Sepang Moto2/3 Reports – No joy for Aussies as Kelso falls and Agius scraps for one point

MotoGP 2026

Round 19 – Sepang – Sunday – Moto2/3

A tough Sunday for the Australians at Sepang

It was a disappointing Malaysian Grand Prix Sunday for Australia’s riders in the two smaller Grand Prix classes. Joel Kelso was on course for another solid Moto3 result before crashing out of sixth place with four laps remaining, Senna Agius salvaged just a single Moto2 championship point, and Jacob Roulstone’s stand-in Moto2 appearance ended prematurely.

Kelso had qualified seventh, the fastest Honda on the Moto3 grid, and spent much of the 15-lap contest trying to bridge the gap to the five riders fighting over the podium. He was back into sixth by lap eight but went down at Turn Four after completing 11 laps. The no-score leaves him on 64 championship points in eighteenth place.

Agius started twelfth in Moto2 and ran as high as eleventh for much of the early and middle stages. However, his lap times deteriorated late in the race and he was shuffled as low as sixteenth on the penultimate lap before reclaiming fifteenth at the chequered flag. The Australian remains sixth in the championship on 166 points.

Roulstone, substituting for the injured Aron Canet at ELF Marc VDS, started 27th and was 23rd when he went down with four laps remaining. He subsequently returned to the pits to retire after 13 laps, completing a difficult outing for the Australians.

At the other end of the field, Moto3 World Champion Maximo Quiles proved untouchable once he escaped a spectacular five-rider fight, but a remarkable last-lap scrap involving Indonesia’s Veda Pratama and Malaysia’s Hakim Danish kept the Sepang grandstands roaring in what was a sensational race.

Moto2 delivered a CFMOTO Aspar one-two as David Alonso beat his estranged team-mate Daniel Holgado, while the closest championship battle of the three Grand Prix classes tightened still further.

For context, our Saturday Sepang coverage includes the Moto3 and Moto2 qualifying results and grid positions.

Moto2 Race

Alonso wins the Aspar civil war

Daniel Holgado had been the class of the field in qualifying, his 2m02.875s pole lap more than half a second quicker than anyone else could manage. He made the perfect start to the 17-lap race, leading Angel Piqueras through the opening turns, with David Alonso and Izan Guevara giving chase.

Alonso wasted little time getting down to business. The Colombian moved past Piqueras on lap two, the same lap on which he set a new Sepang Moto2 race record of 2m04.422s. For the opening five tours he stalked his team-mate Holgado, waiting for the moment to make his move.

There was considerable history behind that contest. The two CFMOTO Aspar riders have barely disguised their mutual antipathy following their clash in Indonesia. Alonso publicly questioned Holgado’s character, and Aspar management has acknowledged having to give the pair separate spaces in the team transporters. There was certainly no suggestion that this would be a friendly formation finish.

By the end of lap four, the leading trio of Holgado, Alonso and Piqueras had already put distance between themselves and Guevara. The championship challenger was fourth, while title leader Manuel Gonzalez had progressed from ninth on the grid to seventh on the opening lap and was working his way towards the top five.

Agius had a much harder beginning. Twelfth on the grid, the Australian was thirteenth at the end of lap one, although he recovered to eleventh as the opening laps settled down. Replacement rider Roulstone started 27th and was at the tail of the field after the opening lap, finding his way to 25th by lap two.

Alonso finally took control on lap six. His pace was fractionally better than Holgado’s and, with Piqueras also beginning to lose touch, the Colombian gradually built what looked like a race-winning advantage. By the halfway point he had cleared his team-mate by more than a second, and the battle for second was moving away from the race leader.

While the leaders stretched away, Guevara was running a relatively lonely fourth, but there was nothing unimportant about the position. With championship leader Gonzalez back in fifth and losing ground, every lap was nudging the title fight a little more in the Spaniard’s favour.

One huge slide nearly changes everything

Alonso appeared completely in command as the race entered its final quarter, but with three laps left a huge rear-end slide reminded everyone how little grip remained in the searing Sepang heat. The Colombian somehow saved the moment, yet the damage to his lead was immediate.

Holgado had been 1.371 seconds behind at the end of lap thirteen. One lap later that deficit was down to under three-tenths. Suddenly the rider who had spent the second half of the race chasing his team-mate could see the prospect of victory again.

Alonso got his head back down and the job done. His next lap stabilised the margin and, with Holgado unable to reproduce his earlier speed on the fading tyres, the Colombian poured on the agony. The lead grew to more than a second with a lap remaining and Alonso ultimately took the chequered flag just under two-seconds clear.

