Valencia MotoGP: Marquez wins to seal teams' title for Honda

Petronas SRT Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo led for the first seven laps before being passed by a recovering Marquez, and was unable to mount a challenge to retake the position over the remaining tours.

Poleman Quartararo ran side by side with Pramac’s Jack Miller on the run to the first corner at the start, but had to concede the lead to the rocketship Ducati.

He quickly disposed of Miller after a couple of corners and began to build up a small lead, while Marquez had to fight through from sixth after getting hung out at the first turn from second on the grid.

Quartararo held a margin of seventh tenths by the third lap, with Marquez soon up to second after snatching the place from Miller at the final corner at the end of the previous tour.

The Honda rider slashed Quartararo’s lead by a couple of tenths over the next three laps, and made his decisive move on the eighth tour at the Turn 11 left-hander – squeezing Quartararo out to the edge of the circuit on the exit.

Marquez immediately got his lead up to six tenths, though Quartararo was able to ensure this remained stagnant for a handful of laps.

However, with nine laps to go, Marquez moved a second out of reach for the first time and would ease across the line for his 12th win of the year by over 1.5s.

Quartararo came under some threat from Miller after he was passed by Marquez on lap eight, but was able to quash the Pramac rider’s challenge and ended a sensational rookie season with his seventh podium.

Miller secured the final place on the podium ahead of Suzuki's Alex Rins and Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso.

Maverick Vinales’s expected challenge for the victory never materialised, and he was resigned to sixth on the works Yamaha ahead of Joan Mir (Suzuki), team-mate Valentino Rossi, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and his KTM-mounted brother Pol.

Jorge Lorenzo ended his career in MotoGP with his best result of the year since June’s Italian GP in 13th.

Fellow Honda rider’s Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco of LCR failed to see the chequered flag after crashes, with the latter walking away from a horrifying incident.

Zarco lost the front of his RC213V going through Turn 6, with Tech3 debutant Iker Lecuona doing the same out of 15th place just seconds later.

As Zarco got to his feet he was struck by the KTM. Both he and Lecuona appeared to escape uninjured.

Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci crashed at the same turn just moments before, while SRT’s Franco Morbidelli, Andrea Iannone (Aprilia) and Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro also failed to finish.

Race results

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Time	km/h
1	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	27	41'21.469	156.8
2	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	27	41'22.495	156.8
3	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	27	41'23.878	156.7
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	27	41'24.795	156.6
5	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	27	41'24.977	156.6
6	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	27	41'30.298	156.3
7	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	27	41'32.091	156.2
8	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	27	41'44.461	155.4
9	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	27	41'54.173	154.8
10	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	27	41'54.442	154.8
11	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	27	42'04.264	154.2
12	82	Mika Kallio	KTM	27	42'07.201	154.0
13	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	27	42'12.513	153.7
14	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati	27	42'26.340	152.8
15	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM	27	42'37.956	152.1
	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	26	40'20.804	154.8
	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	18	27'39.166	156.4
	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	13	20'04.178	155.6
	5	Johann Zarco	Honda	13	20'08.462	155.1
	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	13	20'15.159	154.2
	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	10	15'26.863	155.5
	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	8	12'47.135	150.3
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