Sepang, Malaysia, November 13th 2023 - Although he was unable to prevent Pedro Acosta from clinching the Moto2 World Championship title before the end of the season, Tony Arbolino nevertheless put in a fine performance in Malaysia, climbing back from 24th to 10th place.
Although they both finished in the points, the GASGAS Tech 3 team riders were not really satisfied at the end of the second to last round of the season. Fourteenth and fifteenth in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro struggled in Malaysia. “Even if I don't come away empty-handed, I know that I'm much better than this fourteenth place," commented the former. “Unfortunately, I suffered this weekend with tyre wear. I never got a good feeling with my race pace. I wasn't expecting that when I arrived here in Sepang.” For Espargaro, it was the heat that was the problem. “Since my return to racing, I've lacked fitness," explained the Spaniard. “I haven't been able to train properly this season and with over fifty degrees ground temperature, I really suffered on the bike. I also got in a tangle with Mir at the start, which put me in last place at the end of the first lap. Hopefully, the last two races should be less complicated in terms of weather conditions.”
The Malaysian Grand Prix could not have got off to a worse start for Tony Arbolino. Forced to avoid Manuel Gonzalez who crashed in front of him, then forced off the track after a mistake on the second lap, the Elf Marc VDS Racing rider launched a heroic comeback to climb from 24th to 10th place at the chequered flag. “We got off to a bad start this weekend," commented the Italian. “But we were able to find solutions to our problems and during the race I had the pace to challenge for the podium.... The facts of the race decided otherwise. I now know what I need to improve if I'm to challenge for the title next year. I need to work on being more consistent and not missing out on certain Grands Prix like I did this year.” For his part, Sam Lowes finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in seventh position, five seconds off the podium. The Brit still has two races left to try and claim one last Moto2 podium before moving to Superbike next year.
Dani Holgado's last chance of winning the Moto3 world title almost certainly disappeared in Malaysia. Already the victim of a crash in qualifying, which relegated him to 15th place on the grid, the KTM Tech 3 rider crashed again in the race, shortly after the start. It was an unfortunate accident, as Holgado was clipped by an opponent in a group crash. "When you're badly placed on the grid and you start in the pack, you can unfortunately find yourself in this type of situation", commented Tech 3 team manager Nicolas Goyon. By way of consolation, Filippo Farioli obtained his best result of the season in Malaysia, taking the chequered flag in ninth position. The CFMoto riders also put in a strong showing, finishing 7th and 8th in Malaysian, with this time Xavi Artigas finished ahead of his team-mate Joel Kelso.
| CATEGORY | RIDER | RACE | CHAMPIONSHIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOTOGP |
Pol Espargaro |
15th and 15th |
23rd (13 points) |
|
Augusto Fernandez |
14th and 14th |
17th (69 points) |
|
| MOTO2 |
Sam Lowes |
7th |
12th (91 points) |
|
Tony Arbolino |
10th |
2nd (243.5 points) |
|
| MOTO3 |
Dani Holgado |
DNF |
4th (205 points) |
|
Filippo Farioli |
9th |
25th (14 points) |
|
|
Xavier Artigas |
7th |
14th (76 points) |
|
|
Joel Kelso |
18th |
18th (48 points) |
