The Ducati Team faces the last race of the Asian triptych

Sepang International Circuit is among Andrea Dovizioso’s favourite tracks. Here, the rider from Romagna won his 125cc world title in 2004 and landed his first victory on his Desmosedici GP in 2016. Andrea is still competing for the second place at the world cup and, though he is fifteen points ahead of the runner-up, he will try to seal the deal already in Malaysia.

In the meantime, the physical conditions of Jorge Lorenzo are such that his participation in the Malaysia Grand Prix is not confirmed yet. As things stand, Jorge will fly to Sepang to hit the track and test the status of his wrist during FP1. Alvaro Bautista will go back to the Angel Nieto team, though it should be pointed out that the Spanish rider spent a weekend in Australia above all expectations, competing for the podium at his first go in the official team. 

As for the Sepang circuit, let’s just remember that it might be the only track in the championship where the MotoGP motorbikes do not use electronics to cut power, and in almost all the curves the riders can rely on every bit of the exuberant horsepower a modern MotoGP bike has to unleash. It’s a very technical, varied track where long corners taken leaning down at a reasonably high speed are alternated with sudden and forceful braking followed by some pretty slow curves. Malaysia’s latitude puts it in a tropical zone and the weather can often be bizarre. Making things even more complicated, the recent renovation of the asphalt brought a problem to the surface, namely the long time the new coating needs to dry in spite of the local temperatures abundantly exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.