Red Bull KTM helped bring some of the heat to an already sweltering Grand Prix of Malaysia as Pedro Acosta backed up his victory in the Saturday Sprint with an undisputed 2nd position after 20 draining laps of Sepang International Circuit today. The Spaniard logged 20 points for the nineteenth round of the year, watched by a vast 197,000 crowd south of Kuala Lumpur. Alvaro Carpe sealed 3rd for the KTM GP Academy in the Moto3™ Grand Prix and with the championship-winning KTM RC4.
Highlights and key moments from race day at Sepang:
The 34th Malaysian Grand Prix got underway drenched in sunshine and with demanding mid-30s temperatures for the riders and motorcycles of the nineteenth event of the season. The long 5.5km Sepang International Circuit was slick and offered low levels of grip but there was decent potential for Pedro Acosta, Enea Bastianini, Maverick Viñales and Brad Binder as the quartet started from P3, P7, P12 and P15 on the grid. Acosta, Binder and Bastianini had already shone with points in the Saturday Sprint.
Acosta throttled away from the front row and directly into podium contention in the opening phases of the race distance with Bastianini for company, until the Italian misjudged braking for Turn 6 and dropped back to 6th. Pedro followed Alex Marquez before finding a way past his countryman and then briefly reduced the distance to race leader Marc Marquez but ended up in a comfortable 2nd. The trophy represents Pedro’s first visit to the box since his win in Austria.
Bastianini maintained his pace throughout the laps and in P6. Enea was able to pounce on the last lap and sliced through to 5th; his second highest ranking in 2026 after taking 4th in Japan. Binder, who had surged into the top ten through the first laps of the Sprint was up to 11th on this occasion. Brad also kept constant despite suffering with front traction and was rewarded with 9th. Viñales had shone with Q2 entry on Friday but the lack of strength in his left shoulder was a limiting factor on Sunday. The Spaniard gained 14th as well as more useful mileage in his rehab process.
Pedro is 4th in the MotoGP championship and 37 points from P3. Enea is also in the top ten with 10th. MotoGP heads towards a third race in as many weeks with the trip to the Lusail International Circuit and the traditional floodlit Grand Prix of Qatar.
Pedro Acosta, 2nd and 4th in the championship: “We tried our best. Alex was super-fast in the beginning and it was difficult to make a pass. There was a risk of burning the tires. Anyway, P2 again, and so happy for the boys in the team. We are making a great end to the season. We keep going. We are making good results and this will only help for the future. We’ll try and take the maximum we can from these final three races.”
Enea Bastianini, 5th and 10th in the championship: “A better start. We worked during the night and also during warm-up to try something different. It was hard to brake on the curb for Turn 1 but it was the only solution to come into that group. I lost some positions in Turn 6 and then it became complicated to go with the others. I was fighting a lot to save the front during the race…but I feel we can be satisfied with our work and I was not confident of a race like that today.”
Brad Binder, 9th and 12th in the championship: “Last race in Sepang done and a long one. From about four laps in I started losing the front and that meant understeer in the long corners. It was really tough until the rear started to fade and then I could brake pretty good. I had some fun battles but I thought I had the pace to do much better today. After four laps I saw we were in trouble and I had to be smart to bring it to the end.”
Maverick Viñales, 14th and 22nd in the championship: “A tough weekend but good to take some points. It was really hard to find a good feeling here. We’re just analyzing, learning and seeing how we can improve. I still haven’t worked out how to ride the bike in really low grip. I’m correcting the lines all the time and this means you don’t get the feeling. I was braking different but the bike needed load. I hope I can recover for these final races.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “A great weekend for us here in Sepang and really happy we continued the good performance today from the rest of the weekend and especially yesterday’s Sprint race. When we have three of our riders in the top ten then we should be very satisfied. Pedro’s performance was incredible again and it was very smart work to manage the race. Enea’s 5th place and Brad taking 9th was also great.”
Results MotoGP Grand Prix of Malaysia
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 40:14.236
2. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +4.172
3. Alex Marquez (ESP) Ducati +5.955
5. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +10.896
9. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +23.729
14. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +34.597
World Championship standings MotoGP
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 399 points
2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Aprilia, 355
3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Aprilia, 332
4. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 295
10. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 134
12. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 118
22. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 14
KTM GP Academy
Moto3 was a close-run affair as 5 riders jostled for the podium deep into the 15-lap chase. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brian Uriarte had started from the front row of the grid and Alvaro Carpe from the second. Brian was edged off-line slightly into the first corner and the incident shuffled the Spaniard on the fringe of the top ten. Carpe lodged his bike at the peak of the pack and was one of the quintet going for the win as the crowd loudly cheered for local hope Hakim Danish (also KTM RC4 mounted and a former Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race winner).
As Max Quiles broke away for the flag, a tussle for the other two podium spots raged and Carpe bided his time to attack on the final lap and managed to take 3rd on the drag to the finish line. The result marked Alvaro’s eighth podium of the campaign. Uriarte fought back into the second group and finished 9th. Valentin Perrone had to complete a Long Lap penalty and banked the last point in 15th. Rico Salmela had demonstrated session-leading pace earlier in the Grand Prix and only a crash in qualifying halted a better grid position than P18. The Finn pushed up to mid-pack but fell again at Turn 15 on lap 8.
KTM have already helped Max Quiles to the championship and scooped the Manufacturers title, but Uriarte is 3rd in the standings with Carpe in 4th (both tied) as the pursuit for the silver medal in 2026 continues. Both need 23 points over David Almansa for P2.
Alvaro Carpe: “We made a good race. It was difficult conditions. My plan was to follow Maximo when he went through - and I still think I had the pace to follow him - but I was overtaken in the slower corners and lost my pace. I was still quite fast and, anyway, it’s a podium and we’re happy. It’s been a good weekend of hard work. Thanks to my team and see you next race.”
Moto2 brought a decent 7th position finish for Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Collin Veijer. The Dutchman had breached the top ten in his rookie Moto2 attempt at Sepang in 2025 and was again one of the faster riders in the division for 2026. Collin had qualified in 6th and then battled up from 10th to P7. The points haul was enough to nudge him into the top ten of the series. Teammate Jose Antonio Rueda passed the checkered flag in a very decent 11th after starting from 21st and remains a leading contender for Moto2 Rookie of the Year.
Results Moto3 Grand Prix of Malaysia
1. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team 33:07.634
2. Veda Pratama (INA) Honda +3.734
3. Alvaro Carpe (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +4.184
9. Brian Uriarte (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +9.650
15. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +27.382
20. Marco Morelli (ARG) CFMOTO Aspar Team +38.537
DNF. Rico Salmela (FIN) Red Bull KTM Tech3
World Championship standings Moto3
1. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 376 points
2. David Almansa (ESP) KTM, 228
3. Brian Uriarte (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo, 205
4. Alvaro Carpe (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo, 205
6. Marco Morelli (ARG) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 140
8. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 121
11. Rico Salmela (FIN) Red Bull KTM Tech3, 89
Results Moto2 Grand Prix of Malaysia
1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Aspar Team 35:44.732
2. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team +1.932
3. Angel Piqueras (ESP) +3.565
7. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo, +17.705
11. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +20.150
World Championship standings Moto2
1. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP) 276.5 points
2. Izan Guevara (ESP) 273
3. Ivan Ortola (ESP) 199.5
4. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 191
5. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team, 190
10. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo, 89.5
16. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo, 48