Marc Marquez returned to the podium in the 150th GP of his career, scoring an important second-place finish in the season-finale Grand Prix de la Comunitat Valenciana and helping Honda secure its 22nd Premier Class Constructor title during its 50th Anniversary racing in the division.

Marc didn’t have a great start from the front row and found himself in fifth by the end of the first lap. He overtook Maverick Viñales for fourth position on the sixth lap and stuck close to Andrea Iannone and Valentino Rossi’s battle for second, while eventual race winner Jorge Lorenzo pulled a gap at the front.

Marc improved his speed as the race progressed, and between laps 19 and 20 he passed the two Italians. As he began putting in a series of impressive lap times in the mid-1:31 range, he cut his gap to Lorenzo from 5.437 with 10 laps remaining to 1.185 seconds at the finish line.

After making a strong comeback and displaying good speed during the Valencian GP, Dani Pedrosa escaped a turn 2 crash uninjured on the seventh lap of the race, when he was in seventh position.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Repsol Honda riders will return to action for a two-day post-race test.



Marc Marquez - 2nd

“We’re happy because we’ve managed to get on the podium and we’ve finished the season strongly. This is the most important thing. In the race, the start penalized us a lot as I had an issue with the clutch and lost several positions. Afterward I wasted a lot of time behind Rossi and Iannone. As Valentino said yesterday, overtaking is difficult on this track, so even if I was able to get close, to pass them was another story because I was losing under acceleration and was a bit on the limit under braking. I waited behind as the tyres began to affect performance, and step-by-step I continued improving until I found the opportunity to pass them. From then on I was able to improve my speed, and maybe if the race had lasted a little longer I might have reached Lorenzo. Anyway, he had an incredible race and I was not able to catch him. Congrats to him for this result. It hasn’t been an easy season but we were able to win the title in Japan and secure the Constructors Championship this weekend, which is great. Now we’ll work hard starting from the next test to try and improve our bike even more.”

Dani Pedrosa - DNF

“It’s a shame about the crash. I started well and was taking things calmly since I didn’t feel perfectly good with the tyres. Unfortunately, after just a few laps, on the entrance to turn 2, without pushing, the rear stepped out, and at the same time I also lost the front and couldn’t avoid the crash. I don’t know what went wrong because I wasn’t riding at the limit. It was a pity not to finish the race, which was our intention. We’ve come to the end of a difficult year, but we’ll try our best to do better next season.”

Race Results

1   - LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 25 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 45'54.228
2   - MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 20 Repsol Honda Team Honda 1.185
3   - IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 16 Ducati Team Ducati 6.603
4   - ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 13 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 7.668
5   - VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 11 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 10.610
6   - ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 10 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 18.378
7   - DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 9 Ducati Team Ducati 18.417
8   - ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 8 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 18.678
9   - SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 7 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 25.993
10 - BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 6 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 35.065
11 - BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 5 Avintia Racing Ducati 36.425
12 - PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 4 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 42.415
13 - BRADL Stefan 6 GER 3 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 49.823
14 - REDDING Scott 45 GBR 2 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 52.035
15 - MILLER Jack 43 AUS 1 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 55.625
16 - LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE 0 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati 58.254
17 - RABAT Tito 53 SPA 0 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 58.555
18 - BAZ Loris 76 FRA 0 Avintia Racing Ducati 1'06.164
19 - KALLIO Mika 36 FIN 0 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM DNF
20 - CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 0 LCR Honda Honda DNF
21 - PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 0 Repsol Honda Team Honda DNF
22 - HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL 0 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati DNF


Rider Standings - Limited to top 30 results

1   - MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA 298 Repsol Honda Team Honda
2   - ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA 249 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
3   - LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA 233 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
4   - VINALES Maverick 25 SPA 202 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
5   - DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA 171 Ducati Team Ducati
6   - PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA 155 Repsol Honda Team Honda
7   - CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR 140 LCR Honda Honda
8   - ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA 135 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
9   - IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA 112 Ducati Team Ducati
10 - BARBERA Hector 8 SPA 102 Avintia Racing Ducati
11 - ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 93 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
12 - BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA 82 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
13 - LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE 77 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati
14 - PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA 75 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
15 - REDDING Scott 45 GBR 74 Octo Pramac Racing Ducati
16 - BRADL Stefan 6 GER 63 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia
17 - SMITH Bradley 38 GBR 62 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
18 - MILLER Jack 43 AUS 57 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
19 - PIRRO Michele 51 ITA 36 Ducati Team Ducati
20 - BAZ Loris 76 FRA 35 Avintia Racing Ducati
21 - RABAT Tito 53 SPA 29 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
22 - HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL 20 Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati
23 - NAKASUGA Katsuyuki 21 JPN 5 Yamaha Factory Racing Team Yamaha
24 - LOWES Alex 22 GBR 3 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha
25 - HAYDEN Nicky 69 USA 1 Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda
26 - JONES Mike 7 AUS 1 Avintia Racing Ducati
27 - AOYAMA Hiroshi 7 JPN 1 Repsol Honda Team Honda