Lorenzo holds off charging Marquez in season finale

Jorge Lorenzo
Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo led from pole to win in his final race with Yamaha but he had to hold off a fast approaching Honda rider Marc Marquez who, after clearing a battle with Valentino Rossi, Vinales and Iannone for second, closed on Lorenzo but it was too late and Lorenzo crossed the line slightly over 1-sec. ahead of the 2016 champion.

Iannone fended off Rossi for third place, with Maverick Vinales completing the top five.

Pol Espargaro managed to grab sixth on the line, beating Dovizioso's Ducati in a drag race to the line.

Aleix Espargaro, Smith and Bautista completed the top 10.

Lorenzo started from pole position after setting the best-ever lap around the 4,005m Valencian circuit, with a time of 1'29.401 yesterday. Using the latest edition MICHELIN Power Slick medium compound front tire, which has a new profile and is aimed for the 2017 season, the Spaniard got the holeshot from the start and led at the end of lap-one.

Lorenzo never came under any real threat at the front and held first place for the rest of the proceedings, setting the race lap record on the fifth circulation as he recorded a time of 1'31.171. He finished the 30-laps in 45'54.228 to set a new race record at Valencia, a feat which Lorenzo had also completed at Qatar during his – and the MotoGP field's – first outing on Michelin tires this season.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]The battle behind for the remaining podium positions was as intense and enthralling as any seen this season. A five-way tussle soon developed behind Lorenzo featuring World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team), Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), Maverick Vinales (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team). The five modern-day gladiators clashed at every opportunity with numerous overtaking maneuvers making for exciting racing and positions changing hands regularly.

As the race progressed Marquez broke the shackles of the remaining quartet and tried to chase Lorenzo, he set many fast sectors as his new for 2017 MICHELIN Power Slick hard compound front tire worked perfectly in the latter stages of the race. Marquez managed to take a large amount of time out of what was now an unassailable lead for Lorenzo, and despite his late charge the five-time World Champion had to settle for second.

A huge and colorful crowd of 110,050 packed the grandstands around the circuit to witness Iannone secure the final rostrum position after a thrilling head-to-head with Rossi which saw the two change places many times. Rossi was fourth with Vinales following him over the line for fifth. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) took sixth and the position of First Independent Team Rider, with Dovizioso a very close seventh.

Eighth place was secured by Aleix Espargaro (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was ninth. Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) rounded out the top-ten.

Jorge Lorenzo
It has been an incredible weekend with a perfect first few laps, the pole position, the fastest lap, and the victory. I arrived here in MotoGP at 20 years old, taking my first pole position on my first race. After almost ten years I leave with a pole position and a victory, I think I couldn't have given Yamaha a better present than this for their support and their hard work during these years. We always had a competitive and winning bike. Now we will enjoy and celebrate these memories. Tonight at the party I will enjoy the last moments with my team. During the race you spend 45 minutes completely focused on what you are doing to dominate this bike, so when you cross the line you aren't very emotional yet and you don't think too much, because you need to recover. After two or three minutes I started remembering the best moments in my career and also the hard moments and in parc ferme it was very emotional with my team. For sure I will throw one of my biggest and craziest parties today because it's a good day. We have to enjoy all of these experiences and especially this last moment with Yamaha.

Marc Marquez
We're happy because we've managed to get on the podium and we've finished the season strongly. This is the most important thing. In the race, the start penalized us a lot as I had an issue with the clutch and lost several positions. Afterward I wasted a lot of time behind Rossi and Iannone. As Valentino said yesterday, overtaking is difficult on this track, so even if I was able to get close, to pass them was another story because I was losing under acceleration and was a bit on the limit under braking. I waited behind as the tires began to affect performance, and step-by-step I continued improving until I found the opportunity to pass them. From then on I was able to improve my speed, and maybe if the race had lasted a little longer I might have reached Lorenzo. Anyway, he had an incredible race and I was not able to catch him. Congrats to him for this result. It hasn't been an easy season but we were able to win the title in Japan and secure the Constructors Championship this weekend, which is great. Now we'll work hard starting from the next test to try and improve our bike even more.

Results

Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Time/Gap
1 25 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.000s
2 20 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda +1.185
3 16 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati +6.603
4 13 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +7.668
5 11 25 Maverick VINALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +10.610
6 10 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +18.378
7 9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati +18.417
8 8 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +18.678
9 7 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +25.993
10 6 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +35.065
11 5 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati +36.425
12 4 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati +42.415
13 3 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia +49.823
14 2 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati +52.035
15 1 43 Jack MILLER AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +55.625
16 0 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati +58.254
17 0 53 Tito RABAT SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +58.555
18 0 76 Loris BAZ FRA Avintia Racing Ducati +1'06.164
DNF 0 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 11 Laps
DNF 0 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 14 Laps
DNF 0 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 24 Laps
DNF 0 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Pull & Bear Aspar Team Ducati 26 Laps

Rider Standings

Pos.

Rider

Num

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

1

Marquez Marc

93

SPA

298

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

2

Rossi Valentino

46

ITA

249

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

3

Lorenzo Jorge

99

SPA

233

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Yamaha

4

Vinales Maverick

25

SPA

202

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

5

Dovizioso Andrea

4

ITA

171

Ducati Team

Ducati

6

Pedrosa Dani

26

SPA

155

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

7

Crutchlow Cal

35

GBR

140

LCR Honda

Honda

8

Espargaro Pol

44

SPA

135

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

9

Iannone Andrea

29

ITA

112

Ducati Team

Ducati

10

Barbera Hector

8

SPA

102

Avintia Racing

Ducati

11

Espargaro Aleix

41

SPA

93

Team Suzuki Ecstar

Suzuki

12

Bautista Alvaro

19

SPA

82

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

13

Laverty Eugene

50

IRE

77

Aspar MotoGP Team

Ducati

14

Petrucci Danilo

9

ITA

75

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

15

Redding Scott

45

GBR

74

Octo Pramac Racing

Ducati

16

Bradl Stefan

6

GER

63

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Aprilia

17

Smith Bradley

38

GBR

62

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

18

Miller Jack

43

AUS

57

Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

19

Pirro Michele

51

ITA

36

Ducati Team

Ducati

20

Baz Loris

76

FRA

35

Avintia Racing

Ducati

21

Rabat Tito

53

SPA

29

Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

22

Hernandez Yonny

68

COL

20

Aspar MotoGP Team

Ducati

23

Nakasuga Katsuyuki

21

JPN

5

Yamaha Factory Racing Team

Yamaha

24

Lowes Alex

22

GBR

3

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Yamaha

25

Hayden Nicky

69

USA

1

Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS

Honda

26

Jones Mike

7

AUS

1

Avintia Racing

Ducati

27

Aoyama Hiroshi

7

JPN

1

Repsol Honda Team

Honda

Team Standings

Pos.

Team

Points

1

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

482

2

Repsol Honda Team

454

3

Team Suzuki Ecstar

295

4

Ducati Team

283

5

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

197

6

Octo Pramac Racing

149

7

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

145

8

LCR Honda

140

9

Avintia Racing

137

10

Aspar MotoGP Team

97

11

Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS

86

Constructor Standings

Pos.

Team

Points

1

Honda

369

2

Yamaha

353

3

Ducati

261

4

Suzuki

208

5

Aprilia

101