The Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) vs Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) battle in Sepang was something out of this world. For three laps, the tension and excitement couldn’t have been more palpable. Sport at its purest. And now, following Pecco’s victory, a title-deciding final round will take place in Barcelona as we go racing for Valencia.

Below are some of the main talking points to emerge from Sepang’s track action, as we gear up for the last weekend of the season that sees Martin hold a 24-point lead over Bagnaia with 37 left on the table.

“We tried to give a slipstream to everybody”

Knowing that taking points off Martin was a priority in Malaysia, Bagnaia – while also chatting about the phenomenal battle – admitted that he gave other riders slipstream opportunities across the weekend to try and get some rivals in between himself and the Championship leader. Ultimately, it didn’t work. And that’s something the #1 is hoping can change in Barcelona.

“It was fantastic because we fought quite aggressively but clean because we never touched. I was knowing that after three or four laps, if I was in front and pushing I was able to open this gap, not just for the pace but also for the temperature of the tyres. So, I was able to set my pace, opening the gap. After that, I was just hoping that Enea and Marc were closing the gap to Jorge. But we know that right now in the Championship we are making the difference and it’s giving us the potential to open a gap. Even if slowed down a bit, we’d have finished seven seconds in front of third.

“It’s something that we need to improve for the next one in Barcelona. We tried to give the slip stream to everybody during the weekend to make that someone will be in the middle, and I have to win both races. So let’s see. In any case, I’m happy for today. It’s a shame for yesterday because the same bump of yesterday I touched today and I didn’t crash. Sometimes things are going wrong, but happy for what we did. Happy for the weekend. Let’s move on to the next one fully focused and concentrate on trying to win both races.”

“In Barcelona, anything can happen”

Talking about the mountain he has to climb at the season finale, Bagnaia is well aware of the difficult task that awaits him in Barcelona. But it’s by no means impossible.

“Mathematically still possible. We know it’s quite difficult. In Barcelona anything can happen. I crashed in the sprint race when I was leading one second. Trying to avoid any mistakes and I crashed the same. So, it will be tricky. The conditions will be more tough compared to June because will be cold. Two corners in Barcelona are quite tricky, that are corner two and corner five. Could be important to try to be so competitive but be calm. I need also Enea.”

“It was too risky to keep attacking”

After a spellbinding three laps, Bagnaia was able to open a gap to Martin for the remainder of the race as the latter settled for 20 crucial points on Sunday. Martin shared his thoughts on what unfolded in Malaysia.

“I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to Pecco, because of his level I’m improving my level every day. Every day we are stronger and stronger. We never had a battle like this I think in our career. For sure, we were always close but we never had a battle with 11 overtakes, they told me, in three laps. I felt I was strong to do that. I think that putting the medium front was the best choice for me. Maybe was a bit of a gamble for the first few laps. It was really difficult to stop, but anyway I’m very happy that I was able to attack Pecco.

“It was really difficult to overtake somebody like him that he brakes so, so hard and he can stop the bike really good. But I was able to do it. I think if I could take the first position for one complete lap, everything would have changed a bit, but at the end he had an amazing pace. For me it was too risky to keep attacking. So I just controlled the gap to the rider behind and tried to make it until the end.”

“Nothing is over until it’s over”

A fantastic position to be in with one Sprint and one race left? Absolutely. But Martin isn’t getting too carried away ahead of he finale.

“For me the confidence doesn’t change a lot coming to this race or coming to the next race. For sure I’m confident about my work, about how I arrived here. I just think it’s a privilege to be at this point. Battling with a champion like Pecco is crazy. For sure, I’m confident. I’m happy that we took seven more points from this race. I feel a bit closer to the final target, but nothing is over until it’s over so we need to be super focused. For sure, I believe until the end.”

“They were just faster than me”

Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) had the best seats in the house for the Pecco vs Martin battle, but the Spaniard was never able to get amongst it. Why? The reason was fairly straight forward.

“They were just faster than me. Sometimes you are there behind somebody and you say from the TV, ‘Why don’t you overtake? Why don’t you join the battle?’. But today, even if I try to be on that battle, they were faster than me and was not possible in terms of speed of riding.”

“Slowing the race down by 10 seconds is impossible”

Post-race, Marc Marquez was asked about the potential tactics that Bagnaia could have played to try and allow teammate Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) – and others – to join the fight in order to give Martin some defending to do. But, such was Bagnaia and Martin’s superior pace in Malaysia, that was never going to be something doable for the #1.

“The problem is that the difference between Pecco, Martin and the others was huge. I mean, if you see Bastianini finished 10 seconds behind Pecco. So slow down the race 2-3 seconds OK. But slow down the race 10 seconds is impossible.”

“Oh, f*** off, perfect!”

Thankfully, Jack Miller, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Brad Binder and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) were able to walk away from the huge Turn 2 incident that brought out the red flags. Speaking to the media afterwards, Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) said that he was worried for Miller after the HRC star ran over the Australian’s legs while trying to avoid everything. After a visit to Miller’s garage post-race, Mir was more than relieved to get the all-clear from the #43.

“Honestly, I was very worried, because in the first start, I made a super good start. I passed a lot of people. In the first corner I went outside, I was behind... around the top 10, so if I was able to make the other corner, I could be in a very good position. But then I found the crash with Fabio, with Miller and with Brad. And I ran over Jack, and then when I saw the ambulance, everything. I was very worried, because I didn't know how he was because I ran over his legs. And I was worried for him, but I went to his box, and he said, "No, I'm fine! I'm fine!"... and your leg? "Yeah, I have a bruise here," oh, f*** off, perfect! But I was worried.”

19 down, one more to go. In solidarity with Valencia, we go racing in Barcelona to see who will be crowned the 2024 MotoGP™ World Champion.