Acosta wins Sepang Sprint | Holgado and Quiles take Moto2/3 poles

MotoGP 2026

Round 19 – Sepang – Saturday
MotoGP Sprint Race

Acosta triumphs in Sepang thriller

Pedro Acosta claimed victory in a dramatic Malaysian MotoGP Sprint at Sepang, overcoming a determined challenge from Ai Ogura and Marc Marquez as intermittent rain threatened to turn the ten-lap contest on its head.

Marc eventually salvaged second, 0.578 seconds behind the KTM rider, while Marco Bezzecchi completed the podium after a late charge through the leading group.

Ogura was left fourth, having led much of the race following the early demise of pole-sitter Alex Marquez.

For championship leader Marc, the result was particularly valuable. With Jorge Martin sidelined by his fractured wrist, second place was enough to extend his World Championship advantage from ten to 19 points ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The Marquez brothers had locked out the first two positions on the grid, with Alex having stolen pole from Marc by just 0.070 seconds. Acosta completed a front row covered by only 0.084 seconds.

Alex arrived as the winner of the 2023 Sepang Sprint, while Marc was chasing a milestone 25th career Sprint victory and his tenth of the 2026 season.

Conditions were hot and dry when the riders formed up, with an ambient temperature of 36 degrees and the track at 51 degrees, although the threat of rain was never far away.

Alex leads as Marc gets elbowed aside

Alex Marquez made the holeshot, but behind him Ogura was immediately aggressive, challenging Marc into the opening corners.

The Trackhouse Aprilia rider was determined to hold his ground, forcing Marc to lift his Ducati and opening the door for Acosta to move through as well.

Only a few hundred metres into the race, the championship leader had been shuffled back to fourth by an Aprilia and a KTM.

Bezzecchi was fifth ahead of Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio, with that order remaining unchanged as the field completed its opening lap.

Small spots of rain then began appearing around the circuit, prompting Race Direction to display the white flag and allow riders to change motorcycles should conditions deteriorate.

Jack Miller was the first rider to gamble on changing conditions, heading into pitlane to swap onto a wet-weather Yamaha.

However, the Australian arrived to find that his replacement machine was not ready. Miller was visibly furious as he waited in the pits, and by the time his crew had things sorted, so much time had been lost that there was little point heading back out.

A decidedly stroppy Miller called it a day, his Malaysian Sprint over after just two laps without ever getting to test whether his gamble on wet tyres might have paid off. We later found that it wouldn’t of…

Alex crashes out of the lead

Up front, Alex Marquez initially looked capable of escaping from the chasing pack, having established a 0.579-second advantage over Ogura by the end of lap two.

However, the pole-sitter’s hopes ended abruptly when he crashed at Turn 14 on lap three.

Alex was unhurt, but his race was over. The official falls report confirmed that his was the only recorded crash during the MotoGP Sprint.

That handed the lead to Ogura, with Acosta second and Marc Marquez now third.

The leading trio had established a buffer over Bezzecchi, but the Italian was beginning to close.

Rain flags were appearing around Turn Six, encouraging Joan Mir, Iker Lecuona and Franco Morbidelli to gamble on motorcycle changes after completing lap four.

All three switched to wet-weather tyres and rejoined the race, but the gamble didn’t quite work out in their favour…

Rain gamble backfires as the leaders battle

While the riders on wet tyres struggled, the battle at the front was intensifying.

Acosta was all over the back of Ogura, with Marc only a handful of bike lengths behind and Bezzecchi looming larger in fourth.

By the end of lap five, Acosta had closed to within 0.163 seconds of Ogura, with Marc half a second from the leader and Bezzecchi 1.5 seconds back.

The leading quartet remained closely matched as they negotiated patches of light rain, although slick tyres were still very much the fastest option.

With four laps remaining, Acosta briefly lost ground to Ogura and came under pressure from Marc.

However, the KTM rider soon recovered and launched his attack on the lead.

Acosta moved ahead of Ogura, only for the Japanese rider to reclaim the position almost immediately.

Two corners later Acosta struck again, this time making the move stick.

Ogura then left an opening that Marc was quick to exploit, the Ducati rider scything through into second as Acosta began establishing a small advantage.

