Who are now favorites for the MotoGP title after a tense Thailand GP?

After the fierce Thai Grand Prix, are only 17 points separating Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia in the fight for the MotoGP championship?

Pramac’s Martin extended his lead from 20 to 22 points after beating Bagnaia in the dry sprint race, which was won by Enea Bastianini.

When rain fell during the 26-lap Grand Prix, the tables were turned and Bagnaia delivered one of his best drives of the season to take a vital ninth Sunday victory ahead of a struggling Martin.

Both riders equally showed the qualities needed to win the championship: Bagnaia had to try to do as much damage as possible to Martin, while the latter only had to follow his rival.

Martin, which is officially a two-horse race, enters this weekend’s Malaysian GP with his first chance to win the championship. If he beats Bagnaia by 21 points at Sepang, the title will be his.

But how realistic is this?

In the latest Crash MotoGP Podcast, host and Crash.net social media manager Jordan Moreland asks: “Here’s my question to Malaysia: who has the advantage in the two champions?

“Is it Jorge Martin or now Pecco Bagnaia? Of course, Bagnaia can come onto the pitch and show a little more freedom than Jorge. But is it about other elements added to how they perceive it, or are they only focused on themselves? It’s difficult.”

Crash MotoGP editor Peter McLaren says: “I think Martin still has the overall advantage, but I think it will be a difficult task to hold off Pecco this weekend.

“Like with momentum, with that boost he would get from being against the wall, the pressure was on, he went out and delivered.

“He knows Sepang is a good track for him. But undoubtedly these 17 points are really valuable. So there’s no reason for Martin to panic, but I think he has a real fight ahead of him.

“And I think the most important thing for both of them now is to think about Valencia. It’s about putting yourself in the best possible position before Saturday or Sunday’s clash with Valencia.

“Obviously he (Martin) has a mathematical chance this weekend, but I don’t think he can look at it that way under any circumstances.

“If things had gone better for him (in Thailand), if the race had been dry and he had scored more points, he would have gone there with a points lead in the mid-20s, maybe even around 20s, and maybe he could have realistically looked at Malaysia as the end of things .

“I don’t think that’s the case now. I think it’s very important to take the same attitude as (Thailand) and limit the damage. The team kept telling him: you don’t have to beat Pecco, but you have to be close to him and keep the points advantage for Valencia as much as possible.

Crash senior journalist Lewis Duncan adds: “I think the way things are going, Martin is definitely the right guy because he just needs to really follow Pecco, whether that’s fifth or first – it doesn’t really matter , he just has to be there.

“I think the sprint will be the most interesting sprint of the year. Usually this year Pecco makes a mistake, it happens in the sprint and that’s where Jorge has generally been strongest over the last few years.

“We could start Sunday with Martin winning the sprint, Pecco not scoring any points and then suddenly everything would change.