Honda’s Marc Marquez ended the 2019 MotoGP season with a win in Valencia GP from Petronas SRT Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller.
Pole-sitter and Petronas SRT Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo did not get away cleanly in MotoGP Valencia GP as Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller took the lead for a brief moment. It wasn’t for long as the Frenchman barged his way through the Australian to retake the lead.
Suzuki’s Alex Rins was third with Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso fourth, Honda’s Marc Marquez fifth, Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales sixth, Suzuki’s Joan Mir seventh, Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli eighth, Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi ninth and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow 10th.
The rest of the points position had KTM Pol Espargaro 11th, Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci 12th, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro 13th, LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco 14th and Avintia Ducati’s Karel Abraham 15th. As Quartararo led the way, Marquez was the man on charge.
He passed Dovizioso, Rins and even Miller to slot behind the Frenchman. It took him only handful of laps to get past Quartararo and take the Valencia GP lead. The Frenchman steadied himself in second with Miller third as Dovizioso and Rins went back and forth.
The Italian held fourth from Rins with Vinales in sixth ahead of Mir, Rossi as Aprilia’s Andrea Iannone climbed up to ninth from teammate Espagaro. The shuffled pack was due to multiple incidents with as many as five riders crashing – where three were back-to-back.
LCR Honda’s Crutchlow was the first to go down at Turn 1 after which Petrucci, Zarco and Tech 3 KTM’s Iker Leucona crashed at Turn 6. Petrucci was first to go down with Zarco soon after along with Leucona. Replays showed the Frenchman being taken to medical center.
As he fell down, Leucona’s bike threw him off the ground as the Spaniard crashed in the same place. Zarco tumbled down but was able to get back up. The cold and windy conditions then caught Petronas SRT’s Morbidelli as he crashed at Turn 4.
It was a cruise in the end, at the front, with Marquez winning Valencia GP, scoring his 12th win of the 2019 MotoGP season as Honda claimed the teams’ championship to make it three out of three, with riders’ and manufacturers’ titles as well.
Behind the Spaniard, Petronas SRT’s Quartararo was second with Pramac Ducati’s Miller rounding out the podium position as Ducati’s Dovizioso was fourth with Suzuki’s Rins fifth, Yamaha’s Vinales sixth, Suzuki’s Mir seventh and Yamaha’s Rossi in eighth.
Aprilia’s Iannone looked to finish ninth until the final lap where he tumbled down the order with teammate Espargaro finishing ninth ahead of KTM’s Espargaro, with Avintia Ducati’s Tito Rabat climbing up to end up 11th from KTM’s Mika Kallio.
Honda’s Jorge Lorenzo eventually crossed the line in 13th to score his final MotoGP points in his final grand prix event as Avintia Ducati’s Abraham was 14th and Tech 3 KTM’s Abraham rounding out the points scoring position in 15th.
DNF: Iannone, Morbidelli, Petrucci, Zarco, Leucona, Crutchlow, Michele Pirro.