But Ogura wasn’t finished.

The Aprilia rider attacked Marc again on the following lap, and the pair traded positions in a fierce exchange that saw each determined to have the final word.

Their battle allowed Acosta to edge further clear.

Bezzecchi was also closing rapidly and moved past Ogura with a lap and a half remaining to take the final podium position.

Could the Italian now catch Marc?

At the last-lap board, Acosta held an advantage of just over half a second over the Ducati rider, with Bezzecchi now over a second from the lead and Ogura fourth.

Acosta takes the chequered flag

Acosta held firm through the final lap to claim his second career MotoGP Sprint victory, adding Sepang to his earlier success in Thailand.

The Spaniard crossed the line just over half a second clear of Marc.

Bezzecchi secured third, 1.310 seconds behind the winner, with Ogura finishing fourth after an outstanding performance that ultimately went unrewarded with a podium.

The Japanese rider nevertheless finished 3.260 seconds clear of Di Giannantonio, who had worked his way ahead of Bagnaia to secure fifth.

Bagnaia finished sixth after an impressive start from tenth on the grid before fading relative to the leading group.

Brad Binder took seventh after charging from fifteenth on the grid, an eight-position gain that completed an excellent afternoon for the Red Bull KTM factory squad.

Rookie Diogo Moreira was the first Honda home in eighth after starting fourteenth, finishing just 0.100 seconds ahead of Enea Bastianini, who claimed the final Sprint point.

Johann Zarco completed the top ten.

Acosta also recorded the fastest lap of the Sprint, a 1m58.196s on lap two, just 0.012 seconds quicker than Alex Marquez had managed on the same lap.

That underlined the KTM rider’s pace even before Alex crashed out of the lead.

Wet tyres prove a disastrous gamble

Mir changed to a medium wet front and soft wet rear, as did Lecuona, while Morbidelli opted for medium wet tyres at both ends.

All three subsequently circulated several seconds per lap slower than those who remained on slicks, despite the intermittent rain around the circuit.

Maverick Viñales also gambled on wet tyres after completing lap seven, switching to a medium wet front and soft wet rear.

His first flying laps on the wet-weather KTM were more than 15 seconds slower than the leaders, effectively ending any chance of a competitive finish.

Viñales eventually finished fifteenth, 1m42.843s behind Acosta, with Mir sixteenth, Morbidelli seventeenth and Lecuona eighteenth.

Every rider who completed the Sprint without changing motorcycles remained on soft-compound slicks at both ends.

The rain finally began falling heavily as the riders completed their cool-down lap, arriving far too late to reward those who had gambled on wet-weather machinery earlier in the race.

Marc extends his lead, but Bezzecchi remains a threat

Marc Marquez leaves Saturday’s Sprint with 374 championship points, extending his advantage over the absent Jorge Martin to 19.

Bezzecchi’s third place lifts him to 322 points, leaving the Aprilia rider 52 points behind Marc heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Acosta’s victory takes him to 275 points, with Ogura fifth in the championship on 265.

That 52-point deficit to Marc might appear a substantial margin for Bezzecchi, but the championship could still change dramatically.

A victory for the Italian on Sunday, combined with a non-finish for Marc, would reduce their gap to just 27 points heading to Qatar.

With Martin’s title aspirations already severely compromised by injury, Bezzecchi has increasingly little to lose by attacking.

And after his determined charge through the field in Saturday’s Sprint, the Italian has demonstrated that he has the pace to trouble the leaders.

Aprilia also retains a narrow four-point advantage over Ducati in the constructors’ championship, 516 to 512, further underlining the strength of the Italian manufacturer’s 2026 campaign.

If the expected rain arrives for Sunday’s full-length Grand Prix, the championship picture could yet be turned on its head once again. Watch this space…

2026 Malaysian MotoGP Sprint Race Results

Sprint distance: 10 laps / 55.43 km. Winning time: 20m04.098s.
Fastest lap: Pedro Acosta, 1m58.196s (lap two).
Gaps relative to the winner.

MotoGP Championship Points

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Moto2 Qualifying

Holgado dominates at Sepang

Daniel Holgado claimed a commanding Moto2 pole position at Sepang, producing the second-fastest lap ever recorded by a Moto2 machine at the Malaysian circuit to finish more than half a second clear of his nearest rival.

