Red Bull is reportedly set to end its sponsorship arrangement with Honda’s MotoGP squad at the end of the 2023 season, according to Austrian publication Speedweek.

The Austrian energy drink brand has sponsored the Japanese manufacturer for nearly two decades since 2006, the year Honda won the title with Nicky Hayden following a thrilling battle with Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi.

According to Speedweek, Red Bull has elected to cut short its deal with Honda to move to Gresini with Marc Marquez, who announced last month that he would be leaving the brand after ten years and six premier class titles to join the Italian outfit on a satellite Ducati bike.

It will retain title sponsor Repsol for 2024, though it’s currently unknown whether Honda’s current uncompetitive spell twinned with the loss of Marquez will prompt the Spanish lubricants giant to call time on its 30-year relationship with the marque.

Rumors abound that Luca Marini has been selected as the man to succeed Marquez alongside 2020 MotoGP world champion Joan Mir at Honda in 2024.

These rumors were strengthened on Monday following the Malaysian Grand Prix after Marini’s current team – his half-brother Valentino Rossi’s VR46 operation – shared an image of Marini wearing Repsol leathers as a child. This hint could be taken that Marini’s deal to move to Honda could be a done deal.

Current Moto2 form-man Fermin Aldeguer, who has secured wins in the last two intermediate class races in dominant fashion with the Speed Up squad, has been tipped as the most likely successor to Marini at the VR46 Ducati outfit alongside Marco Bezzecchi next term.

Alex Marquez feels that not attacking Enea Bastianini in the early laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix was a “mistake” as his front tyre overheated later in the race.

The Gresini rider was confident of finally securing a long-awaited maiden MotoGP victory at the Sepang International Circuit after winning the Saturday sprint race at the venue. His chances of achieving this goal were elevated off the start as he took advantage of the battling Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin to move into second.

He elected not to attack leader Bastianini from the outset of the encounter though as he looked to save his rubber for a charge later in the grand prix. This ultimately proved to be an error though, with Marquez unable to get close enough for an attack on the Italian and thus being forced to settle for the runners-up spot in the end.

Marquez explained that his front tyre had overheated while running in the wheel tracks of Bastianini throughout the contest, admitting that it was “my mistake” to not attack the factory Ducati rider in the opening stanza of the event.

“It was a really tough race and the pace was really fast and tough, I checked and the pace this year was 15 seconds faster than last year so it was tough from the beginning,” began Marquez.

“My mistake was not attacking him (Bastianini) in the beginning, I waited too long and the tyre temperature got a little too high and it was like a wall where the gap was 0.6s, 0.5s, and up again and I couldn’t get closer.

“He made a couple of mistakes, but he saved them well and for the rest of the race, he was unbelievable and always on the pace not making any major errors.

“Like me yesterday, when you are in front you have the fresh air so it’s much easier to ride the bike.

 “This was a small error, but overall we did an incredible weekend and were fast all the way through with the victory in the sprint race and second today.  Of course, we could ask for more with the victory, but we can be happy and we cannot forget where we came from.”  

Marquez added that he had struggled all weekend for overall fitness throughout the weekend after being struck down with a fever upon arrival in Malaysia, though luckily felt well enough to perform at his best on Sunday.

“When I came from Spain with the air conditioning on the plane I had a fever on Wednesday when I arrived here, I was on the bed the entire day but day by day I improved,” said Marquez.

“Already yesterday I was pretty tired because I lost so much water, but overall I feel good and I will celebrate with the team tonight before switching focus to Qatar.” 

MotoGP points leader Francesco Bagnaia says that while he is happy to have extended his overall advantage over Jorge Martin across the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, it is “not enough.”

The factory Ducati rider aimed to open up a greater margin at the Sepang International Circuit as he saw his lead whittled down to just 13 after Martin won in Thailand two weeks ago. His weekend started well after securing pole on Saturday, though lost two points to his chief rival after finishing third in the sprint race.

He enjoyed a stronger Sunday outing though, Bagnaia fending off an attack from Martin in the early laps before pulling away to the tune of six seconds across the remainder of the race to claim third behind victorious team-mate Enea Bastianini and sprint victor Alex Marquez. He extended his points lead to 14 in the process, a total gain of one over the event.

While Bagnaia admitted that he was “satisfied with the work” he had achieved in Malaysia, he is hoping to extend his lead by a greater margin next weekend in Qatar having admitted that his current point margin is “not enough.”

“I’m satisfied with the work, but not completely the result because I prefer to be more in front but we have to be happy because we ended the weekend a point further ahead than we started and the feeling was back,” explained Bagnaia.

