SEPANG - Recently crowned world champion Marc Marquez broke another record by romping to his 12th win of the season in an eventful Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Spanish Honda rider was followed by Yamaha teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, while his own teammate Dani Pedrosa crashed out. Marquez, who completed the Sepang circuit in 40minutes 45.523 seconds, now equals Australian Mick Doohan's record of 12 wins in a season. The youngest world champion -- who started from pole, his record 13th of the season -- said victory did not come easy with Rossi at his heels on the sweltering circuit in the tropical Southeast Asian country. "I think the strongest opponent today was the weather, besides Rossi of course. I didn't get off to a great start after making a mistake in the first corner, and I was also worried about my tyre life because of the heat," the 21-year-old said. "My strategy of cooling down the brakes and tyres worked, and I gave it everything in the final seven laps. Now that I have won and equalled the record for wins, I just want to go out and enjoy the final race in Valencia." Crowd favourite Rossi, who briefly held the lead after overtaking Lorenzo, finished 2.445 seconds behind Marquez to settle in second place.
The 35-year-old Italian great, who won in Australia last weekend, was pleased with his runner-up position, which cements his second place in the championship standings, where he has 275 points, 12 points ahead of Lorenzo.
"I am happy to finish second. I had a great battle with Lorenzo at the start, and when I overtook him I noticed that I had a little bit of pace. But Marc eventually overtook me, and he deserves the victory," said Rossi, who has won seven premier class world titles.
Lorenzo, who started from third and blitzed off the blocks from in rapid-fire fashion, couldn't maintain the momentum, finishing third, 3.508 seconds off Marquez. The two-time world champion said fatigue affected his performance. "I think today was one of the hottest races in Malaysia. The first corner was exciting as I managed to overtake three or four riders," the 27-year-old Spaniard said. "But I was not fit enough and struggled after that, credit to Valentino who raced well. I just couldn't do anything else to keep up with him."
Pedrosa, who won the Malaysian Grand Prix in the last two years, fell behind early on after crashing out while trying to challenge Lorenzo. The Spaniard, who had started in second place, came off his machine again in the later stages and could not complete the race. The top trio was followed -- after a sizable gap of more than 21 seconds to the race leader -- by Germany's Stefan Bradl on a Honda and Briton Bradley Smith on a Yamaha Tech 3.
Spanish Yamaha Tech 3 rider Pol Espargaro came in sixth despite breaking a bone in his left foot in a fall during practice Saturday. Marquez last year became the youngest MotoGP champion and this year clinched the championship two races ago in Japan.
He crashed out of the Australian Grand Prix last weekend.