MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix 2015: Valentino Rossi dealt huge blow with penalty after kicking Marc Marquez off his Honda

The Malaysian heat and humidity would not helped the tension that hung over the penultimate race of the season today in Sepang. Dani Pedrosa started from pole position for the first time this season for the 20-lap race. Following his win two weeks ago in Japan’s Motegi, the Repsol Honda rider led the race from start to finish under small pressure from title contender Jorge Lorenzo. His win however, was rather overshadowed by what unfolded behind the front duo in an epic battle for third place.

As the race started, the factory Honda pair of Pedrosa and Marc Marquez led while Valentino Rossi, who’d managed to qualify on the front row of the grid relegating his closest rival and team-mate Lorenzo to fourth place, kept third on the opening lap. Lorenzo dropped immediately to sixth, losing positions to the factory Ducati’s of Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso. The Spaniard was quick to blast past them in the opening corners of the first lap to hunt down Rossi and two laps later Marquez. Pedrosa, having pulled ahead with a gap of 1.049 seconds, was too far to reach and Lorenzo crossed the line 3.612 seconds behind in second place to take 20 points.

Behind the two front runners though, the battle taking place actually started on Thursday during the press conference when Rossi accused Marquez of “playing with him and Iannone in Philip Island to help Lorenzo”. The title fight between Lorenzo and Rossi appeared to have switched to a battle between the reigning world champion and the nine-time world champion who has led the standings throughout the season so far.

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On the fourth lap, Rossi overtook Marquez and a nail-biting three laps followed. Once they began swapping places so close that they must have been swapping paint, Marquez hugged the title contender and bumped into Rossi twice before the seventh lap commenced. At turn 14, with Rossi on the inside, he ran wide and as Marquez leaned in towards the Yamaha Rossi’s knee pushed out and his foot came off the peg. They touched and Marquez crashed, with Race Direction later declaring after an investigation that Rossi will start from the rear of the field in Valencia.

Finishing in third place, under a relatively quiet stadium and subdued podium, where Lorenzo walked off without opening his champagne or allowing further pictures of the top three, Rossi briefly commented: “Unfortunately I lose a lot of time with Marc. I try to go wider to take a better line, but Marc comes to me and he crashes in that moment. It’s a shame because we can stay and fight with Jorge in a normal race.”

These two riders, who started off as friends at the beginning of the season, are far from it now.

Race Direction decided to penalise Rossi by starting him from the back of the grid at the next and final race of the season in Valencia. He retains his seven-point lead from Lorenzo so if the Spaniard wins in that race, Rossi will have to cross the line right behind him in second place to win his tenth title.

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For the rest of the pack, the Ducati’s both suffered, Iannone with mechanical problems on the second lap and Dovizioso crashed out of fourth place after touching Cal Crutchlow. Compatriot and Tech 3 Yamaha rider Bradley Smith overtook Crutchlow for fourth place and Crutchlow came home in fifth. Fellow Briton and Marc VDS rider, Scott Redding, finished in 11th to take five points.

Winning his second race of the season, Pedrosa said: “It was a very tough, hard race. It’s very hot and if you have to suffer like this, so it’s better to finish first. The bike this year moves a lot, you have to take a big breath on the straights. Lorenzo was pushing me and keeping a small gap. We did a good job and I’m really happy with my team and to take this win. I didn’t know if I would be racing again after my operation, I have to take it day by day. It took a long time to recover, but from where we were at the beginning of the season I’m happy with the progress”

Closing the gap to the leader, Lorenzo said: “I don’t remember any other race hotter and more difficult. The start was not good but the championship is very close, it will be interesting to see what happens in the investigation. I saw the incident played back, it was big and it looked bad. I think there should be a hard penalty for this. To be honest I hope to arrive at Valencia with the advantage.”

In Moto3, Danny Kent missed his chance to seal the title again. Having suffered a three-place grid penalty from qualifying, he started from ninth, while his closest rival Miguel Oliveira started on the front row in third place. Oliveira led for the majority of the race and took the chequered flag as the winner, while Kent crossed the line in seventh and now goes to the last round of the year with a 24 point advantage.

Kent said: “It was a difficult race, we seem to be struggling on the straights. I’m happy to get the points today and we only need two points now to win. The pressure has been getting to me a bit, but we’re so close to taking the title.”

The last race of the season takes places in Valencia, Spain in two weeks on Sunday 8th November. All the action is broadcast live on BT Sport2