Sawt Falasteen - Alex Marquez seals family 1-2 as Bagnaia wins Malaysia MotoGP sprint

Ducati's Bagnaia led from pole and crossed the finish line in 19min 53.725sec at Sepang, as Marquez came home 2.259sec behind to create a historic family one-two in the driver standings.

The 29-year-old Ducati-Gresini rider hailed the achievement as a "perfect year" for the Marquez family.

"We cannot ask for anything more," he said.

"We were on the podium many times in first and second, and we need to enjoy it because it’s a unique moment in our lives.

"I spoke to Marc for a moment and told him we need to celebrate and have a big party together."

Newly crowned world champion Marc Marquez was not racing because of injury and will miss the rest of the season after suffering a collarbone injury in Indonesia this month.

Fermin Aldeguer was third with Pedro Acosta and Franco Morbidelli completing the top five.

The two-time world champion Bagnaia, who secured pole for the third consecutive year at Sepang, launched off to a smooth start to lead the race from wire to wire.

Marquez was hot on his heels but the Spaniard was made to work hard to regain second place after he briefly dropped to third.

As the rest of the field jostled for position, Bagnaia was in a class of his own to secure victory over the 10 laps.

Bagnaia's triumph was redemption for last year’s sprint heartbreak, which saw him suffer a crash after setting a lap record in qualifying.

The Ducati ace, 28, who has now climbed to third in the world championship standings, paid tribute to his team.

"The team deserves the victory for the hard work they are doing. Honestly, I am just here to push. When I am feeling good, I have races like this.

"When I’m not performing well, I’m just screaming in the garage," said Bagnaia.

The main race is on Sunday with Bagnaia on pole.

H.Darwish--SF-PST