The CFMOTO Aspar rider had already established himself as the man to beat on the opening runs, topping the Q2 timesheets with a 2m03.355s ahead of Angel Piqueras, Izan Guevara and David Alonso.

Australia’s Senna Agius was seventh at that stage, but the best was still to come from Holgado.

With track temperatures reaching 50 degrees, the Spaniard raised the bar considerably on his second run, producing a stunning 2m02.875s to extend his advantage to 0.541 seconds.

That was just 0.017 seconds outside the outright Sepang Moto2 lap record of 2m02.858s, also held by Holgado from 2025.

The official sector analysis showed Holgado was fastest through three of the four sectors, while his theoretical ideal lap of 2m02.856s would have been two-thousandths inside the existing record.

Nobody could respond to his final benchmark.

Piqueras retained second with his earlier 2m03.416s, while Guevara completed the front row on the Boscoscuro with a 2m03.486s.

Agius to start from fourth row

David Alonso will head the second row after progressing through Q1, with Alonso Lopez and Collin Veijer alongside him.

Alex Escrig, who had topped Q1, continued his impressive afternoon by qualifying seventh on the Forward machine, ahead of Daniel Muñoz and Manuel Gonzalez.

Agius was unable to improve upon his first flying lap of 2m04.009s, eventually slipping to twelfth, 1.134 seconds from pole.

The Australian will therefore start from the outside of the fourth row, alongside Ivan Ortola and Mario Aji.

Fellow Australian Jacob Roulstone was unable to progress from Q1 and will start 27th.

Celestino Vietti also endured a difficult afternoon. Although he progressed through Q1, he failed to record a valid Q2 lap and subsequently received a grid penalty that relegated him to 21st.

With Holgado enjoying such a sizeable qualifying advantage, the question for Sunday’s 17-lap race is whether anyone can match his pace over race distance.

2026 Malaysian Moto2 Qualifying Results

Moto2
Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap	Speed
1	D. Holgado	Kal	2m02.875	273.4
2	A. Piqueras	Kal	+0.541	276.9
3	I. Guevara	Bos	+0.611	272.7
4	D. Alonso	Kal	+0.616	276.9
5	A. Lopez	Kal	+0.641	273.4
6	C. Veijer	Kal	+0.685	275.5
7	A. Escrig	For	+0.789	270.0
8	D. Muñoz	Kal	+0.843	272.7
9	M. Gonzalez	Kal	+0.859	273.4
10	I. Ortola	Kal	+0.964	276.9
11	M. Aji	Kal	+1.103	272.7
12	S. Agius	Kal	+1.134	275.5
13	A. Huertas	Kal	+1.161	273.4
14	J. Roberts	Kal	+1.258	271.3
15	T. Furusato	Kal	+1.461	274.1
16	F. Salac	Kal	+1.510	276.9
17	T. Arbolino	Kal	+2.105	272.0
Q1 / No Q2 Time
18	L. Lunetta	Bos	2m03.938	274.8
19	B. Baltus	Kal	2m03.972	276.9
20	J. Rueda	Kal	2m03.993	276.9
21	C. Vietti	Bos	2m03.904	277.6
22	A. Sasaki	Kal	2m04.183	276.2
23	X. Zurutuza	For	2m04.202	276.9
24	A. Ferrandez	Bos	2m04.422	278.3
25	D. Öncü	Bos	2m04.645	277.6
26	Z. vd Goorbergh	Kal	2m05.172	272.7
27	J. Roulstone	Bos	2m05.629	274.1
28	M. Ferrari	Kal	2m05.947	275.5

Qualifying classification and confirmed starting grid. Q2 gaps are relative to Holgado’s 2m02.875s pole lap. Riders below the divider are shown with their Q1 lap times, not cross-session gaps. Vietti qualified for Q2 but recorded no valid lap and starts 21st following a grid penalty.

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Moto3 Qualifying

Quiles takes Sepang pole as Kelso shines early

Newly crowned Moto3 World Champion Maximo Quiles secured pole position at Sepang after a frantic conclusion to Q2, edging Brian Uriarte by just 0.084 seconds, while Malaysian local hero Hakim Danish delighted the home crowd by securing the final front-row position.