Holgado completed the CFMOTO Aspar one-two, with Piqueras another 1.6 seconds further back in third. Guevara was fourth, just over six-seconds behind the winner, while Gonzalez finished a distant fifth, 14.130 seconds behind Alonso. Adrian Huertas, Collin Veijer, Ivan Ortola, Celestino Vietti and Alex Escrig rounded out the top ten.

Agius had spent most of the race circulating around eleventh or twelfth but could not sustain that pace in the closing stages. He was pushed back to sixteenth with one lap to run and recovered one position on the final lap, earning a single point for fifteenth. Roulstone, meanwhile, fell while running 23rd with four laps remaining. The official timing records his subsequent return to the pits and retirement after thirteen laps.

Moto2 title fight closes to just 3.5 points

What had been a 5.5-point championship advantage for Gonzalez over Guevara before Sepang is now just 3.5 points. Gonzalez’s fifth place moved him from 265.5 to 276.5, but Guevara’s fourth yielded two more points and raised his tally from 260 to 273. With the remaining rounds approaching, little separates the two leading title contenders.

Ortola remains third on 199.5 points, up from 191.5, although he has fallen further behind the title leaders.

Alonso’s victory moved him from 166 to 191 points and into fourth, narrowing the gap to Ortola from 25.5 to just 8.5 points. That also reversed the order within the CFMOTO Aspar garage. Holgado had arrived four points ahead of Alonso, 170 to 166. Despite finishing second, he now trails his team-mate by a single point, 190 to 191.

Agius retains sixth place in the standings on 166 points, eleven clear of Filip Salac. He still holds sixth, but Sepang was hardly the sort of result he was seeking as the season enters its final stretch.

Sepang Moto2 Race Results

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	D. Alonso	Kal	35m44.732
2	D. Holgado	Kal	+1.932
3	A. Piqueras	Kal	+3.565
4	I. Guevara	Bos	+6.182
5	M. Gonzalez	Kal	+14.130
6	A. Huertas	Kal	+16.651
7	C. Veijer	Kal	+17.705
8	I. Ortola	Kal	+17.981
9	C. Vietti	Bos	+18.553
10	A. Escrig	For	+19.175
11	J. Rueda	Kal	+20.150
12	A. Lopez	Kal	+20.334
13	D. Muñoz	Kal	+20.751
14	F. Salac	Kal	+22.298
15	S. Agius	Kal	+23.683
16	T. Arbolino	Kal	+24.858
17	B. Baltus	Kal	+27.725
18	J. Roberts	Kal	+27.878
19	X. Zurutuza	For	+29.059
20	A. Ferrandez	Bos	+30.301
21	Z. vd Goorbergh	Kal	+33.279
22	M. Ferrari	Kal	+42.658
Not Classified
DNF	J. Roulstone	Bos	13 laps
DNF	A. Sasaki	Kal	10 laps
DNF	T. Furusato	Kal	9 laps
DNF	L. Lunetta	Bos	5 laps
DNF	D. Öncü	Bos	2 laps
DNF	M. Aji	Kal	2 laps

Moto2 Championship Standings

Pos	Rider	Points
1	M. Gonzalez	276.5
2	I. Guevara	273
3	I. Ortola	199.5
4	D. Alonso	191
5	D. Holgado	190
6	S. Agius	166
7	F. Salac	155
8	C. Vietti	140
9	A. Lopez	129.5
10	C. Veijer	89.5
11	D. Muñoz	86
12	T. Arbolino	82.5
13	A. Escrig	69
14	B. Baltus	60
15	A. Huertas	52
16	J. Rueda	48
17	D. Öncü	47.5
18	J. Roberts	44
19	L. Lunetta	27
20	A. Sasaki	24
21	A. Piqueras	20
22	A. Ferrandez	17.5
23	A. Canet	17.5
24	T. Furusato	17
25	Z. vd Goorbergh	14
26	S. Garcia	11
27	M. Aji	3
28	M. Ramirez	0
29	X. Zurutuza	0
30	U. Orradre	0
31	J. Navarro	0
32	D. Foggia	0
33	J. Roulstone	0
34	M. Ferrari	0
35	M. Pawelec	0

Moto3 Race

Quiles wins, but the crowd gets its own thriller

Maximo Quiles had pole position, a World Championship already in his pocket and, judging by the way he eventually disappeared up the road, no intention of taking it easy. But for the opening half of the race, the newly crowned champion had to fight for every metre, while the real fireworks were still to come behind him.

