Valencia MotoGP: Marquez seals fourth title in dramatic finale
Marc Marquez sealed his fourth MotoGP title after finishing third in a Valencia season finale won by Dani Pedrosa, as Andrea Dovizioso's championship hopes were ended with a late crash.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Dovizioso needed to win the race and hope polesitter Marquez couldn't finish inside the top 11, and the Italian made quick progress from ninth on the grid to settle into fifth place behind Ducati teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
Marquez led the opening laps, but looked over his shoulder as he allowed Tech 3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco ahead at Turn 6 on the fourth lap, and settled into a rhythm behind the Frenchman.
Zarco headed a five-strong lead group comprising himself, Marquez, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Dovizioso, who put increasing pressure on his teammate in the fight for fourth.
Lorenzo, however, wouldn't move over for the Italian, and was eventually given the coded instruction 'Suggested Mapping 8' for the second race in a row after 13 laps.
The Spaniard still didn't heed the instruction and was eventually shown a pitboard with an unambiguous '-1' after several more laps of running ahead of Dovizioso.
It wasn't until the 20th lap of a tense 30-lap encounter that the order at the front changed, as Marquez briefly passed Zarco, only to be overtaken straight back in turn.
Marquez was soon back on the attack, passing on lap 23, but almost blew what looked to be a safe title win as he misjudged his braking into Turn 1 on the following lap and ran wide into the gravel.
Somehow keeping his works Honda upright, he managed to rejoin in fifth, behind Zarco, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Dovizioso.
After 12 laps of seemingly holding up Dovizioso, Lorenzo then crashed out at Turn 4 with six laps remaining, before Ducati's hopes of a first title in a decade crumbled as Dovizioso fell at Turn 8 on the same tour.
That promoted Marquez to third, which was enough to beat Dovizioso to the title by 36 points.
Meanwhile, Zarco came under increasing threat from Pedrosa in the closing laps, and eventually succumbed to the works Honda rider at the start of the final lap.
Pedrosa hung on for the final lap to take his second victory of the season by 0.337s, with Marquez a further 10 seconds back after his late, heart-stopping excursion.
A further 2.7s behind Marquez, Alex Rins took a career-best fourth for Suzuki, while Valentino Rossi was fifth on the best of the works Yamahas.
Finishing fifth meant Rossi was beaten to fourth in the standings by Pedrosa by just two points.
Front-row starter Andrea Iannone slumped from third to sixth at the finish, ahead of satellite Honda duo Jack Miller (Marc VDS) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda). Ducati tester Michele Pirro and the second Marc VDS machine of Tito Rabat completed the top 10.
Erstwhile title contender Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) endured a wretched final race of the year, finishing 12th behind the lead KTM of Bradley Smith.
Satellite Ducati riders Alvaro Bautista and Scott Redding both crashed out early on, along with Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia and the wildcard KTM of Mika Kallio.
Sam Lowes was also a late crasher in his final MotoGP outing for Aprilia, while pitlane starter Pol Espargaro was the race's eighth and final faller.
Race results:
Pos. | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 46'08.125 | |
2 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha | 46'08.462 | 0.337 |
3 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 46'18.986 | 10.861 |
4 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 46'21.692 | 13.567 |
5 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 46'21.942 | 13.817 |
6 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 46'22.641 | 14.516 |
7 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda | 46'25.212 | 17.087 |
8 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 46'25.355 | 17.230 |
9 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 46'34.067 | 25.942 |
10 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda | 46'35.145 | 27.020 |
11 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 46'38.960 | 30.835 |
12 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 46'43.137 | 35.012 |
13 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 46'46.201 | 38.076 |
14 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati | 46'50.113 | 41.988 |
15 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | 46'55.828 | 47.703 |
16 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati | 46'55.834 | 47.709 |
17 | 60 | Michael van der Mark | Yamaha | 47'00.259 | 52.134 |
Ret | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 39'06.114 | 5 laps |
Ret | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 39'55.165 | 5 laps |
Ret | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 36'55.021 | 6 laps |
Ret | 22 | Sam Lowes | Aprilia | 34'54.863 | 8 laps |
Ret | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 22'28.282 | 16 laps |
Ret | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 6'19.954 | 26 laps |
Ret | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 4'44.941 | 27 laps |
Ret | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM | 3'14.772 | 28 laps |
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