Moto3 Sepang: Quiles is insatiable, claiming his 11th victory. Pratama second, Danish pipped at the final corner, Pini 12th

The title is already in the bag, but Maximo Quiles has no intention of letting up. At Sepang, the 2026 Moto3 world champion claimed his eleventh win of the season, his first since being crowned world champion in Indonesia, finishing 3.734 seconds clear. Behind him, a four-rider battle was decided only at the final corner, with rookie Veda Pratama taking second and Alvaro Carpe third. Just off the podium, amid the roar of the grandstands, was home hero Hakim Danish.

The race was run in extreme conditions: 15 laps in tropical heat, with temperatures around 35 degrees in the air and about 45 on the asphalt. A week earlier, by contrast, the Australian race had been cancelled.

Starting from the pole he claimed on Saturday, as we reported in Moto3 Sepang: insatiable champion Quiles takes pole at the finish. Danish makes history, Bertelle sixth, the Aspar rider saw David Almansa dive up the inside in the opening metres and take the lead. A group of five quickly formed at the front, comprising Almansa, Quiles, Carpe, Pratama and Danish, while Brian Uriarte, who had started from the front row, made a poor getaway and dropped into the mid-pack.

Quiles sized things up for a few laps, then moved back into the lead on lap six and pulled away from there, taking advantage of the battles behind him. It was the Marc Marquez protégé's fifth win in the last six races. He can no longer surpass Alonso's record for wins in a single season; at most, he can match it by winning the final three Grands Prix.

The real battle was for the podium. Almansa, Pratama, Carpe and Danish traded places right up to the final lap, which began with the four riders lined up nose to tail. Almansa was the first to lose touch, forced to ease off the throttle to manage a setback. At the final corner, Danish tried to dive past Carpe but ran wide, making way for Pratama.

For the Indonesian rookie with Honda Team Asia, who started eighth, it was the second podium of his career and his best result yet, after missing the chance to capitalise on pole in Australia. Carpe, third on the KTM Ajo, extended an unwelcome record: he is the rider with the most Moto3 podiums without a win. Fourth-placed Danish nevertheless sent the Malaysian crowd into a frenzy, celebrating every overtake, while Almansa finished fifth.

Joel Esteban, who started sixteenth, fought his way up to sixth ahead of Adrian Fernandez and David Munoz. Uriarte finished ninth, with Eddie O'Shea completing the top ten. Yamanaka, Mitani (both scoring their first career points), Cruces and Perrone also earned points; Perrone finished fifteenth despite serving a long-lap penalty for an incident in Australia.

It was a modest Sunday for the Italians. Guido Pini finished twelfth on the second Leopard bike and was the only Italian to reach the finish, as Matteo Bertelle, who had started from the second row, crashed at Turn 9 on lap three without suffering any consequences. Three Grands Prix remain: Quiles is chasing only Alonso's record, while the rest will be hoping for the satisfaction of beating him at least once.

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