Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso kept his 2017 World Championship dream alive until the final round of the 2017 MotoGP Championship season, which will take place in two weeks time in Jerez, by taking the victory at a wet Sepang circuit on Sunday afternoon.
Starting from the second row of the grid, Dovi knew he had to give it all he had if he was to stay in the hunt for title glory, so that's what he did. Marquez got a good start from row three and for awhile he was successful at keeping Dovi behind him, and that was really all he needed to do to claim the title one race early. However, Dovi was determined not to let it end that way and made his way though on Marquez, then Zarco and eventually his teammate, Jorge Lorenzo.
Many thought that Lorenzo would try his hardest to hang on to what could have been his first ever win for Ducati, but whuile not making it easy for Dovi to pass, he didn't make it hard either. As a result he finioshed second to give Ducati their first one two finish of the season.
Thanks to these results, Ducati moves into second place in the Constructors' standings with 303 points, two more than Yamaha.
โI'm really pleased about today's splendid result, which keeps the title battle open until the final round,โ said Luigi Dall'Igna, Ducati Corse General Manager Both Andrea and Jorge did a perfect race, without making any mistakes despite difficult track conditions and the Ducati proved to be the bike to beat on this track. It was a memorable team result: now we are going to Valencia with the knowledge that it will be a tough task but we will play our cards right down to the very end.โ
GP of Malaysia โ Race classification:
1. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 44'51.497
2. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - +0.743
3. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - +9.738
4. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - +17.763
5. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - +29.144
6. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - +30.380
7. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - +30.769
8. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - +35.238
9. Maverick VIรALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - +38.053
10. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - +39.847
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - +42.559
12. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - +44.602
13. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - +48.696
14. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - +50.058
15. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - +50.705
16. Michael VAN DER MARK, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - +56.397
17. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - +58.391
18. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - +1'25.571
Not Classified
Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 11 Laps
Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 12 Laps
Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing - 15 Laps
Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 0 Lap
2017 MotoGP World Standing after the GP of Malaysia:
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Honda - 282
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati โ 261
3. Maverick VIรALES, Yamaha - 226
4. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha - 197
5. Dani PEDROSA, Honda - 185
6. Johann ZARCO, Yamaha - 154
7. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati - 137
8. Danilo PETRUCCI, Ducati - 121
9. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Honda - 104
10. Jonas FOLGER, Yamaha - 84
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Ducati - 75
12. Jack MILLER, Honda - 73
13. Scott REDDING, Ducati - 64
14. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia - 62
15. Andrea IANNONE, Suzuki - 60
16. Pol ESPARGARO, KTM - 55
17. Alex RINS, Suzuki - 46
18. Loris BAZ, Ducati - 45
19. Karel ABRAHAM, Ducati - 30
20. Tito RABAT, Honda - 29
21. Hector BARBERA, Ducati - 27
22. Bradley SMITH, KTM - 24
23. Michele PIRRO, Ducati - 18
24. Mika KALLIO, KTM - 11
25. Sam LOWES, Aprilia - 5
26. Katsuyuki NAKASUGA, Yamaha - 4
27. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Suzuki โ 1
