MotoGP™. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) prevails in epic Quartararo fight to become Champion at PTT Thailand Grand Prix

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The PTT Thailand Grand Prix won best Grand Prix of the year last year and once again, it was a fierce battle out front at the Chang International Circuit. In yet another head-to-head scrap, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) took on Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) in a thrilling climax, leaving it to the last lap to take victory in a final corner showdown. Marquez reigned supreme to take a second consecutive victory in Buriram to become the 2019 MotoGP™ World Champion, a sixth time in the premier class.

With tension mounting, it was lights-out and a fantastic start from Fabio Quartararo, as the 20-year-old Frenchman blasted into the lead at Turn 1, with Marc Marquez almost colliding with Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) on the short shoot to the first turn. Maverick Viñales made a good start and held on to third whilst Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) also got away well, pushing through into fourth. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) didn’t make big gains but was seventh by the end of Lap 1, moving through from ninth on the grid. It was a catastrophe for Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), who stalled his bike on the grid and had to start from Pitlane.

The race settled down and Quartararo set an incredibly hot pace out front, pulling Marquez along with him as the two began to trade fastest lap times. Valentino Rossi had got ahead of Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) at the final corner, whilst Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) loomed in the background. There was a disaster further down the field as Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) crashed out at Turn 8. The Finnish rider was OK, but his race was ruin.

Lap 7 and Maverick Viñales had dropped out of contention for victory as the Spaniard struggled with a full fuel load in the early laps of the race. Andrea Dovizioso hadn’t been able to make any further in-roads on the riders ahead but had pulled out a half-a-second advantage over Franco Morbidelli, whilst Valentino Rossi was under pressure from the Suzuki pairing of Mir and Rins. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) had dropped to ninth but was two seconds clear of Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) in tenth.

There was drama for Valentino Rossi on Lap 10 and 11, as the Italian experienced a sudden drop-off in pace and found himself behind Rins and then Mir, the latter getting through at Turn 3. The 40-year-old nine-time Champion picked his pace back up but was just 1.7 sec off the back of the Suzuki. With Rins in clear air, he set of after Morbidelli.

At half race distance, the gap was down between the leading two and Marc Marquez had hit stalking mode; the Honda rider just sat in behind the rookie Frenchman, shadowing him. However, Quartararo responded a lap later, setting a scintillating pace as the two riders duelled. Behind them however, Maverick Viñales was closing in and set his personal best lap of the race for a third consecutive time. The race was reaching an incredible climax, as the leaders began to concertina together.

Lap 15 saw Alex Rins make his way into fifth place, getting ahead of Franco Morbidelli, who was having a very strong and solid ride inside the top six, a position he had held all weekend. There was disappointment behind though, as Aleix Espargaro retired into the pits from a top ten placing. This promoted Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) into the top ten.

The race was coming to a close and on Lap 23, after a few laps of more-or-less riding pillion with Quartararo, Marquez showed his hand at Turn 3 but ran wide, allowing Fabio back ahead. The crowd were on their feet as a second grandstand finish for a second consecutive year beckoned at the Chang International Circuit. Cheers and screams, the atmosphere was electric with history on the horizon in more ways than one.

On the final lap, Marquez tried again at Turn 3 and this time it worked, as he pulled his Honda down to an apex and then blasted onwards to Turn 4. Quartararo had been strong in the final sector for the entire race however and built in momentum all the way through from Turn 8. Closing through every corner, Quartararo tried one massive lunge at Turn 12, as the enormous Thai audience watched on. Going slightly wide, an opportunistic Marquez didn’t settle for a safe second and sliced back through to take the win on the run to the line, whilst the Petronas Yamaha SRT outfit had to settle for second. Maverick Viñales couldn’t get in on the action and in the end, was third.

Behind them, a magnanimous Andrea Dovizioso held on to fourth and Alex Rins took fifth from tenth on the grid. Franco Morbidelli was secured a sixth place ahead of Joan Mir, whilst Valentino Rossi could only manage eighth. Completing the top ten were Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and Takaaki Nakagami in tenth.

PTT THAILAND GRAND PRIX

MotoGP Race Classification 2019.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	179.3	39’36.223
2	20	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	179.3	+0.171
3	16	12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	179.2	+1.380
4	13	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	178.5	+11.218
5	11	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	178.5	+11.449
6	10	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	178.2	+14.466
7	9	36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	177.9	+18.729
8	8	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	177.9	+19.162
9	7	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	177.6	+23.425
10	6	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	177.1	+29.423
11	5	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	177.1	+30.103
12	4	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	176.9	+33.216
13	3	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	176.7	+35.667
14	2	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	176.4	+39.736
15	1	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	176.4	+40.038
16		88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	176.4	+40.136
17		53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	176.0	+44.589
18		99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	175.3	+54.723
19		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	175.2	+56.012
20		55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	174.8	+1’01.431
Not Classified
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	174.4	9 Laps
		82	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	172.6	23 Laps

MotoGP World Standing 2019.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	325
2	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	215
3	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	167
4	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	163
5	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	162
6	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	145
7	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	FRA	143
8	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	119
9	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	102
10	Franco MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	ITA	90
11	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	80
12	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	74
13	Joan MIR	Suzuki	SPA	58
14	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	46
15	Francesco BAGNAIA	Ducati	ITA	34
16	Andrea IANNONE	Aprilia	ITA	33
17	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	29
18	Johann ZARCO	KTM	FRA	27
19	Jorge LORENZO	Honda	SPA	23
20	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	18
21	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	16
22	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	9
23	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	FRA	7
24	Hafizh SYAHRIN	KTM	MAL	7
25	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	5
26	Bradley SMITH	Aprilia	GBR
27	Mika KALLIO	KTM	FIN

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com