Australia’s Joel Kelso had been the early pace-setter, producing a 2m10.855s less than five minutes into the session, almost a second quicker than his previous best across the weekend.

However, the order quickly changed as Matteo Bertelle narrowly bettered Kelso before Alvaro Carpe raised the benchmark to 2m10.604s, with Uriarte also moving ahead.

Friday Practice pace-setter David Almansa subsequently took over with a 2m10.571s, a time that remained unbeaten as the field returned to the pits to prepare for the final time attacks.

With five minutes remaining, most riders headed back onto the circuit, setting themselves up for two further flying laps before the chequered flag.

Quiles strikes as Danish excites the home crowd

Quiles delivered a 2m10.396s to claim provisional pole, while Danish briefly moved into second with a 2m10.529s before Uriarte pushed him back to third with a 2m10.480s.

Uriarte subsequently crashed between Turns One and Two but quickly remounted.

Almansa was under the benchmark through the opening sector of his final attempt, recording the fastest T1 split of the session, but an excursion into the gravel ended his hopes of reclaiming pole. Rico Salmela also crashed at Turn Six.

There were no further improvements at the front, leaving Quiles on pole ahead of Uriarte and Danish, with Almansa heading row two alongside Carpe and Bertelle.

That gave KTM a clean sweep of the first six grid positions.

Kelso was the fastest Honda qualifier in seventh, heading row three ahead of Veda Pratama and Adrian Fernandez.

Kelso shows promising sector speed

Although Kelso could not improve upon his opening flying lap, the Australian recorded the fastest second sector of the entire session at 30.410 seconds.

His 2m10.855s was also identical to his theoretical ideal lap, suggesting he had extracted just about everything available from that particular combination of sectors.

Uriarte’s theoretical ideal was actually faster than the pole-winning time, at 2m10.335s, but he could not string those sectors together on one lap.

Track limits also proved troublesome, particularly at Turns Six and Fourteen, with numerous lap times cancelled.

Kelso will start Sunday’s 15-lap race just 0.459 seconds from the pole benchmark, while the top eight qualifiers were separated by only 0.465 seconds.

With Danish on the front row at his home Grand Prix, and the leading contenders so closely matched, another fiercely contested Moto3 race looks likely.

2026 Malaysian Moto3 Qualifying Results

Moto3
Pos	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap	Top
1	M. Quiles	KTM	2m10.396	230.7
2	B. Uriarte	KTM	+0.084	230.7
3	H. Danish	KTM	+0.133	230.2
4	D. Almansa	KTM	+0.175	228.8
5	A. Carpe	KTM	+0.208	230.2
6	M. Bertelle	KTM	+0.448	232.2
7	J. Kelso	Hon	+0.459	231.2
8	V. Pratama	Hon	+0.465	232.2
9	A. Fernandez	Hon	+0.702	231.2
10	D. Muñoz	KTM	+0.733	230.2
11	S. Ogden	KTM	+0.742	230.7
12	M. Morelli	KTM	+0.805	232.2
13	E. O’Shea	Hon	+0.890	232.7
14	G. Pini	Hon	+1.041	229.2
15	R. Yamanaka	KTM	+1.043	230.2
16	J. Esteban	KTM	+1.187	231.7
17	A. Cruces	KTM	+1.357	229.7
18	R. Salmela	KTM	+1.371	231.2
Q1
19	Z. Mitani	Hon	+1.368	228.8
20	V. Perrone	KTM	+1.427	231.7
21	K. Singhapong	Hon	+1.585	232.2
22	C. O’Gorman	Hon	+1.601	229.2
23	J. Rios	Hon	+1.734	229.2
24	R. Moodley	KTM	+2.317	231.2
25	L. Rammerstorfer	Hon	+2.423	228.3

Qualifying classification and starting grid. Q1 riders are placed after all Q2 participants regardless of lap time. All gaps are numerical differences from Quiles’ Q2 pole time of 2m10.396s; the Q1 laps were set in a separate session. Valentin Perrone (#73) carries a Long Lap Penalty.

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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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