Comeback king Marc Marquez continued to break records in Sepang. His 395 points after finishing second are the highest in a single MotoGP season. Jorge Lorenzo, the previous record holder, returned to the points with the 14th.
After the unfortunate loss of Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup rider Afridza Munandar on Saturday, the MotoGP Championship rallied to remember him with fantastic races at the Sepang International Circuit. There was no stopping Marc Marquez, who was recovering from his biggest fall of the year to achieve the performance of a champion. The 55-time MotoGP race winner, who got off the line in a flash, won six positions in the first two corners alone and finished the first lap in second place. With nine places won, the reigning world champion settled behind Jack Miller for a short time. After Marquez got past the Australian, he started working on closing the 1.6 second gap with Viñales. Since the gap did not decrease after several laps in the 1’59s, Marquez slowed down his pace and took a well-deserved second place in the scorching heat of Malaysia.
Marquez returns to Europe with 395 points, now holding the record for most points scored in a single season, beating Jorge Lorenzo’s record of 383 World Cup points from 2010. The result in Malaysia also brings Marquez the honor a to be the first rider in history Achieve 17 MotoGP podiums in a single season, extending his uninterrupted run of top 2 finishes to 15th Marquez ‘last place outside of the top 2 came in 2018 at the Czech GP when he finished third.
Sunday at Sepang turned out to be more difficult than forecast for Jorge Lorenzo, but the Repsol Honda Team rider was able to return to the points for the first time since Misano in 14th place. The result also saw him cut his distance to the winner in half compared to Phillip Island, a return to the form he showed at Motegi.
With both riders in the points, the Repsol Honda Team is only two points behind the Ducati Team in the team championship, with one lap left to chase the Triple Crown. Both Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo will attend Honda’s EICMA presentation in Milan. After an intense period of four races in five weeks, teams and drivers have a week off before the 2019 MotoGP World Championship finals begin on November 14th in Valencia.