2015 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix

An aerial photograph of the Sepang International Circuit in 2016.

The 2015 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix was announced as part of MotoGP's 2015 schedule by the world governing body of motorcycle racing, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) in September 2014.[4] It was the twenty-fifth consecutive Grand Prix to be held in Malaysia and the sixteenth straight race at the fifteen-turn 5.543 km (3.444 mi) Sepang International Circuit.[5] The Grand Prix was the seventeenth scheduled round of the 2015 MotoGP season by FIM and was held on 25 October after two preceding days of practice and qualifying.[4] With forest fires continuing to burn in neighboring Indonesia, heavy smog was a concern for the race.[6] Unhealthy levels affected the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix two months earlier and Sepang International Circuit managing director Razlan Razali negotiated with MotoGP's promoter Dorna Sports and the International Road Racing Teams Association about shortening the meeting if required.[7] It was later confirmed that the event would proceed without any restrictions due to the championship situation,[8] and monitoring equipment was installed at the circuit to measure the local air quality.[9]

Coming into the race from Australia one week earlier, Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi was leading the Riders' Championship with 296 points and his nearest championship rival was teammate Jorge Lorenzo was a further eleven points behind in second. Repsol Honda's Marc Márquez placed third with 222 points and Andrea Iannone of Ducati followed in fourth with 188 points. Dani Pedrosa, the second Honda factory rider, rounded out the top five with 165 points.[10] In the Teams' Championship, Yamaha MotoGP topped the standings with 581 points. Repsol Honda (392 points) and Ducati (341) were closer to each other in the battle for second while Tech 3 and Suzuki MotoGP completed the top five with 254 and 172 points respectively.[10] Yamaha led the Constructors' Championship with 362 points: Honda, Ducati, Suzuki and Yamaha Forward followed in the next four placings with a respective 310, 237, 120 and 33 points accrued.[10] 50 points were available for the final two rounds of the season which meant Rossi could win his eighth MotoGP championship in Sepang. Rossi needed to score fifteen more points than Lorenzo if the latter finished sixth or lower.[11]

The tension was high between Rossi and Márquez going into the weekend because the duo had engaged in a battle at the Argentine Grand Prix that left Márquez crashing out of the race after colliding with the rear of Rossi's bike and the Dutch TT later that year when the pair got involved in a duel for the win that ended in Rossi's favour despite a collision with Márquez at the track's final chicane on the final lap of the event.[12] In the pre-race press conference, Rossi accused Márquez of aiding his championship rival Lorenzo in Australia which both riders denied. Rossi continued and stated his belief Márquez was not a fan of his when growing up, a comment that angered Márquez.[12][13] Meanwhile, Pedrosa aimed to return to the podium after stating his happiness over his fifth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix and wanted to give himself the best opportunity of securing a strong result and noted the physical and mental demands placed on the rider due to Malaysia's warm climate.[14]

Four practice sessions – two for both Friday and Saturday – were held before the race on Sunday. The first two on Friday ran for 45 minutes each with a third identically timed practice session held on Saturday morning. The final session on Saturday afternoon lasted half an hour.[15] Pedrosa set the fastest time of the first practice session in hot weather conditions early on with a two minutes and 00.412 seconds lap. Lorenzo followed two-seconds of a second adrift in second and Márquez followed in third. The rest of the top ten was completed by Rossi, Scott Redding, Cal Crutchlow, Iannone, Héctor Barberá, Aleix Espargaró and Andrea Dovizioso.[16] The track had a large amount of dust but had just two riders crash in the final twelve minutes: Crutchlow went off at turn five while Alvaro Bautista fell off his bike at the turn fifteen hairpin; both incidents occurred concurrently and the duo returned to the pit lane to mount onto their spare bikes.[17] In the second practice session, Lorenzo recorded the fastest lap of the day at two minutes and 00.246 seconds with four minutes remaining. His fellow Spaniards Pedrosa and Márquez were second and third. Iannone, Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaró, Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci and Redding followed in the top ten. The sole incident of second practice happened seven minutes in when Iannone crashed at turn eight.[18]

Hazy weather conditions continued to affect Sepang heading into the third practice session which had Lorenzo improve on his previous best time from the day prior to record the fastest lap of the weekend so far late in practice at one minute and 59.544 seconds with Márquez following 0.142 seconds behind in second. Pedrosa was third-fastest, Rossi placed fourth and Barberá fifth. Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaró, Dovizioso, Pol Espargaró and Maverick Viñales occupied positions six through ten. Late in the session, Petrucci lost control of the front of his bike and crashed out at turn seven. Petrucci was unhurt.[19] Pedrosa topped the time sheets in the fourth practice session with a lap time of two minutes and 00.471 seconds. Márquez was 0.322 seconds slower in second place and Iannone was running stronger and set the third-fastest lap. Lorenzo was fourth-quickest; Rossi was fifth and Dovizioso sixth. Aleix Espargaró placed seventh, his brother Pol Espargaró was eighth, Redding ninth and Bradley Smith completed the top ten ahead of qualifying. The sole incident of the session occurred halfway through when the front of Lorenzo's bike got loose and slid into the gravel trap at the final corner.[20]

Marc Márquez qualified on the front row of the grid in second place during qualifying.

Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into two parts. The two sessions lasted 15 minutes and had the slowest riders in the first three practice sessions compete in the first part with the second session composing the top ten quickest participants from the opening trio of practice sessions. The first session had the fastest two competitors progress into the second session which determined pole position through to twelfth.[15] While most riders opted for three timed runs, Pedrosa chose to perform two and ventured onto the track later so he would not be impeded by traffic. This enabled Pedrosa to clinch his first pole position of the season, his first since the 2014 Catalan Grand Prix, and broke Márquez's lap record of the Sepang International Circuit from the previous year with a time of one minute and 59.053 seconds.[21][22] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Márquez whose fastest lap was four-tenths of a second off Pedrosa's pace and avoided crashing on his second run after making a rider error.[21] Rossi joined the duo in third but was initially a second slower despite slipstreaming Iannone but achieved his fastest time without drafting anyone on his final attempt. Lorenzo was fourth after believing he had qualified in the top three and was observed riding towards parc fermé but was redirected to his garage.[23] Crutchlow secured fifth place in the closing minutes and demoted Iannone to sixth who had steering issues with his bike while Dovizioso took seventh. Viñales and Smith progressed into the second qualifying session, placing eighth and ninth and Barberá rounded out the top ten with his time matched by Aleix Espargaró who crashed in qualifying's closing seconds. Pol Espargaró was the slowest rider of the twelve that competed in the first qualifying session.[23][24]

Petrucci was the fastest driver not to progress beyond the first qualifying session; his fastest time of two minutes and 1.346 seconds was almost 2.3 seconds off Pedrosa's pace Stefan Bradl was 14th and he attributed this to a minor rider error at the final corner.[23][24] Redding struggled to locate the feel for his bike and lost some time on the two long straights for unknown reasons, restricting him to 15th.[24] 16th-place qualifier Jack Miller's bike caught fire and was thrown from it hike as the machine flipped over and rested in the turn seven gravel trap. Miller was unhurt.[25] Bautista took 17th place as he struggled with the grip of his bike while rider errors meant Yonny Hernández started the race from 18th position. Nicky Hayden slipstreamed up behind another bike but this did not significantly aid him enough to improve his best effort and took 19th while 20th-placed Loris Baz struggled with getting the correct amount of grip from his tyres and this meant he could not push any harder than he could. Similarly, his teammate Toni Elías secured 21st after he was unable to find the grip within his tyres on his first laps. Eugene Laverty was 22nd and Mike Di Meglio had issues with his front tyre that prevented him from pushing more aggressively and placed 23rd.[24] Australians Anthony West and Damian Cudlin occupied the final positions on the grid in 24th and 25th.[23]

The riders took to the track in hot ambient and track temperatures at 09:40 Malaysian Standard Time (UTC–08:00) for a twenty-minute warm-up session.[15][26] Márquez continued his quick pace by setting the fastest lap of the session of two minutes and 00.186 seconds. He was 0.319 seconds quicker than Lorenzo in second. Rossi placed third with Pedrosa and Iannone fourth and fifth. Aleix Espargaró, Viñales, Crutchlow, Pol Espargaró and Dovizioso completed the top ten fastest riders.[26] Barberá clashed with the front wheel on Pol Espargaró's bike at turn one and both riders fell. Di Meglio crashed at turn five and could not get back to the pit lane despite escaping with no injuries. Miller crashed at turn nine with two minutes left and his session was ended prematurely.[26] After warm-up, race direction issued one penalty point to Barberá for his clash with Pol Espargaró. Barberá thus accumulated his fourth penalty point of the season, and he was ordered to start at the back of the grid.[27]

