Source: Ajo Motorsport.

A protest by Alex Marquez’s Estrella Galicia 0,0 team against Australia’s Jack Miller was rejected by MotoGP race officials in Malaysia following an entertaining Sepang Moto3 scrap on Sunday.

Marquez entered the weekend 20 points ahead of Miller, but saw that sliced to 11 when he finished fifth and Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Miller charged to second.

During the race Miller and Marquez made contact on multiple occasions in a series of action-packed passes, however a protest from Marquez’s team was later thrown out against Miller’s manoeuvres.

“We looked at six passing manoeuvres, four of which did not warrant further investigation,” race director Mike Webb told Crash.net. “They were completely normal passing manoeuvres. In the other two passes there was light contact and they were definitely hard and close passing maneuverers, but our unanimous decision as race direction was that no rules were broken.

“Taken in isolation, not one incident warranted action. The fact that there was more than one meant we looked closer. Ultimately, no rules were broken but we made clear to Miller that it was very, very close to the limit of hard racing.”

Miller went on to shrug off claims that his aggression was over the line, reveling in the emerging Marquez rivalry that has intensified in recent races.

“I just put my bike where he wanted to be – I didn’t drive my bike into him,” Miller said. “I just made it difficult for him to turn into the corner. If I deliberately wanted him to crash I could quite easily drive my bike into the side of him and he’d be on the floor.

“But I didn’t want this. I just wanted to race as clean as possible but make it difficult for him to try and get as many bikes between myself and him.

“As you know with the Marquez’s they touch a lot, so this is, for me, racing in their way. As you saw, it wasn’t like I was the only one touching. He touched me many times also and put me wide. But a couple of the times when he put me wide, he went wide himself and I’d come back up the inside.”

Miller says it’s all or nothing at Valencia next month, trailing Marquez by 11 points entering the round and poised to make his anticipated MotoGP debut in the days following for LCR Honda.

“It’s going to be like the last round of a boxing match,” Miller added. “The gloves come off and everybody goes for it. It’s only Marquez and me now fighting for the championship, so we can either be first or second. All or nothing.”