Sepang MotoGP: Rossi crash hands Marquez easy win

From second on the grid, Rossi outdragged poleman Johann Zarco to take the lead into the first corner, and from there proceeded to build a lead of more than one second.

Marquez meanwhile quickly set about making up for his six-place grid penalty for impeding Andrea Iannone in qualifying and by the end of the fifth lap of 20 he had taken up station behind Rossi.

Initially, Rossi was able to extend the gap over his former arch-rival, but as the race moved into its second half Marquez began to chip away at the Yamaha rider's advantage.

Closing in at around a tenth per lap, Marquez had managed to get within 0.6 seconds of Rossi when the Italian rider suffered a low-speed crash at Turn 1 on lap 17, denying onlookers a repeat of the pair's infamous 2015 Sepang duel.

Marquez inherited a lead of four seconds over Zarco as a result of Rossi's demise, and from there he was able to cruise to a straightforward 1.8s win and clinch the constructors' title for Honda.

Zarco was passed for second by the Suzuki of Alex Rins on the final lap at Turn 4, allowing Rins to equal his career-best result, while Zarco held on for third to claim his first podium finish since May.

Maverick Vinales could well have contended for victory but for his poor grid slot of 11th, which left him losing time stuck behind the Nieto Ducati of Alvaro Bautista in the early laps.

He made steady progress in the second half of the race, passing the second Honda of Dani Pedrosa on lap 14 to take fifth - which would become fourth when teammate Rossi crashed.

Pedrosa's fifth place equals his best result of a difficult 2018 season, while Andrea Dovizioso endured a low-key run to sixth on the best of the Ducatis.

Dovizioso, winner of the last two MotoGP races at Sepang, had climbed as high as fourth in the early exchanges only to drop behind Rins, Pedrosa and Vinales as the race went on.

Sixth was still enough to confirm Dovizioso as the runner-up in the standings with Rossi failing to score.

Bautista led home a trio of satellite Ducati riders in seventh ahead of Pramac pair Jack Miller, whose gamble on a medium rear tyre didn't pay off, and Danilo Petrucci.

Hafizh Syahrin (Tech 3) stormed from 23rd and last on the grid to 12th on the opening lap, and managed to secure the final top 10 position on a day he became the first Malaysian to start a premier class grand prix.

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) was 11th ahead of Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda), LCR Honda stand-in Stefan Bradl, Takaaki Nakagami (LCR) and Bradley Smith (KTM). Rossi remounted and finished 18th.

Among the other crashers were Andrea Iannone, who lost the front end of his Suzuki on lap one at Turn 15 while following Marquez, and Jorge Lorenzo's Ducati replacement Michele Pirro.

Race results:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time/Gap
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	20	40'32.372
2	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	20	1.898
3	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	20	2.474
4	25	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	20	4.667
5	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	20	6.190
6	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	20	11.248
7	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	20	15.611
8	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	20	19.009
9	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	20	22.921
10	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Yamaha	20	26.919
11	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	20	29.503
12	21	Franco Morbidelli	Honda	20	30.933
13	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	20	35.322
14	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	20	37.912
15	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	20	39.675
16	12	Thomas Luthi	Honda	20	41.820
17	10	Xavier Simeon	Ducati	20	43.978
18	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	20	58.288
19	45	Scott Redding	Aprilia	20	1'00.191
Ret	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	16	4 Laps
Ret	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	5	15 Laps
Ret	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	3	17 Laps
Ret	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	0	20 Laps