With Danish giving Malaysia its first Moto3 home front-row starter since 2012, the crowd already had good reason to be excited. Quiles took the holeshot, although David Almansa was particularly determined to make the most of his qualifying position. Starting fourth, the Intact GP rider carved past Hakim Danish at Turn One and Brian Uriarte at Turn Two before taking the lead from Quiles a couple of corners later.

Almansa was evidently uninterested in any pre-race warnings about the importance of conserving tyres in Sepang’s 34-degree heat. He attacked immediately, with Alvaro Carpe, Quiles, Danish and Pratama all queuing for a chance to have a go.

Carpe was in an especially combative mood. His early exchanges with Quiles and Danish helped Almansa establish a little breathing space, but nobody was about to let him disappear. On lap three Carpe unleashed a 2m10.967s, the first Moto3 race lap in the 2m10s at Sepang and a new race-lap record, just 0.080s faster than Quiles managed on the same lap.

Kelso, meanwhile, was hanging on to the sharp end. The Australian was sixth at the end of lap one, dropped back to seventh in the early skirmishes and spent the following laps trying to get back onto the tail of the leaders. His 2m11.669s best lap was competitive, but the intense battling ahead did not quite slow the front five enough to let him latch on permanently.

By lap five Quiles had muscled his way back into the lead, with Almansa, Carpe, Danish and Pratama completing the leading quintet. David Muñoz, Adrian Fernandez and Kelso were among those trying to make up the ground, but a slight gap was beginning to separate the races within the race.

Quiles makes his break as Sepang screams for home hero

As the race passed halfway, Quiles started riding as though someone had flicked a switch. He edged clear while those behind continued to swap paint and positions, and soon the fight was no longer for victory but for the two remaining steps on the podium.

Carpe, Almansa, Danish and Pratama had little interest in settling for whatever position happened to come their way. Pratama’s Honda was repeatedly thrust into the thick of the battle, and the Indonesian’s progress was being greeted with enormous enthusiasm from the crowd. Every advance by Malaysian rider Danish turned the volume up another notch.

Pratama had started eighth and worked his way to fifth almost immediately. By lap nine he was second, having picked his way through a scrap that was changing with practically every corner. Danish was just as determined to give the home fans something to remember, with his aggression and late braking keeping him right in the podium conversation.

Quiles was steadily making that conversation irrelevant to his own race. His advantage over the chasing group grew from less than a second after lap seven to more than two seconds with four laps remaining. At the front, the champion was doing just enough to protect his rubber while maintaining a pace nobody behind could sustain.

There was disappointment for Kelso on lap twelve. Having regained sixth place and been trying to keep the leaders within reach, the Australian fell at Turn Four and was out. His performance had deserved more than a zero in the championship column, but that is what Sepang delivered.

Back at the front of the chasing group, Danish launched another attack and moved into second with four laps to go. The grandstands erupted, but his advantage was short-lived as Pratama, Almansa and Carpe all came back at him. With tyres losing their best grip, every defensive line seemed to offer another rival an invitation.

Last-corner heartbreak for Danish

Quiles took the last-lap board more than four seconds clear, leaving everyone else to provide the entertainment. Pratama led the four-rider train fighting over second and was forced to defend against attacks from every direction. Carpe, Danish and Almansa arrived at the opening corners almost together, with the Malaysian spectators willing their man towards an extraordinary home podium.

Nothing was settled. Danish briefly forced his way into second on that frantic final lap before being shuffled all the way back to fifth. He fought past Almansa to reclaim fourth and, by Turn Eleven, was back into the final podium position, only for Carpe to retake it at Turn Fourteen.

Danish threw everything at one last attempt through the final corner, briefly looking as though he might steal third. But he ran wide and Carpe turned back underneath to snatch the place, denying the home hero by just 0.226 seconds. What an atmosphere, and what a cruelly close finish for the Malaysian.

Pratama, meanwhile, held firm to secure a magnificent second place for Honda Team Asia, 3.734 seconds behind the winner. Carpe completed the podium ahead of Danish and Almansa, the four riders covered by just 1.180 seconds at the flag.

Quiles had been practically forgotten by those watching the battle behind, yet he crossed the line for his eleventh victory of 2026 and his first since securing the World Championship. It was a commanding ride, but even the champion would have struggled to upstage what the four youngsters produced behind him.

Joel Esteban was sixth ahead of Adrian Fernandez, David Muñoz, Brian Uriarte and Eddie O’Shea, while Zen Mitani scored his first World Championship points in thirteenth. Valentin Perrone salvaged the final point after serving his long-lap penalty.

