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MotoGP Title Fight Heads to Sepang: Marquez Leads Martin by 10 With Milestones in Play

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The MotoGP World Championship fight arrives at Sepang this weekend for the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia with almost nothing in it. Marc Marquez leads Jorge Martin by 10 points, 365 to 355, after taking the championship lead with his Sprint win in Australia, where Sunday’s Grand Prix was cancelled because of the weather.

Martin missed the Australian race after being declared unfit with a fracture in his right wrist. He has been given the green light to take part in first practice in Malaysia before a further medical review, and his return sets up a direct fight at the front. Marco Bezzecchi sits third in the standings on 315 points. The constructors’ fight is just as tight: Aprilia leads Ducati by six points, 509 to 503, and both factories have eight Grand Prix wins in 2026, already a record season for Aprilia.

The setting is a classic. This is the 34th Malaysian Grand Prix and the 26th held at Sepang, which has hosted the race since 1999. Valentino Rossi holds the record for MotoGP wins at the track with six. Among the current grid, Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia have two each. Ducati has nine wins at Sepang, more than any other factory, and has won all three Sprints held there.

Sunday is stacked with milestones. A win would be Marquez’s 80th in MotoGP. Luca Marini is scheduled to make his 200th Grand Prix start across all classes. A podium would give Bagnaia 64 in MotoGP, tying him with Wayne Rainey for ninth on the all-time list. Eight different riders have already won a Grand Prix in 2026, and one more new winner would equal the season record of nine. Aprilia Racing can also clinch the MotoGP Teams’ World Championship at Sepang.

Practice begins Friday, with the Sprint on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday. Stats courtesy of MotoGP’s official pre-Grand Prix stats pack.

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Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Returns March 5-7, 2027 to Open the INDYCAR Season

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October 27, 2026

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The NTT INDYCAR SERIES will open its 2027 season where it has so often started — on the waterfront streets of downtown St. Petersburg. The 23rd annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is set for March 5-7, 2027, Green Savoree Racing Promotions has confirmed, with the Grand Prix headlining the Sunday schedule.

It will be the 17th time the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg has opened the INDYCAR season, placing the city at the center of the sport’s opening-weekend spotlight. The race runs on a temporary 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit that winds around Pioneer Park, the Duke Energy Center for the Arts and The Dalí Museum before extending onto the runway at Albert Whitted Airport, bordering Tampa Bay and the St. Petersburg Harbor and Marina. The Grand Prix airs live on FOX on March 7.

Saturday brings a second headliner. The NASCAR Truck Series returns to the St. Petersburg street circuit on March 6 for the second straight year, after making history in 2026 with the first NASCAR national-series race ever held on a street course — a debut won by Layne Riggs in the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150. The series races under its new name in 2027, the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series, following the entitlement partnership NASCAR announced in September. The weekend’s additional support races are still to be announced.

The 2026 edition set the bar. Four-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou won the Grand Prix for the second consecutive year on March 1, and promoter Kim Green, co-owner, chairman and CEO of Green Savoree Racing Promotions, called it the event’s best yet, with tremendous spectator attendance on all three days.

“The combination of world-class racing, the waterfront setting and the incredible support from our fans creates an atmosphere unlike any other race on the calendar,” Green said as the 2027 ticket renewal window opened this fall.

Three-day tickets for the 2027 weekend went on public sale October 23 at gpstpete.com, with reserved grandstand seats starting at $150 and three-day general admission starting at $95. Single-day tickets go on sale in the new year, and the complete weekend racing and festival schedule will be announced at a later date.

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is owned and operated by Green Savoree St. Petersburg, LLC. We Speak Media will have continuing coverage as the March weekend approaches.

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