Marc Marquez has done it again, crossing the finish line first at Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana – his 12th victory of the season. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo scored points in his final MotoGP ride to help Honda win the Teams Championship. The podium was completed with Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) finishing second and third at the season’s final race.
Miller was third on the grid and he launched his Pramac Racing Ducati off the line like a rocket and managed to grab the holeshot into Turn 1, with Marquez getting a sluggish getaway from the middle of the front row to drop down to P6 having run slightly wide at Turn 1. Polesitter Quartararo then grabbed the lead from Miller as the Australian ran wide at Turn 2, with the Frenchman quickly creating a small gap to his rivals.
Heading into Turn 1 on Lap 2, Marquez was into P3 past the fast-starting duo of Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team). And it wouldn’t take the 2019 Champion long to pick off Miller as he locked his radar onto Quartararo.
The Rookie of the Year’s lead was 0.7 over Marquez, with the latter racing to an eight-tenths advantage over Miller. Marquez was creeping up to the back of the leading M1 slowly but surely, and on Lap 8 a surprise, late but super fine move at Turn 11 saw the number 93 lead.
Suddenly third place Miller – with Dovizioso and Rins in tow – had closed the gap to less than half a second, the top five covered by 1.7. However, Marquez was in the groove and the eight-time Champion had pulled to over half a second clear of Quartararo, with the gap hovering between 0.6 and 0.8 for a number of laps after. Miller wasn’t letting Quartararo have P2 all his own way either, that margin was remaining at a second – enough to keep the number 20 on his toes.
On his final-ever MotoGP ride, five-time World Champion and future MotoGP Legend Jorge Lorenzo finished P13. It was an emotional day for the Spaniard who arrived back into pitlane to rapturous applause, with the Valencia fans paying their full respects to one of the sport’s greatest ever riders on his cool-down lap. #ThankYouJorge!
2019 draws to a close. But don’t worry, 2020 is just around the corner! Testing begins in Valencia on 19 and 20 November.