The race began before a crowd of 88,832 people at 14:00 local time.[15][28] Weather conditions at the start of the race were dry and cloudy. The air temperature was 35 °C (95 °F) and the track temperature was 47 °C (117 °F);[29] a 30% probability of rain was forecast.[30] The Honda factory duo of Pedrosa and Márquez maintained the first two positions heading into the first corner with Rossi third.[31] Lorenzo made a poor getaway and was overtaken by the Ducatis of Dovizioso and Iannone but returned to fourth place after passing both riders at turn four.[30][32] Rossi used the slipstream of the factory Hondas to keep in the lead group but his teammate Lorenzo was close by.[31][33] Before the first lap ended, Cudlin lost control of the rear of his bike coming onto the back straight and crashed out of the Grand Prix.[34] Lorenzo out-braked teammate Rossi on the outside line into turn one to move into third at the start of the second lap. Lorenzo then prevented Rossi from retaking third by staying on the racing line and this caused Rossi to slow so he would avoid glancing Lorenzo's bike.[32][33] Further down the order, Bradl was passed by Crutchlow for seventh position.[33] Baz became the second retiree of the race when he crashed on the start of the same lap at turn one.[35]

Soon after, Iannone retired in the pit lane with a damaged radiator which was caused by another rider kicking up a stone with one of his tyres at the start of the race and it punctured a hole in the bike component.[35] Due to his crash in the warm-up session, Pol Espargaró was riding in severe pain with a fractured vertebrae and felt dizzy during certain points in the race which left him vulnerable to being overtaken by other riders.[27][36] This was evident when Crutchlow and Smith moved past him for sixth and seventh on the second and third laps.[33] Márquez was struggling to control the front of his bike and was losing ground to teammate Pedrosa and Lorenzo was closing up to him. Approaching turn four on lap three, Márquez made a mistake under braking and he skimmed along the edge of the rumble strips but managed to avoid running onto grass. This enabled Lorenzo to overtake Márquez for second place and went about trying to reduce Pedrosa's advantage at the front of the field.[32] That same lap, Elías lost two positions when Barberá and Laverty got past him.[33] Rossi observed Márquez's error at turn four and was close behind him entering the final corner but could not effect a successful overtaking manoeuvre.[31][32]

Dani Pedrosa (pictured in 2016) started from pole position and led every lap of the race to claim his second victory of the season, his 28th in MotoGP and the 51st of his career.

Márquez went off the racing line into turn four and Rossi overtook him for third on lap four with the latter unable to respond.[31] Márquez then planned his counter-attack but continued to have problems with controlling the rear of his bike. Márquez began a duel that lasted three laps as he tried to retake third from Rossi at turn fifteen but went wide. At turn one at the start of lap five, Márquez did get past Rossi under braking but again ran wide which allowed Rossi to reclaim third. Márquez made a third passing try on Rossi entering turn four but the latter got back through when the former drifted wide.[30][31][32] Márquez got through at turn five but lost third four corners later with the position changing hands at each corner. Márquez ended up holding third over Rossi on the back straight and the two riders overtook each other a total of ten times on lap five.[31][33] Rossi's foot slipped three times off his footpeg but was able to regain control of his bike each time and avoid crashing.[32] Rossi barged Márquez at turn seven on lap six but Márquez out-braked Rossi at turn fourteen later in the lap.[31] Rossi grew increasingly frustrated with the battle for third and turned backwards to gesticulate to Márquez which was interpreted as a signal that the pair should stop duelling and slipstream one another to get back to Pedrosa and Lorenzo who were pulling away.[32][37]

After some close passes through the section of the track entering turn nine on lap seven, Rossi was on the inside line through the turn thirteen long-right hander with Márquez to his left.[32] Rossi appeared to slow deliberately and push Márquez ever wider as they went into turn fourteen.[32][38] This caused Rossi to adopt a jerky motion which had him adjust his bike's turning movements and position. Márquez was pushed off the racing line as he was pushed more wider by Rossi as he leaned in and the latter moved out after Rossi looked directly at Márquez. Doing this caused Márquez and Rossi to collide; Márquez's helmet hit Rossi's kneeslider, knocking his leg out of position, and subsequently contacted his handlebars.[37] Márquez spun and fell from his bike as he crashed lowside but remounted. Márquez then rode into the pit lane and retired from the Grand Prix.[38] Race direction announced on lap nine that the clash between Márquez and Rossi would be investigated after the race.[31]