“I was able to push at the start (of the weekend) and get pole position for the first time since Barcelona, and everything went well apart from yesterday in the sprint where I had an issue with chattering from the front. I had a great feeling with the bike, so I’m very happy overall.

“It will be important to open the gap more (in Qatar) because 14 points of a lead is good, but not enough so it’ll be important to do a good weekend.

“I’m glad that Enea (Bastianini) is performing well again, and I’m looking forward to going to Qatar as it is a good track for us.”

Bagnaia added that he struggled to make much of an impact on the lead duo in the Malaysian GP due to suffering from a “strange feeling under braking”, which he put down to the front end of his machine moving around too much.

“Today was quite good and the battle with Jorge (Martin) was fun, and we managed to open up the gap to him. I did everything to try and close the gap to the front guys, but I had a strange feeling with the front under braking due to a lot of movement,” continued Bagnaia.

“It maybe was the temperature, it was risky to push more so I did everything I could to close on the front guys, and this is the result.

“Considering the pace we had after the (Martin) battle, we were more competitive than him today so this is important after many races (where he was faster).”

Enea Bastianini says that adjustments to his Ducati’s engine brake setting, and the location of his brake lever, are behind his return to form in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Italian was expected to challenge factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia for the title this season following a break-out 2022 campaign with Gresini on a year-old Desmosedici, which saw him collect a total of four wins en route to third in the rider’s standings.

He has struggled to make inroads on his points-leading team-mate this season though, even after recovering from the broken shoulder he suffered in the season-opening Portuguese GP weekend. He previously described feeling like the GP23 as feeling “like a chopper”, though he and his team made key changes to the engine braking and brake lever locations on his machine ahead of the weekend.

The changes made an immediate impact as he qualified just 0.099s behind Bagnaia in third, before finishing second in the sprint race and securing an assured victory in the Malaysian GP. He revealed that he can now match Bagnaia in the braking zones having previously struggled to, and conceded that it felt “fantastic to be back here after a s*** season.”   

“It’s fantastic to be back here after a s*** season for me,” began Bastianini.

“We started the weekend with a different mindset because we understood what the solution was (to lack of pace).

“My crew chief called me one week ago and told me they knew what I wanted, they’d checked the tyre data and felt they knew what I needed.  

“The setup of the bike has remained the same, but we have changed the engine brake a lot in terms of its progression, and I have switched the brake lever to the first finger which has given me more confidence for the hard braking.  

I’ve been really close to Pecco (Bagnaia) this weekend, because if you look at the data from the past races I also lost too much time in this area to him and this weekend I’ve been much better.”

Bastianini added that he “pushed like a b****** the whole race” as he tried to fend off Sepang sprint winner Alex Marquez, explaining that the emotion of finally making a competitive breakthrough with this year’s Ducati is “too big” after a season of trying so many things with little improvement.

“From that has arrived this great result, and I knew from yesterday (this was possible) because I saw my pace yesterday and realised I could win today,” continued Bastianini.

“I was fast this morning (in warm-up), and my target was to be first in the opening corner and then stay there. I pushed like a b****** for the whole race.  

“The emotion is too big when you try so many different things with yourself and the bike and nothing works, it’s always a bad situation. To come back from this is not easy, but my family has supported me all the time and now I’m back.”  

Enea Bastianini put in an assured performance at the Sepang International Circuit to secure his first MotoGP win of 2023, while Francesco Bagnaia extended his points advantage over Jorge Martin.

Bastianini made another good start from third on the grid to challenge the leaders into Turn 1, his job made easier as Martin tried to dive through on pole-man Bagnaia on entry to the bend.  

The Spaniard ran both wide though, which allowed Bastianini and Saturday sprint winner Alex Marquez to slide through, with Bagnaia and Martin slotting into third and fifth respectively.

From then on Bastianini controlled proceedings in a commanding fashion out in front, the factory Ducati rider sustaining a strong pace while also preserving his Michelin rubber.

His lead flip-flopped between one to two seconds over Marquez throughout the encounter, Bastianini ultimately taking the chequered flag 1.5 seconds clear of the Gresini ace to secure his first victory of the season.

While unable to challenge Bastianini for the leadership, Marquez was at least able to hold off any attack from Bagnaia to complete a strong weekend in second.

Bagnaia’s run to third ensured his points lead extended out to 14 with two events remaining, the reigning premier class world champion leaving Malaysia a further point clear of Martin than he arrived as Martin could only manage fourth.

