Motegi MotoGP: Marquez crowned champion as Rossi and Lorenzo crashBy: Charles Bradley, Editor in Chief
Marc Marquez was crowned a three-time MotoGP champion by claiming his first-ever win at Honda’s home track Motegi on Sunday, as Yamaha rivals Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo crashed out.
Rossi – who qualified on pole despite suffering an illness – fell in the early stages while in pursuit of Marquez, losing the front end of his Yamaha as he turned in to Turn 10.
Lorenzo – who was carrying leg and elbow injuries from his vicious practice crash – had to finish on the podium to stop Marquez sealing the title here, and looked set to do so until he too fell with a handful of laps remaining.
Marquez made no mistakes, however, and once he’d dispatched Lorenzo in the opening laps, he pulled away to record a dominant fifth victory of the season.
Story of the raceRossi suffered a poor start from pole, allowing Marquez to lead the charge to the first corner, but Lorenzo passed him on the inside of the exit of Turn 1 – bringing Rossi with him. Marquez fought back, grabbing second again.
Suzuki’s quick-starting Aleix Espargaro briefly passed Rossi for third, but the Italian got him back swiftly.
Despite torn ligaments in his calf, and a painful elbow, Lorenzo led Marquez, Rossi, Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow. Maverick Vinales passed Crutchlow on lap two for sixth.
Rossi grabbed second from Marquez again on lap two, but Marquez repassed him immediately.
Marquez scythed past Lorenzo after a couple of laps stalking him, and then pulled clear as Rossi initially toiled to find a way past his teammate. He got the job done two laps later.
Rossi was almost a second in arrears of Marquez at this point, and fell at Turn 10 as he attempted to close the gap to the leader. He needed marshals to lift the bike off him, as it was pinning him to the ground by his leg, but managed to restart. This was to no avail, however, as he pulled in to the pits to retire.
Dovizioso passed Espargaro for fourth, which became third due to Rossi’s exit. The Italian’s fall also promoted his teammate Lorenzo back to second in the points table – but the reigning champion still had to finish on the podium to stop Marquez being crowned today.
That became irrelevant when Lorenzo dropped his Yamaha in left-handed Turn 9, crashing out.
Vinales outbraked Espargaro for fourth at Turn 1 with seven laps to go, only to run wide and hand the place back to his teammate, but he made the move stick a lap later.
With the Yamaha duo’s exit, Dovizioso cruised to the runner-up spot, 3sec behind Marquez, with Vinales and Espargaro next up.
Crutchlow finished fifth, well clear of Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro and Aprilia’s Alvaro Bautista. Pramac Ducati pair Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding were eighth and ninth respectively, with Stefan Bradl making it two Aprilias in the top 10.
Aspar’s Eugene Laverty crashed his Ducati early at Turn 9. Jack Miller crashed his Marc VDS Honda at Turn 1, as did Hector Barbera – who was riding Andrea Iannone’s works Ducati.
Japanese GP results
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Motegi MotoGP: Marquez crowned champion as Rossi and Lorenzo crash
