Recently crowned world champion Marc Marquez broke another record by romping to his 12th win of the season in an eventful Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Spanish Honda rider was followed by Yamaha teammates Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, while his own teammate Dani Pedrosa crashed out.

Marquez, who completed the Sepang circuit in 40minutes 45.523 seconds, now equals Australian Mick Doohan's record of 12 wins in a season.

The youngest world champion – who started from pole, his record 13th of the season – said victory did not come easy with Rossi at his heels on the sweltering circuit in the tropical Southeast Asian country.

"I think the strongest opponent today was the weather, besides Rossi of course. I didn't get off to a great start after making a mistake in the first corner, and I was also worried about my tyre life because of the heat," the 21-year-old said.

"My strategy of cooling down the brakes and tyres worked, and I gave it everything in the final seven laps. Now that I have won and equalled the record for wins, I just want to go out and enjoy the final race in Valencia."

Crowd favourite Rossi, who briefly held the lead after overtaking Lorenzo, finished 2.445 seconds behind Marquez to settle in second place.

The 35-year-old Italian great, who won in Australia last weekend, was pleased with his runner-up position, which cements his second place in the championship standings, where he has 275 points, 12 points ahead of Lorenzo.

"I am happy to finish second. I had a great battle with Lorenzo at the start, and when I overtook him I noticed that I had a little bit of pace. But Marc eventually overtook me, and he deserves the victory," said Rossi, who has won seven premier class world titles.