MotoGP™: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) seals title with win in Motegi.

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Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) wrapped up a sensational seventh World Championship title at the home of Honda after claiming a stunning victory at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, a race-long battle with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) ended with the latter crashing out of contention at Turn 10 with two laps to go, handing the title to the number 93.

Dovizioso got the perfect launch from P1 on the line as Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) came into off the front row. Meanwhile, Marquez kept the inside line from P6 to get himself into P3 before dispatching Miller at Turn 9 for P2 – Dovi’s qualifying advantage disappearing after half a lap.

Crutchlow then got past Miller to latch onto Marquez and Dovi, with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) making a great start from P9 to get himself up to fourth as he passed Miller into Turn 11.

The three at the front then put the hammer down as Dovizioso slammed in a 1:45.7 on lap 6, Crutchlow and Marquez kept tabs on the Italian but fourth place Rossi suddenly found himself over eight tenths back. The pace was fluctuating but the leading trio started to edge away from the nine-time World Champion bit by bit, who in turn had two Team Suzuki Ecstar riders right on his tailpipes.

With 11 to go, the two Hamamatsu factory machines passed Rossi and were closing in on the front three, with fifth place Alex Rins setting a lap nearly a second quicker than race leader Dovizioso. Then, Marquez made his first move on lap 14 at Turn 9, but on the exit of Turn 10 he ran wide and onto the dirt, kicking up plenty of dust to hamper his exit, allowing Dovizioso to re-take the lead into Turn 11. The Suzukis were firmly in the fray at this point but then disaster struck for Andrea Iannone, the Italian crashing out at Turn 10.

With eight to go, Dovizioso and Marquez exchanged 1:45s with Crutchlow a whisper behind – a 1:46 flat, but a 0.5 second gap appeared between the LCR rider and Marquez. A lap later the number 35 was two tenths slower as the front two started to make the decisive break, with Rins ready to pounce on Crutchlow. Dovi’s intent was clear: a fastest lap of the race, hammer firmly down and the pin pulled.

And so it was, Dovizioso vs Marquez on the final five laps. Marquez sat behind the Desmosedici before making a move into P1 at Turn 9 – no immediate reply for Dovi. With three to go the Ducati was swarming, but there was no way past with two to go.

Then, a huge moment and one that decided the 2018 title. Pushing hard to keep with Marquez, Dovi tucked the front of his GP18 at Turn 10 with just over two laps to go, crashing out of the race to leave Marquez with a healthy margin to Crutchlow and Rins. The number 93 taking title number seven at the home of Honda, his eighth win of the season.

Crutchlow held off Rins for P2 at the line, with Rins less than two tenths behind the British rider to secure a phenomenal home podium for Suzuki. Rossi brought his YZR-M1 home in a second consecutive P4, with Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) claiming P5 in Japan after a strong latter half to the race – an equal best result of the season for the Spaniard. Zarco couldn’t recover from a difficult start, he ended P6, with fellow Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) seventh.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) crossed the line eighth on his last Grand Prix visit to Japan, the ‘Little Samurai’ having a healthy five-second gap back to ninth place Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) – the Italian losing ground to Crutchlow and Zarco in the Independent Team Championship. Battle of the rookies was won by tenth place Hafizh Syahrin (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), the Malaysian beating Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) by less than a second.

Bradley Smith (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and teammate Pol Espargaro were line astern in P12 and P13, with Yamaha wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga (Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) claiming home turf points in P14 and P15 respectively.

Miller crashed midway through the race, with Karel Abraham (Angel Nieto Team) also crashing – riders ok. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) retired in the early stages.

MOTUL GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN

MotoGP Race Classification 2018.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	162.2	42’36.438
2	20	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	162.1	+1.573
3	16	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	162.1	+1.720
4	13	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	161.8	+6.413
5	11	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	161.8	+6.919
6	10	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	161.7	+8.024
7	9	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	161.4	+13.330
8	8	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	161.2	+15.582
9	7	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	160.9	+20.584
10	6	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	160.6	+24.985
11	5	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	160.6	+25.931
12	4	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	160.5	+26.875
13	3	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	160.5	+27.069
14	2	89	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	JPN	Yamalube Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	160.2	+32.550
15	1	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	159.9	+37.718
16		10	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	159.7	+39.583
17		81	Jordi TORRES	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	159.7	+39.839
18		4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	159.5	+42.698
19		45	Scott REDDING	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	159.1	+49.943
20		12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	158.9	+52.707
21		50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	158.4	+1’01.848
Not Classified
		29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	161.7	10 Laps
		17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	152.6	12 Laps
		43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	161.0	14 Laps
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	157.1	18 Laps

MotoGP World Standing 2018.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	296
2	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	194
3	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	185
4	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	155
5	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	148
6	Johann ZARCO	Yamaha	FRA	133
7	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	133
8	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati	SPA	130
9	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	118
10	Andrea IANNONE	Suzuki	ITA	113
11	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	95
12	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	SPA	83
13	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	74
14	Franco MORBIDELLI	Honda	ITA	38
15	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	35
16	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	35
17	Hafizh SYAHRIN	Yamaha	MAL	34
18	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	32
19	Bradley SMITH	KTM	GBR	23
20	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	19
21	Scott REDDING	Aprilia	GBR	12
22	Mika KALLIO	KTM	FIN	6
23	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	5
24	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	Yamaha	JPN	2
25	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	1
26	Thomas LUTHI	Honda	SWI
27	Xavier SIMEON	Ducati	BEL
28	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER
29	Jordi TORRES	Ducati	SPA
30	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	FRA
31	Christophe PONSSON	Ducati	FRA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

MotoGP™: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) seals title with win in Motegi.

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20181021_2018_cf_16_jpn_race_mgp_sun_002.mov.07_40_55_23.imagen-fija001.video_list_3x

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MOTUL GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN

MotoGP World Standing 2018.

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