Francesco Bagnaia wins the Malಞays🔯ian MotoGP at Sepang to put one hand on the 2022 world championship title.

The Ducati rider will take a 23-point lead over Fabio Quartararo into the Valꦫencia finale, a🍌fter third-place for the reigning champion.

A strong start and brave braking saw Bagnaia rocket from ninth to second at Turn 1, which became the race lead whe❀n Jorge Mar🤡tin crashed out on lap 7 of 20.

But future team🅘-mate Enea Bastianini was crawling all over Bagnaia's red machine and took the lead at the midwa💜y stage.

Bagnaia fought back and just kept The Beast at bay, while Quartararo put on a late charge to edge closer to the 🉐race leaders.

Bastianini, like Aleix Espargaro (tenth), has now been offi🐻cially eliminated from the world championship battle.

• Sepang: New 2022 MotoGP World Championship standings

Starting just ninth (Bagnaia), tenth (Espargaro) and twelfth (Quartararo) after a dra🍸matic Saturday in which all thre🥃e fell and Quartararo fractured a finger, Bagnaia got the start of his dreams - slicing past his rivals the brakes to slot into second behind Martin at Turn 1!

Quartararo also made early ground for seventh, which soon became fifth by passing Joan Mir and team-mate Franco 𒐪Morbidelli, while Espargaro remained at the end of the top ten, where he would finish.

Up front, 🐈Martin was confid🅷ently setting the pace, with Bastianini looking impatient behind Bagnaia and Quartararo likewise eager to pass Marc Marquez.

That occurred on lap 5 of 20, after Marquez had repeatedly run꧂ wide, but the Frenchman now 2.5s behind Bastianini.

While the Monst⛄er Yamaha rider was soon able to escape from Marquez, who had the Suzukis of Joan Mir and Alex Rins on his tail, Quartararo stru𝐆ggled to reel in Bastianini.

Martin m☂ade his big mistak🍬e on lap 7 of 20, throwing away a 1.2s lead and potential first victory of the season.

That meant Bagnaia and Bastianini were now fighting for victory, with Quartararo promoted to third but being caught by another Ducati rider, Marco Bez🧔zecchi, the fastest rider on track.

If Bagnaia held off Bastianini for victory, with Bezzecchi p⭕assing Quartararo for third, the title fight would be over.

But a glitch in Ducati’s Sepang title celebrations then came in the form of a p𒊎ass by Bastianini, who snatched the lead from Bagnaia on the brakes at Turn 4, with 10 laps to go.

Time for team orders?

Stern discussions took place between Gigi Dall’Igna, Paolo Ciabatti and Davide Tardozzi, surely over🐠 team or𝔍ders, but Bagnaia took things into his own hands by re-passing Bastianini at the final corner to lead again with 7 laps to go.

No obvious 'mapping 8' style instructions were given and Bastianini kept the pressure on Bagnaia, while Quartararo🎀 - having broken the challenge of Bezzecchi - began closing on the leaders in the final laps.

Quartararo got♐ to within 1.7s, but ultimately the reigning champion’s Yamaha didn’t have the pace to reach the leaders and his only hope was a tangle between the Italians.

Bastianini, who overtook Bagnaia on the last in Aragon, was just 0.131s behind as🍸 the last lap began, the Gresini rider repeating his Misano moment by almost tagging the back of Bagnaia a𓆏t Turn 9.

But Bagnaia held firm and took his seventh win of the season byꦫ 0.270s.

Quartararo was classified 2.5s from victory, with 🌞Bezzecchi 👍less than two-seconds behind, while Alex Rins and Jack Miller got the better of Marc Marquez to leave the Repsol Honda rider seventh.

Rins' team-mate Joan Mi🌜r ran off track and out of the battle.

Morbidelli, after serving a double longജ-lap penalty, was in further trouble when he bumped past Aleix Espargaro on the last lap and was demoted a position.

A technical problem with the front holeshot device saw Luca Marini fail to finish🍃 a MotoGP race for the first time in his premier-class career.

After a damp ♐warm-up, the race took place in dry conditions, in front of 88,000 fans, with all riders on t🐟he medium front and soft rear tyres.

A minute of applause was held on the grid i🎐n memory of Red Bull co-founder Dietr🧸ich Mateschitz.

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Alex Marquez had a long lap ✅penalty to serve for collidinജg with Jack Miller at Phillip Island last weekend.

Morbidelli received his double long-lap for disturbing Bagnaia and Marc Marquez in FP3: "This is now the third time this season you have been observed riding slow on line and disturbing other riders," read a statemeওnt from the FIM MotoGP Stewards.

Pol Espargaro was given a three-place grid penalty for 'r﷽e-joining the track unsafely and creating a dangerous situation for another rider' (Johann Zarco) in FP1.

The Valencia finale takes place on November 4-6.