On the eleventh lap,[33] Crutchlow (despite a brake lever problem) was battling Dovizioso for fourth position at turns five and six when the two made contact during the change of direction. Dovizioso fell from his bike and retired but accepted an apology from Crutchlow after the race.[35] Crutchlow later ran wide at the final corner on lap twelve, allowing Smith to overtake him for fourth place.[31][35] On lap thirteen, Hayden was passed by Elías for fifteenth place and Petrucci overtook Aleix Espargaró for seventh position three laps later. Bautista fell to thirteenth on the same lap when Hernández and Barberá moved past him while Miller overtook Hayden to move into sixteenth but Hayden reclaimed the place on the final lap.[33] Pedrosa opened his advantage at the front of the field to 3.6 seconds over Lorenzo and crossed the start/finish line after twenty laps to claim his second victory of the season, his 28th in MotoGP and the 51st of his career.[39] Rossi was third and Smith and Crutchlow were fourth and fifth. Petrucci, Aleix Espargaró, Viñales, Pol Espargaró, Bradl, Redding, Hernández, Barberá, Elías, Bautista, Hayden, Miller, Di Meglio, Laverty and West were the last of the classified finishers.[29]

On the post-race podium, Lorenzo was booed by the crowd as he collected his second-place trophy and his teammate Rossi declined to speak to the media in the later press conference.[40] Lorenzo then proceeded to leave the podium and later explained to the press that this was not because of the booing but due to him suffering from exhaustion from the high ambient temperatures and humidity that is often dealt with in Malaysia.[41] Two weeks later at the season-ending Valencian Community Grand Prix, Lorenzo apologised for appearing to make a thumbs down gesture at teammate Rossi on the podium, "I regret that. It's not a sporting example, especially for young people watching MotoGP around the world."[42] Pedrosa spoke about his happiness over taking his second victory of the season and stated that he set-up his bike similar to that of the pre-season test session at Sepang in February, "We had a good feeling from Friday, we were able to manage the weekend well and above all we had a bike that worked very well during every practice.", and, "I am especially pleased to finish the season very positively, as it has been a hard year but we are now recovering well and we're in good form."[43]

Valentino Rossi (pictured in 2010) was handed three penalty points on his race licence for his collision with Marc Márquez and lost a subsequent appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport which he withdrew in December 2015.

The collision between Rossi and Márquez at turn fourteen on lap seven overshadowed the race.[35] Márquez expressed his shock over what had happened and that he did not foresee it happening and was annoyed at being caught up in the crash. He stated his belief that Rossi had violated MotoGP regulations, "For me it doesn't matter if you are Valentino or another rider, [in] this type of incident you are out of control. To take a leg off and push another rider out, it is difficult think like this on the bike."[44] Rossi defended his actions, arguing that the collision was not done with malice and protested his innocence. He said that he did not regret the comments he made about Márquez and had lost all respect for Márquez and teammate Lorenzo due to the incident. Rossi also theorised that Marquez was still resentful from the incidents at the Argentine Grand Prix and the Dutch TT and that he was seeking revenge from what had happened, "He decided the championship and he made me lose the championship. I think that he will be very happy.”[45]

Race direction requested Rossi and Márquez to visit the stewards after the race where they provided testimony and video evidence was reviewed.[46] Both riders exchanged words in a heated confrontation with nothing of what was said disclosed to the media.[32] The stewards deemed Rossi to have "deliberately ran wide on Turn 14 in order to force another rider off line, resulting in contact causing the other rider to crash" and issued him three penalty points for transgressing Article 1.21.2 of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations and was ordered to start at the back of the grid for the Valencian Community Grand Prix because he already had another penalty point from earlier in the season.[46] After Yamaha had their appeal rejected by the FIM,[47] Rossi lodged one with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on 30 October and sought either the annulment or reduction of the penalty and it was suspended until the CAS heard his case.[48] Lawyers acting on Lorenzo's behalf filed a Request for Intervention three days later so they could act on his behalf but the CAS told them of their rejection of this move.[49] On 4 November, a preliminary hearing was held at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne and an order undertaken by CAS arbitrator Ulrich Haas dismissing the stay filed by Rossi meant his penalty stood.[50][51] Rossi told the CAS that he was withdrawing the appeal on 10 December and the case was subsequently closed.[52]

The result of the race meant Lorenzo reduced Rossi's advantage at the top of the Riders' Championship to seven points. Despite failing to finish the race, Márquez maintained third position with 222 points and his teammate Pedrosa moved past the non-finishing Iannone for fourth because of his victory.[10] Yamaha MotoGP increased their unassailable lead at the top of the Teams' Championship to 200 points over Repsol Honda. With Ducati unable to finish the Grand Prix, they fell further back from Repsol Honda with 341 points but still retained third position. Tech 3 and Suzuki MotoGP kept fourth and fifth with a respective 274 and 189 points.[10] Yamaha continued to lead the Constructors' Championship but their advantage over Honda had been lowered to 47 points. Ducati, Suzuki and Yamaha Forward completed the top five with round of the season left.[10]