SEPANG: Marc Marquez moved to the brink of an eighth world title with an imperious victory at the Malaysian MotoGP on Sunday.

The Ducati star romped to a dominant win in 40min 14.236sec, finishing 4.172sec ahead of Red Bull’s Pedro Acosta as his younger brother Alex Marquez came third, almost six seconds adrift.

Marquez, who is now 44 points ahead of his closest rival Jorge Martin, has seven victories to his name this season.

It was also his third triumph in Malaysia in the MotoGP class, having last won in Sepang back in 2018.

With Aprilia’s Martin missing the Sepang weekend with a broken wrist, his fellow Spaniard Marquez can seal the championship next weekend in Qatar.

Marquez wasted no time in snatching the lead from his brother as the riders came into Turn 1 from the start, and the siblings briefly traded places before the older Marquez just edged ahead in scorching conditions.

Saturday’s sprint race winner Acosta tailed both the Marquez brothers closely in third, with Italian Marco Bezzecchi in fourth and Japan’s Ai Ogura in fifth.

Championship leader Marquez, 33, began to pull away from the chasing pack to develop a 1.7 sec advantage over his brother, who was valiantly defending his second spot against Acosta.

Acosta would be rewarded for his persistence as the Red Bull rider snatched second place from Alex Marquez in Lap 10.

At the front Marquez coasted to victory unchallenged to continue his purple streak in the second half of the 2026 season.

After Qatar there are just two weekends left in the campaign.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2026