Championship heads to Europe to close a 2024 campaign that, no matter what happened, will have a very different ending than the one we would all have liked at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste and with the Valencian fans opening the doors of their land to all fans. However, Valencia and its people will surely be very present at the final event that will surely be held in Barcelona from November 15 to 17.