Martin meanwhile had to settle a decent way behind the podium battle after struggling for grip across the second half of the race. He tried to pass Bagnaia on a few occasions early on, but eventually began to fall away.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo enjoyed a much stronger Sunday than he had in Saturday’s sprint as he completed the top five, the Frenchman looking after the rubber on his M1 to recover several positions in the latter stages.

VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi claimed sixth ahead of the other Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli, the Italian passing KTM’s Jack Miller at the death to secure seventh.

This left the Aussie eighth ahead of the second Gresini entry of Fabio Di Gianantonio, while Luca Marini rounded off the top ten on the sister VR46 Ducati.

Maverick Vinales completed a tough weekend for Aprilia in 11^th ahead of Pramac’s Johann Zarco, while Marc Marquez was the best-placed Honda in a distant 13^th.

Alvaro Bautista continued to struggle for form on the extra factory Ducati entered this weekend, the reigning World Superbike champion coming home as the last man who failed to crash in 17^th, with only Takaaki Nakagami behind in 18^th after the LCR man went down at Turn 9 late on.

Brad Binder failed to mount a charge for the rostrum due to a bad start that left him down in tenth early on, before later crashing from ninth at Turn 11. Aprilia’s tricky Malaysian event was illustrated by Aleix Espargaro crashing out from 13^th just before mid-distance, while both RNF Aprilia’s also failed to make the chequered flag.

Joan Mir meanwhile also ended his day early, after the factory Honda pilot crashed out in the opening stanza of the contest.

Alex Marquez put together an emphatic ride to secure victory in the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix sprint race, while Jorge Martin narrowed Francesco Bagnaia’s series lead further.

Marquez made a strong start from fourth on the grid to claim third as the field exited the opening corner as Martin fell to fourth, though he soon managed to wrangle away second from Enea Bastianini and ended the opening lap sat in the runners-up position.

With his Ducati looking more agile than Bagnaia’s, Marquez looked left and right for a way to the lead. He first tried at the final bend, though he ran wide and allowed Martin – who by this point had also moved clear on Bastianini – ahead of him.

Marquez soon redressed the balance and restarted his pursuit of the leadership, a quest that would bear fruit after the Gresini man dived through on Bagnaia at Turn 10 just past mid-distance.

An opportunistic Martin took the chance to swiftly demote Bagnaia to third just a couple bends later, though the Pramac man was powerless to do anything about Marquez up ahead as he began to escape.

Building a lead of over a second in just two laps, Marquez ultimately took the chequered flag 1.589s clear of Martin to secure his second sprint race success of the year at the Sepang International Circuit.

Bagnaia meanwhile held onto third just behind his title rival, though Bastianini clearly looked faster and likely played the team game as he held off the advances of a charging Brad Binder on the final lap.

Bagnaia’s lead over Martin has thus been reduced to 11 points ahead of Sunday’s full-length grand prix event.

Binder managed to pass Bastianini at the final bend on the last lap after he ran wide, though due to this the Italian got a much better exit and sling-shotted back past the KTM into fourth by the time the duo had crossed the line.  

Jack Miller looked quick in the early laps before eventually fading back to sixth ahead of VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, while the points scorers were completed by the other Pramac entry of Johann Zarco and the sister VR46 Ducati of Luca Marini.

Maverick Vinales was the first to miss out on points, the Aprilia man completing the top ten just ahead of Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli.

Fabio Quartararo could manage only 16^th after a bad start dropped him towards the back of the pack, the Yamaha racer struggling to make ground behind GasGas duo Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro.

The only two crashers in the race came in the shape of the Repsol Honda men. Marc Marquez went down at Turn 14 just a few laps into the contest, while Joan Mir fell victim to Turn 15 just a couple tours after.

Both re-mounted their RC213Vs and took the chequered flag in 21^st and 23^rd respectively, Marquez getting the better of Ducati wildcard Alvaro Bautista as he hit trouble towards the end.

Francesco Bagnaia snatched away a crucial Malaysian MotoGP pole position from Jorge Martin at the death after the Spaniard crashed on his final flying effort.

From the outset, it seemed Martin was once again the man to beat over a single lap as he posted a new lap record of the Sepang International Circuit as the opening runs concluded, the Pramac Ducati pilot banging in a 1:57.549s effort to head Gresini’s Alex Marquez.

Bagnaia meanwhile could only manage fifth in the opening salvo, the reigning world champion left with a stiff 0.445s deficit to make up on his championship rival.

He was thrown a bone during the final runs though after Martin asked a little too much from his machine into Turn 4, resulting in him losing the front of the bike and sliding off into the gravel – leaving Bagnaia up front and Martin powerless to stop his onslaught.

The Italian strung together a belting effort to record a 1:57.491s to grab the provisional pole by just 0.058s over Martin, with few others looking quick enough to deny him.

This is ultimately how the session would end as Bagnaia picked up his seventh pole of the year – his first since Catalunya over two months ago – while Martin held onto second by virtue of his strong opening effort, giving him a good opportunity to attack Bagnaia early in the races.

Enea Bastianini meanwhile found some much-needed form after escaping the clutches of Q1, the factory Ducati rider lapping just 0.099s away from team-mate Bagnaia to secure the final spot on the front row behind the title hopefuls.

Alex Marquez came up next for Gresini in fourth, while VR46 pairing Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi completed an all-Ducati top six. Marini looked to have the speed to challenge for pole before a late crash scuppered his chances.

Brad Binder was best of the rest in seventh for KTM, albeit well over half a second adrift of Bagnaia’s scorching benchmark.

Fabio Quartararo ended up eighth for Yamaha ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, while the other factory KTM of Jack Miller completed the top ten.

Fabio Di Gianantonio took 11^th after crashing ahead of his final run, while Johann Zarco never posted a competitive tour after continually getting compromised by yellow flags.

Aleix Espargaro meanwhile missed out on the pole shootout despite looking much more at home on his Aprilia compared to Friday, primarily due to changes to the setup of his front forks. The adjustments meant he could at least grab 13^th on the grid.

Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli was one of the expected challengers to escape Q1, though he got distracted as Marc Marquez doggedly searched for a tow. Trying to shake off the Honda racer, he never got into his flow and could only manage a best effort half a second away from session leader Di Gianantonio.

This left him 15^th ahead of the other Honda of Joan Mir, while a crash for Marquez while trying to pass Augusto Fernandez on his quick lap left him a lowly 20^th for both races.

RNF Aprilia pair Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira struggled to make headway with their RS-GP’s and could secure only 18^th and 19^th respectively, while LCR Honda duo Takaaki Nakagami and Iker Lecuona also struggled en route to 21^st and 23^rd.

They sandwiched Ducati wildcard Alvaro Bautista, who struggled to make much headway with his Desmosedici after a tricky Friday. He managed to narrow the gap to the leading riders, though a mechanical failure late in Q1 meant he couldn’t improve on 22^nd.  

Honda MotoGP Team Manager Alberto Puig admitted on Friday in Malaysia that ex-rider Pol Espargaro is in a frame to make a shock return to the brand in 2024.

Honda has been searching for a replacement for six-time premier class champion Marc Marquez for next year after the Spaniard elected to sensationally quit the Japanese marque at the end of the season in favour of a move to Ducati satellite squad Gresini.

With Marquez only reaching his decision to leave Honda mid-way through October, the operation was left with few choices as most riders were already signed up for next season.

Talks with Miguel Oliveira ended as Honda refused to offer him a three-year deal, with the favourites for the empty seat remaining Gresini refugee Fabio di Gianantonio and Speed Up Moto2 rider Fermin Aldeguer.

Speaking to Spanish broadcaster DAZN during practice at the Malaysian Grand Prix, Puig poured cold water on the chances of Aldeguer making the step up however. He stated that the rumours linking the two-time Moto2 race winner to the Honda berth were “100% false”, but conceded that talks had started with current GasGas rider Espargaro.

“I don’t know where that (Aldeguer rumour) came from, it’s 100% false,” began Puig.

“Yesterday I spoke to Aldeguer’s manager and I asked him where it came from and he didn’t know what to say.

“But Pol (Espargaro) is also a real possibility.”

Espargaro previously raced for the factory Honda squad across the 2021 and ’22 seasons, though struggled largely having only secured two rostrum finishes and a best championship result of 12^th across these campaigns.

Having re-joined the KTM family for ’23 with the GasGas outfit, he found himself as the odd man out after the Austrian manufacturer elected to promote Moto2 star Pedro Acosta to the team for next year and chose Augusto Fernandez to remain alongside him. Espargaro missed the majority of the term having broken several vertebrae in a nasty crash in Portugal at the start of the season.

He signed a deal to remain as KTM’s reserve rider for next year, which includes a total of six wildcards across the year, though it remains to be seen whether he can come to an agreement with Honda instead to extend his full-time racing career.

Alex Marquez led proceedings at the end of the opening day at Sepang for the Malaysian MotoGP event, while title hopefuls Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia secured Q2 spots.

