Sepang, Malaysia, October 24th - After Texas at the beginning of the season, Tony Arbolino won again in Malaysia. A new success which allows the Elf Marc VDS rider to move up to fourth place in the Moto2 championship.
To celebrate his 22nd birthday, Raul Fernandez finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in 15th position. A result that allowed him to score a point in the overall standings. Only twenty-second on the grid, the Spaniard made a strong recovery. “I have to thank the team because today I had a bike that I felt really comfortable on," he said. “Despite the difficult conditions, due to the heat and humidity, I was able to maintain a good pace from the first to the last lap.” A pace that allowed him to pass under the chequered flag between Pol Espargaro and Maverick Viñales. Twentieth in qualifying, Remy Gardner made things difficult for himself by making a bad start. Forced to work hard on his KTM to catch up, the Australian quickly wore out his tyres, which forced him to drop his pace at the end of the race. He finished eighteenth, out of the points.
With Sam Lowes having to withdraw from the race due to another crash in practice that re-injured his left shoulder, Tony Arbolino was the only Elf Marc VDS rider on the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Italian rose to the occasion in style. After qualifying on the front row of the grid, Arbolino took his second win of the season, and his fourth podium in Moto2, in a race where he showed is class. He led from start to finish, setting the fastest lap of the race and holding off championship leader Ai Ogura until the final corner. “I had an incredible feeling with my bike today", he explained. “I was able to attack from start to finish, I was really confident. This shows that we are doing a good job with the team.” With the win Arbolino moved up to fourth in the overall standings.
Deniz Öncü and Adrian Fernandez both finished in the points at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The former was obviously hoping for more after his podium finish at Phillip Island. Unfortunately, starting from twenty-fifth on the grid, Deniz could hardly have dreamt of doing better the tenth place he finished in. “I never had a good feeling all weekend," adlitted the KTM rider. “I crashed in practice, I made a lot of mistakes... In these conditions, finishing the race in tenth position is not a bad result.” For his part, Adrian Fernandez also fought hard to get a point for fifteenth place. With only two races left to go, both Tech 3 drivers maintain their places in the overall standings.
| CATEGORY | RIDER | RACE | CHAMPIONSHIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| MOTOGP |
Remy Gardner |
15th |
23rd (10 points) |
|
Raul Fernandez |
16th |
24th (9 points) |
|
| MOTO2 |
Sam Lowes |
DNS |
19th (55 points) |
|
Tony Arbolino |
1st |
4th (175.5 points) |
|
| MOTO3 |
Deniz Öncü |
10th |
5th (180 points) |
|
Adrian Fernandez |
15th |
20th (41 points) |
