Marquez picks up seventh title at Motegi

Marc Marquez headed into the MotoGP at Twin Ring Motegi knowing he had a fighting chance to wrap up the championship. He rode the perfect race, from a P6 start taking third at the first corner and eventually overtaking race leader Andrea Dovizioso on his Ducati. To add to the win, Dovi crashed out trying to take the lead back.

The race had settled into a shootout between Marquez and Dovizioso early on with Cal Crutchlow tagging along, Valentino Rossi still carrying the battle along in fourth.

The two Suzuki Ecstars were also determined to carry on the fight, getting ahead of Rossi, with Alex Rins churning out fastest laps. Iannone eventually crashed out.

Rins continued to keep the pressure on Crutchlow, while Dovizioso kept up the lead. But it was a battle between Marquez and Dovi on the last five laps. Marquez managed to get ahead and keep off the pressure from the Ducati rider, till Dovizioso crashed out on turn 10 with two laps to go.

The race ended with Crutchlow holding on to P2, followed by Alex Rins and Rossi. Alvaro Bautista from the Angel Nieto team managed a 5th ahead of Johann Zarco. 

Marc Marquez said, “I feel really, really good. I would say it’s a dream came true, or better, that I’m living a dream. It’s something so special, here together with my team, all the Honda and HRC people, my family and my staff. It has been a great season, and ever since Aragon I’ve been tasting, imagining this title, because it was very close. Then I realized that this wasn’t my style, and I needed extra motivation, so I set the goal of trying to achieve it with my first match ball—in Motegi, by winning the race. This circuit was a challenging one to manage that, but it seems like when I’m under pressure, I feel better on the bike! Today the race was as I expected. I was prepared to make a good start and immediately make some passes. I got to second place at the end of the first lap, and then was able to follow Andrea and stay with him. I thought I could try and attack before the last lap because I felt I had something extra to give. He was pushing very hard and made a mistake, and that’s a shame because he deserved to be here on the podium. That’s also something that I think Dani would deserve at least once this season. Anyway, when I crossed the finish line it was an explosion of joy. My people prepared this Level7 celebration, but I didn’t know anything ahead of time. I never want to know, but I think it’s because I used to play that kind of game a lot. Now it’s time to celebrate this seventh title and enjoy these final three races.”

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