Pedrosa wins race, Marquez title in Valencia

Dani Pedrosa got his 2nd win of 2017
Dani Pedrosa got his 2nd win of 2017

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took his sixth world title and fourth MotoGP World Championship despite a huge front end moment into Turn 1 and a run off track, coming home third in the race to defend his MotoGP crown in Valencia. Title rival Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) similarly suffered a run off from P4, but the Italian was unable to save it and sadly crashed out of contention in the race and Championship.

At the front, the race was a duel to the line between Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Johann Zarco – with the race decided in favor of the Spaniard on the final lap as Pedrosa pounced and defended to perfection for his second victory of the year.

Marquez got the holeshot from pole, with teammate Pedrosa slicing through from the second row to take over in second – and Zarco pushed down to third. Dovizioso made a good start to move up to sixth, then past Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and glued to the back of the second Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Early on, Zarco took over in the lead – with Marquez seeing him coming and slotting into second. Pedrosa remained in third, with the two Ducati machines glued together around a second behind and the tense tick of the clock counting down.

After a Zarco error, a Marquez pass and then the Frenchman hitting back, laps ticked down before Marquez struck for the lead – and ran wide. Sliding on his knee for a stunning save into Turn 1, the reigning Champion headed for the gravel – but managed to rejoin, yet behind Dovizioso.

Lorenzo then bolted to chase down Pedrosa and Zarco ahead, before the Ducati Team rider went down suddenly – and just as suddenly, the dream was over for his teammate. A run off into the gravel that couldn’t be saved saw Dovizioso’s title hopes disappear after a nevertheless stunning season to take the runner up spot.

Dani Pedrosa vs Johann Zarco was then the duel for the win, with Pedrosa initially attacking at the final corner but the Frenchman able to hit back. As the last lap dawned, the Spaniard tucked in and then pounced into Turn 1, managing to hold off Zarco around the tight Circuit Ricardo Tormo Circuit to take his second victory of the season.

Marquez leads Pedrosa early
Marquez leads Pedrosa early

Marquez, back into the podium places after the falls ahead, kept his calm to the end to take third and the title, making him the youngest ever six-time World Champion and the youngest to take four premier class Championships.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) put in an impressive rookie ride into fourth, ahead of Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) after a more difficult race for the ‘Doctor’. Iannone dropped back slightly after a run off at Turn 1 to take sixth, ahead of a great final race with EG 0,0 Marc VDS for Jack Miller in P7. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) moved up after crashing out in Q1 and qualifying outside the top ten to cross the line in P8, with Michele Pirro (Ducati Team) putting in another solid wildcard appearance to come home in ninth. Tito Rabat (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) also impressed, locking out the top ten.

Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the Austrian factory’s first season in the premier class in P11, and it was a tough weekend and final race of 2017 for third-placed in the Championship Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), as the Spaniard came home in P12. Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), Karel Abraham (Pull&Bear Aspar Team) and Hector Barbera (Reale Avintia Racing) completed the points in the #FinalShowdown, with the dust settling around the dramatic final race as the flag flew.

Quotes

Marc Marquez
I’m living a dream. ‘Six Titles’ are big words. The truth is that I’m incredibly happy because we worked so much this year, and today the race was incredibly tense and exciting—a bit ‘Marquez Style.’ I made a mistake, but I also made my best save of the year. From that moment on, I just tried to finish the race in a good position. I’m sorry that Andrea didn’t finish the race, as he deserved to do so. He had an incredible season and I would have liked to have him on the podium with me today. The key to the year has been our mentality. In our world it’s very important to remain positive and motivated during the difficult moments. Some things happened to us at the beginning of the season but when we found the way to sort things out, everything went better. Congratulations to Honda and the entire team for the Triple Crown. It’s an amazing achievement. Winning the Title at the last race of the season in front of our fans is one of the best things possible, really special. Now I want to enjoy this with my entire team and my family, and after that we’ll start to work for next year.

Dani Pedrosa
Obviously I’m very very happy because a win is a win, and this was a very tough and hard-fought one. Today we had a chance because we got a good start and the setup was working well, so we took it. The track wasn’t easy as front grip wasn’t perfect, and in fact we saw a lot of crashes in the race. I was just behind Marc when he made that save and it was incredible. The smoke, the noise, the speed—wow, impressive! I realized that the track had a limit, maybe because the rear had more grip, which pushed the front. Anyway, I tried to manage the front grip, but then in the last three laps I gave it everything to pass Johann. He was so good into the corners but finally I passed him on the last lap. I’m so happy to have won in front of my crowd, and I would like to dedicate this victory to my family, friends, fans, and the team. This was a fantastic day for all of us, as Marc clinched the Rider Title and we secured the Constructor and Team Titles. I also move up one place in the Championship, and that’s great as well.

Race Results

Pos. Points Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Gap
1 25 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.000s
2 20 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +0.337s
3 16 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda +10.861
4 13 42 Alex RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +13.567
5 11 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +13.817
6 10 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +14.516
7 9 43 Jack MILLER AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +17.087
8 8 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda +17.230
9 7 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ducati Team Ducati +25.942
10 6 53 Tito RABAT SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda +27.020
11 5 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +30.835
12 4 25 Maverick VINALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +35.012
13 3 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati +38.076
14 2 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati +41.988
15 1 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati +47.703
16 0 76 Loris BAZ FRA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati +47.709
17 0 60 Michael VAN DER MARK NED Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha +52.134
DNF 0 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 5 Laps
DNF 0 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 5 Laps
DNF 0 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Ducati Team Ducati 6 Laps
DNF 0 22 Sam LOWES GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 8 Laps
DNF 0 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 16 Laps
DNF 0 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Racing Ducati 26 Laps
DNF 0 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 27 Laps
DNF 0 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 28 Laps

Rider Final Standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 298 Repsol Honda Team Honda
2 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 261 Ducati Team Ducati
3 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 230 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
4 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 210 Repsol Honda Team Honda
5 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 208 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
6 ZARCO Johann 5 FRA 174 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
7 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 137 Ducati Team Ducati
8 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 124 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
9 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 112 LCR Honda Honda
10 FOLGER Jonas 94 GER 84 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
11 MILLER Jack 43 AUS 82 EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
12 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 75 Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati
13 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 70 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
14 REDDING Scott 45 GBR 64 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
15 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 62 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
16 RINS Alex 42 SPA 59 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
17 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 55 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
18 BAZ Loris 76 FRA 45 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati
19 RABAT Tito 53 SPA 35 EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
20 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE 32 Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati
21 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 29 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
22 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 28 Reale Avintia Racing Ducati
23 PIRRO Michele 51 ITA 25 Ducati Test Team Ducati
24 KALLIO Mika 36 FIN 11 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
25 LOWES Sam 22 GBR 5 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
26 NAKASUGA Katsuyuki 21 JPN 4 Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha
27 GUINTOLI Sylvain 50 FRA 1 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki