Not the day Bagnaia, Quartararo or Espargaro would have been looking for in Malaysia, then. Nevertheless, Sunday’s plan remains unchanged for the latter duo: simply beat Bagnaia. With just the Valencia finale to go after this weekend, Espargaro has no choice but to take three or more points off Pecco – to get it to 24 points with Pecco’s superior race win tally this year – if he stands any chance of winning the title. Quartararo sits 14 points behind but will want that to be considerably less heading to a track that Ducati locked the podium out at in 2021 – Bagnaia the winner, Martin second and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) third.