Everything to know about the Grand Prix of Malaysia including Sepang stats and previous winners

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The Grand Prix of Malaysia (also known as the Malaysian GP) is an esteemed race in MotoGP since the 1991 500cc season with Sepang a fans’ and riders’ favourite track.

Riders and fans have adored watching premier class bikes twist and turn through one of the best tracks on the MotoGP calendar since the Sepang International Circuit took over staging the Malaysian GP in 1999. The outskirts of Kuala Lumpur also marked the race’s third home.

The 500cc world championship held the maiden edition of the Malaysian Grand Prix in 1991 at the Shah Alam Circuit in Selangor. It remained the race’s home through the 1997 running, as well, before the Johor Circuit in Pasir Gudang staged its only edition of the round in 1998.

History of the MotoGP Grand Prix of Malaysia

MotoGP often witnesses spectacular and close races when visiting the Sepang International Circuit for the Malaysian Grand Prix, which is also regularly staged late in the season adding extra spice to a title fight. Points gained or lost at Sepang can swing the championship table.

Conditions in Kuala Lumpur also test riders and their bikes, with high levels of humidity only the start of the challenge at one of MotoGP’s most demanding races. The Malaysian GP has even regularly been a major battleground on the schedule since the first race in Shah Alam.

History was also made at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix in 1991 as John Kocinski won a 500cc race for the first time in the American’s career. The round marked the final race of the 1991 season, plus Kocinski’s first full campaign in the premier class riding a Yamaha YZR500.

Racing for Team Roberts, Kocinski wasted no time to overtake Honda hero Mick Doohan for the lead on Lap 2 and immediately scampered clear to win. The Little Rock native put a pass on the Australian exiting the Lucas Loop and ran clear after getting hard on the power early.

What is the Sepang International Circuit like?

MotoGP has the perfect home to stage the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit. It has become implanted in MotoGP history and provides the perfect proving ground to produce exciting races, with the track challenging for riders while encouraging overtaking.

The Sepang International Circuit took just 14 months to build and only cost £50m to erect in 1997. That project produced a fast and flowing 15-corner layout with mixed elevation levels, varying degrees of camber and two massive straights to produce a host of overtaking points.

No corner is quite like another at Sepang, with Turn 1 a wide-open, right-hand hairpin which leads into a quick drop for the tight T2. The fast charge through T3 offers another overtaking point at T4, while riders can fight through the sweeping T5 and to position their bikes for T6.

It is also key to carry speed through the effective double-apex right-handers of Turns 7 and 8 to shape an overtake into the challenging, uphill Turn 9 hairpin. The sweeping run through Turn 13 and open braking point for T14 are then critical for a strong run on the back straight.

Previous ten winners of the MotoGP Grand Prix of Malaysia

Below, MotoGP News has listed the last ten premier class riders to win the Malaysian Grand Prix…

Mick Doohan dominated the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Shah Alam Circuit

Doohan would not be denied when the 500cc class returned to Shah Alam in 1992, though. The Gold Coast native secured the first of Doohan’s five Malaysian Grand Prix wins with the Honda legend holding a huge 10.433-second lead over Wayne Rainey at the chequered flag.

No rider tasted more success in Shah Alam than Doohan, who even secured his final win on Malaysian soil at the one Grand Prix the Johor Circuit held in 1998. Rainey in 1993 and Luca Cadalora in 1996 interrupted Doohan’s dominance after he failed to even make the podium.

The 1996 Malaysian Grand Prix would be one visit to Shah Alam that Doohan would wish to forget compared to his triumphant trips. He arrived at the season-opening race as the back-to-back reigning champion, yet came fifth with Doohan a massive 26.529s behind Cadalora.

Winning the 500cc Malaysian GP in 1996 even made Cadalora the first rider to achieve wins in multiple classes in Shah Alam. The Italian also won each of the first two 250cc contests at the circuit in 1991 and 1992. Max Biaggi sealed four 250cc wins in succession from 1994-97.

Doohan would not add to his tally of Malaysian Grand Prix wins when the race moved to the Sepang International Circuit. The 1999 running marked the first race of the season and what would be his last year on the grid, as Doohan came fourth in ultimately his penultimate race.

While Doohan’s dominance of the Malaysian Grand Prix reached an end, Sepang has staged several spells of success. Kenny Roberts Jr won the first two editions of the Malaysian GP at Sepang before Valentino Rossi secured five of his six premier class wins there from 2001-08.

Biaggi at the 2002 race, Loris Capirossi in 2005 and Casey Stoner in 2007 saw that Rossi did not have it all his way at the Malaysian GP as the 500cc championship turned into MotoGP. Biaggi also beat Rossi by a mere 0.542s and Capirossi edged his compatriot by only 1.999s.

Many riders have since tried yet few have come close to surpassing Rossi’s record at Sepang with six all-time premier class Malaysian Grand Prix wins. He also scooped a 125cc class win in 1997 as the final lightweight class Grand Prix winner in Malaysia at the Shah Alam Circuit.

The Italian’s return to the top step of the Sepang podium in 2010 was even a key moment in Rossi’s career. His ultimately final Malaysian GP win was the seven-time MotoGP champion’s first race victory since Rossi broke his right tibia and fibula at that season’s Italian Grand Prix.

Valentino Rossi notoriously kicked Marc Marquez in the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

Rossi also came close to securing further Malaysian Grand Prix wins after the 2010 season but had to settle for second place at best. The 2015 round also proved to be one of the most notorious meets in MotoGP history after Rossi and Marc Marquez came to blows at Sepang.

The Italian arrived for the Malaysian Grand Prix leading his Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo by 11 points in the riders’ championship with two races to run. Yet tensions were growing in the Rossi camp, with him even accusing Marquez of trying to help Lorenzo win his third title.

Marquez was unusually out of the title fight, with the Spaniard 74 points behind Rossi in the sole year he did not take the title from his debut in 2013 through 2019. Yet despite Marquez winning in Australia, Rossi felt he intentionally fought in the pack to compromise the Italian.

His anger towards the Honda rider continued into the Malaysian Grand Prix and boiled over on Lap 9 of 20. Marquez and Rossi had duelled hard but fair for position during the opening laps yet in his frustration, the Italian kicked the Spaniard at Turn 14 and it caused him to fall.

Lorenzo pulled away as Marquez and Rossi traded places time and time again. Neither could make a move stick beyond a few corners, trading spots 10 times on Lap 5 alone. But the real drama came on L9 as Rossi drifted Marquez wide into T14, looked over and stuck a foot out.

Rossi glanced over at Marquez three times to check where the Honda rider was, before then sticking the Yamaha legend’s left foot out. Race direction reviewed the contact after the race and the penalty points Rossi drew resulted in a back-of-the-grid start for the Valencia finale.

Letting his emotions have the better of Rossi by kicking Marquez in the Malaysian GP would even cost the Italian the title. Despite fighting back to finish fourth in Valencia, Lorenzo beat Marquez – who Rossi claimed refused to pass Lorenzo – to claim the title by only five points.

Rossi kicking Marquez in the 2015 Malaysian GP only helped to fuel and intensify their fierce rivalry, as well. While their relationship would later at least be amicable, they never saw eye-to-eye. Rossi firmly continued to hold a grudge with Marquez for how the 2015 term ended.