The race was on in the early stages of the session as dark rain clouds loomed over the Sepang International Circuit, the majority of the pack aiming to bang in good lap times to protect from the possible precipitation.

Indeed, Honda’s Marc Marquez lapped just 0.002s adrift of FP1 leader Martin’s benchmark on his first flying lap. Brother Alex would smash this effort with a 1:58.705s just moments later, his time standing for a decent portion of the test.

Martin managed to eclipse it with a 1:58.523s as the session approached a thirds-distance, the Pramac Ducati ace heading out early on new tyres having struggled to put in a front-running effort early on due to traffic.

Fortunately for the riders, the rain ultimately never arrived and they were able to run their sessions largely as planned. This saw times steadily reduce as the outing progressed, though the battle for the top spot looked to be contested by Marquez, Martin and KTM’s Brad Binder.

Marquez sat top on a 1:59.227s before Martin then fired in the first sub-1:58s lap of the weekend, Binder narrowly missing out after having to roll off due to a crash for RNF Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez.

Marquez had a little more in the tank though and hit back at the death with a 1:57.823s, an effort enough to leave him at the top of the pile by 0.174s ahead of Martin as the session wound down.

Jack Miller was the surprise package on his KTM as the Aussie completed the opening day in Malaysia third overall just ahead of team-mate Binder, who had taken the best out of his tyres at the end.  

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was fifth ahead of VR46’s Luca Marini, while Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ended up seventh overall despite losing his final effort due to coming across team-mate Franco Morbidelli touring on the racing line on his final attempt.

Bagnaia struggled to match the pace of his title rival once again, but still bagged eighth on his factory Ducati to secure an automatic pole shootout berth. Marco Bezzecchi was ninth for VR46, while the other Pramac entry of Johann Zarco rounded off the top ten and the guaranteed Q2 men.

Morbidelli missed out by fractions in 11^th overall just ahead of the other factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini, while Augusto Fernandez won the battle of the GasGas’ in 13^th.

Meanwhile, it was a tough day for Honda as Marc Marquez could manage only 15th as the fastest RC213V, just clear of Repsol team-mate Joan Mir while Takaaki Nakagami wound up down in 21^st for LCR.

Australia rostrum finisher Fabio di Gianantinio was also left with work to do on Saturday after his best gambit was enough for only 14^{th. At the same time,} Aleix had a horrendous day that saw him crash his Aprilia a total of four times across Friday’s two sessions.

Seemingly struggling with the front of his RS-GP, Espargaro went down at Turns 1, 5 and 9 across the test en route to a lowly 20^th in the final classification.

Ducati wildcard Alvaro Bautista also struggled to make an impression on his first premier-class race weekend since 2018. The freshly crowned double World Superbike champion struggled to close the gap to the leading runners as he got to grips with the Desmosedici, the Spaniard ending the day 22^nd overall and 2.4 seconds adrift of Marquez’s benchmark.

He did at least best LCR’s Iker Lecuona by a tenth-of-a-second, the Andorran standing in for the injured Alex Rins at the Italian outfit this weekend.

Alex Rins will miss the next two MotoGP races as he continues to recover from recent surgery on his leg, with Iker Lecuona to deputise for the Spaniard.

Rins has struggled to be race-fit since breaking his left leg in a nasty crash in June’s Italian Grand Prix sprint race at Mugello. The LCR Honda racer spent four months on the sidelines waiting for his injury to heal before returning for the Japanese Grand Prix, though he was forced to push his race return a further two weeks to the Indonesian GP.  

Having finished an impressive ninth on Sunday at Mandalika, Rins then ran into more problems after sustaining a hernia on his healing leg ahead of the Australian GP – the six-time premier class race winner subsequently undergoing surgery to correct the problem.

This forced him to miss the Thai GP, and due to an extended recovery period, he has now been forced to skip this weekend’s Malaysian GP as well as the Qatar GP a week later. He hopes to make a welcome return to competition for the season finale at Valencia, his last race with Honda before moving to Yamaha’s factory operation for next year.

Explaining the situation in a brief post across its social media channels, the LCR squad revealed that Honda World Superbike racer Lecuona would step in for Rins for the next two grand prix outings. This will bring Lecuona’s total race number in 2023 to seven, the Andorran having deputised for Marc Marquez and Joan Mir in the factory Honda team for the Spanish and Dutch encounters respectively.

He then made a further three outings with LCR in place of Rins for the British, Austrian and Catalan GPs. He is yet to score points in his 2023 appearances so far, his best result of 16^th coming in Jerez and Barcelona.