Francesco Bagnaia recovers from sprint crash to win Malaysian Grand Prix and take title race to final day

Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia took his 10th Grand Prix win of the season with a strong performance that will take the title fight to the end.

Championship leader Jorge Martin finished second after abandoning an early battle with Banaya, settling for a 24-point lead going into the final.

Marc Marquez was running smoothly in third until he crashed out and finished in 12th place, handing the final podium spot to Enea Bastianini.

Banaya and Martin fought a fierce battle in the first act around Sepang, switching positions at every corner until Banaya emerged victorious.

The championship will now be decided at the season finale, which is likely to take place in Barcelona after tragic flooding in Valencia forced a change of venue.

Polesitter Bagnaia made a great start, forcing Martin to run wide as chaos unfolded behind him, causing an early red flag in the race.

Brad Binder, Fabio Quartararo and Jack Miller were caught in a three-bike pileup heading into the busy Turn 2, requiring a full restart.

The riders returned to the track 20 minutes later and Banaya perfected his start from the second run, instantly ahead of Martin on the starting straight.

However, he did not hold the lead for long as Martin went straight to work and made a daring attempt to get around the inside of Banaya on the opening lap.

A slight hesitation from the Prima Pramac rider caused him to abandon the move, but he came right back and snatched the lead from Banaya after diving into the inside of the final corner.

Martin briefly led the pack before the two-time world champion bumped into him at the first turn on the second lap, putting everything on the line as the title fight edged closer to the fray.

The two championship rivals swapped positions on the third lap, almost colliding as they entered the starting line side by side.

Martin again led the group around Sepang before losing position to Banaya at the first turn of lap four as a result of a risky move by the impatient Italian.

Bagnaia then led the Malaysian Grand Prix smoothly, with Martin withdrawing from the race to save his overheating tires in the scorching heat.

He tried to close the gap in the final five laps after using the middle part of the race to recover, but Martin nearly crashed at turn nine and gave up the fight.