Crutchlow experienced issues with his start both times that the lights went out, however in his first race since the end of last season, the Brit was able to improve his pace throughout the first half of the race and continue to set personal best sector times throughout the 27 laps. At the end of his debut race for the Malaysian squad, Cal had moved himself into 17th position.
Cal Crutchlow
It was good to be back racing again. Physically I felt quite good and I’m happy to finish the race. I had an issue at the first start, which then affected my opening laps and I lost an important gap. Then on the re-start, we fixed the previous issue and I got into a good rhythm, so I’m happy with my race. I had a problem with the rear traction but it was good to complete the race distance. I’ve been able to gather some data for us to look through and the rear grip issue is something for us to try to understand. It was enjoyable to be back out there and I’m looking forward to doing it again next week.
Race results
| Pos. | Rider | Team | Time / Gap |
| 1 | Jorge MARTIN | Pramac Racing | 38’07.879 |
| 2 | Joan MIR | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1.548 |
| 3 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 9.632 |
| 4 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 12.771 |
| 5 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 12.923 |
| 6 | Johann ZARCO | Pramac Racing | 13.031 |
| 7 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 14.839 |
| 8 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | 17.953 |
| 9 | Alex MARQUEZ | LCR Honda CASTROL | 19.059 |
| 10 | Dani PEDROSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 19.389 |
| 11 | Francesco BAGNAIA | Ducati Lenovo Team | 21.667 |
| 12 | Enea BASTIANINI | Avintia Esponsorama | 25.267 |
| 13 | Valentino ROSSI | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 26.282 |
| 14 | Luca MARINI | SKY VR46 Avintia | 27.492 |
| 15 | Iker LECUONA | Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing | 31.076 |
| 16 | Pol ESPARGARO | Repsol Honda Team | 31.150 |
| 17 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 40.408 |
| 18 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing | 48.114 |
| Maverick VIÑALES | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | +1’03.149 | |
| Not Classified: | |||
| Jack MILLER | Ducati Lenovo Team | 9 Laps | |
| Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 13 Laps | |
| Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 23 Laps | |
| Lorenzo SAVADORI | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 0 Lap |
Source: motogp.com, sepangracingteam.com