Pecco Bagnaia's MotoGP title hopes suffer major blow with Malaysia Sprint crash
A crash on lap three of the Malaysia Sprint saw Pecco Bagnaia fall even further behind in the MotoGP title battle.
Francesco Bagnaia suffered a major blow to his 2024 MotoGP title hopes when he crashed out of the Malaysian Sprint at Sepang.
Bagnaia started the Sprint on pole position after breaking the lap record in Q2, but title rival Jorge Martin beat him to turn one off the line.
Bagnaia settled into second place, but Martin was pulling away in the first half of lap three, before Bagnaia crashed at turn nine.
TV replays showed Bagnaia on a slightly tighter line in the middle of turn nine than either Martin ahead of Marc Marquez behind, his front tyre bobbled slightly and then folded.
Martin went on to win the Sprint, increasing his points lead by a further 12 points, meaning he goes into Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix 29 points clear of Bagnaia in the riders’ standing.
It means that Martin can be crowned World Champion in Malaysia if he out-scores Bagnaia by nine points in the Grand Prix. Therefore, if Martin wins on Sunday and Bagnaia finishes third or worse, Martin will be champion.
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
