Spain’s Marc Marquez sealed his sixth world championship and fourth in the premier MotoGP category with third place at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix on Sunday.
Holding a commanding 21-point lead in the championship from Andrea Dovizioso, Marquez was guaranteed the title with a top-11 finish or if Dovizioso failed to win the race.
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Today was the day, youngest ever six times WORLD CHAMPION! #Big6 @MotoGP #ValenciaGP pic.twitter.com/oOgINY0JlT
— Repsol Honda Team (@HRC_MotoGP) November 12, 2017
And Dovizioso’s fate was sealed when he crashed out five laps from the end.
Marquez’s Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa won the race from France’s Johann Zarco in second.
Starting from pole, Marquez waved Zarco through on the fourth lap to rule out any chance of an untimely early crash.
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🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 #Big6 😃 #MotoGP #ValenciaGP @MotoGP pic.twitter.com/isMkhmkk06
— Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) November 12, 2017
However, he couldn’t resist an attack on the Frenchman to try and win the championship in style with eight laps to go and ran wide, dropping him down to fifth.
Yet, Ducati’s hopes of usurping Marquez were quickly undone as Jorge Lorenzo and then Dovizioso both crashed out as they paid the price for pushing at the limit for the whole race.
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Your 2017 #MotoGP World Champion is @marcmarquez93 🏆 #BIG6 pic.twitter.com/fg05CcyGhI
— MotoGP™🇪🇸🏁 (@MotoGP) November 12, 2017
Up front Pedrosa and Zarco were left to battle it out for the race win in a pulsating final few laps.
Ultimately though the Spaniard came out on top on home soil to deny Zarco his first MotoGP win and round off a perfect day for the Honda pair.
Source: HindustanTimes