Moto3 championship – second and third still up for grabs

With the Moto3 title already decided, the most important championship consequences came from the battle for the minor placings. Quiles extended his total to 376 points, an imposing 148 ahead of Almansa, but the contest behind the champion remains considerably more interesting.

Almansa’s fifth place moved him from 217 to 228 points. His advantage over third-placed Uriarte actually grew from 19 to 23 points, despite a race in which he missed the podium. Uriarte could finish only ninth, adding seven points to move from 198 to 205.

Carpe’s third place was a more significant development. His 16 points took him from 189 to 205, erasing a nine-point deficit to Uriarte and leaving the two Red Bull KTM Ajo riders tied on points. Uriarte retains third on countback, but Carpe is now right on his tail.

Almansa’s lead over Carpe has also shrunk from 28 to 23 points, setting up a three-way fight for the remaining championship podium places. Pratama’s 20-point haul lifted the Indonesian to seventh in the standings on 131 points, while Kelso’s non-finish leaves him eighteenth on 64.

Sepang Moto3 Race Results

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	M. Quiles	KTM	33m07.634
2	V. Pratama	Hon	+3.734
3	A. Carpe	KTM	+4.184
4	H. Danish	KTM	+4.410
5	D. Almansa	KTM	+4.914
6	J. Esteban	KTM	+9.403
7	A. Fernandez	Hon	+9.514
8	D. Muñoz	KTM	+9.533
9	B. Uriarte	KTM	+9.650
10	E. O’Shea	Hon	+12.064
11	R. Yamanaka	KTM	+14.640
12	G. Pini	Hon	+17.110
13	Z. Mitani	Hon	+20.678
14	A. Cruces	KTM	+27.274
15	V. Perrone	KTM	+27.382
16	C. O’Gorman	Hon	+27.562
17	K. Singhapong	Hon	+27.823
18	L. Rammerstorfer	Hon	+27.983
19	R. Moodley	KTM	+35.243
20	M. Morelli	KTM	+38.537
Not Classified
NC	J. Rios	Hon	9 laps completed; 6 behind
DNF	J. Kelso	Hon	11 laps
DNF	S. Ogden	KTM	9 laps
DNF	R. Salmela	KTM	7 laps
DNF	M. Bertelle	KTM	2 laps

Moto3 Championship Standings

Pos	Rider	Points
1	M. Quiles	376
2	D. Almansa	228
3	B. Uriarte	205
4	A. Carpe	205
5	A. Fernandez	157
6	M. Morelli	140
7	V. Pratama	131
8	V. Perrone	121
9	H. Danish	116
10	M. Bertelle	103
11	R. Salmela	89
12	G. Pini	81
13	A. Cruces	80
14	J. Esteban	78
15	E. O’Shea	66
16	C. O’Gorman	66
17	D. Muñoz	64
18	J. Kelso	64
19	J. Rios	48
20	R. Yamanaka	46
21	S. Ogden	33
22	D. Gonzalez	7
23	M. Uriarte	5
24	C. Buchanan	5
25	Z. Mitani	3
26	L. Rammerstorfer	2
27	K. Singhapong	1
28	R. Moodley	0
29	R. Ogiwara	0
30	N. Carraro	0
31	L. Abruzzo	0
32	E. Gutierrez	0

2026 MotoGP Calendar

Rnd	Date	Event	Circuit
1	01 Mar	Thai	Chang International Circuit
2	22 Mar	Brazil*	Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna
3	29 Mar	US	Circuit of the Americas
4	26 Apr	Spain**	Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto
5	10 May	France	Le Mans
6	17 May	Catalonia	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
7	31 May	Italy	Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello
8	07 Jun	Hungary	Balaton Park Circuit
9	21 Jun	Czech	Automotodrom Brno
10	28 Jun	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen
11	12 Jul	Germany	Sachsenring
12	09 Aug	GB	Silverstone Circuit
13	30 Aug	Aragon	MotorLand Aragon
14	13 Sep	San Marino	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
15	20 Sep	Austria	Red Bull Ring-Spielberg
16	04 Oct	Japan	Mobility Resort Motegi
17	11 Oct	Indonesia	Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit
18	25 Oct	Australia	Phillip Island
19	01 Nov	Malaysia	Petronas Sepang International Circuit
20	08 Nov	Qatar	Lusail International Circuit
21	22 Nov	Portugal	Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
22	29 Nov	Valencia	Circuit Ricardo Tormo

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