Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia all but secured his maiden MotoGP world championship title after a near-flawless display to win the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The result at the Sepang International Circuit ensured that Italian Bagnaia stayed ahead of 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo, who kept his faint hopes alive in third, in the standings heading into the final round of the championship in Spain next month.
Bagnaia, the 2018 Moto2 champion, made a scorching start from ninth as he held the inside line to surge to second behind Jorge Martin in the first lap, while Frenchman Quartararo also recovered from 12th to remain in the hunt.
Martin, who had set a lap record on Saturday to take pole position, crashed in the seventh lap to hand Bagnaia the race lead before Enea Bastianini moved ahead with 10 laps to go. Bagnaia overtook him with six laps remaining.
Bagnaia held firm from there to take maximum points ahead of Bastianini and ensure that he can wrap up the title if he finishes 14th or higher in Valencia in two weeks.
"Now I can relax!" said a jubilant Bagnaia, who now just needs to finish higher than 15th in Spain to be crowned world champion for the first time.
"The weekend was quite tough after the mistakes I did yesterday. For Valencia, we have to understand that we can be strong without forcing like we did yesterday. Today our pace was good enough without doing crazy things."
Bagnaia started ninth on the grid but made a blistering start which saw him swoop through the field to be second by the end of the first lap, chasing the back wheel of pole-sitter Jorge Martin.
"I did the best start I ever did in my life," said Bagnaia. "It was perfect."
The dynamics of the race changed on the seventh lap when Martin crashed out, allowing the Ducati rider to charge into first with Bastianini hot on his tail.
"I took some risk at the front," said Bagnaia. "Following Jorge was a bit too much for the rear tire and I was starting to stress, then unfortunately he crashed."
Bagnaia can now match Australian Casey Stoner's feat of winning the title to end Ducati's 15-year wait for a second MotoGP riders' champion.
He can also become the first Italian to win the title since his mentor Valentino Rossi in 2009. Ducati has already won the constructors' and teams' titles.
Yamaha's Quartararo said he was happy to finally return to the podium after a series of disappointing performances.
"I gave my maximum today, I couldn't do better," Quartararo said. "I'm proud of myself. They (Ducati) had a good day but so did we.
"It was one of my best races this season. Even if the chance is super small in Valencia, at least we've taken it there."
