2018 Japanese MotoGP Grand Prix: Márquez wins at Motegi and is already world champion

Finally, there was celebration at Motegi in the Repsol team garage Honda. The fact is that Marc Márquez not only finished ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, but also won the 2018 Japanese MotoGP Grand Prix, thereby mathematically securing the world title in the category, even though three races and 75 points remain in the championship.

Despite having taken pole position, Dovizioso had already warned that Márquez was the favourite and that, although he was starting from sixth place, he would be up front very soon, since he was the rider who had shown the best pace in practice. Said and done, Márquez was in second place at the end of the first lap. Although Dovizioso managed to open a gap, thanks to the battle Crutchlow put up against Márquez, in the decisive moments of the race the Spaniard was once again right behind the Italian.

On lap 21, with three laps to go, Márquez delivered the definitive blow to Dovizioso and was virtually already world champion as he was ahead of his rival. The Ducati rider was not going to give up, but in his attempt to spoil Márquez’s celebration he crashed on the penultimate lap, sparking celebrations in the garage of the rider from Honda, since the victory and the world title were already in the bag. Crutchlow and Rins joined Márquez on the podium.

This is the fifth world title for Marc Márquez in the MotoGP category, adding to those he had already won in Moto3 and Moto2 before making the jump to the premier class. As things stand, the Cervera native is now the rider who has won the most world titles at his age, 25 years old, in motorcycling history. He has already matched Doohan with 5 MotoGP titles, two short of matching his great idol and now great rival Valentino Rossi, and three short of matching Giacomo Agostini’s record.

In the Moto2 category, victory went to Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, but the winner of the Catalan GP was later disqualified for running lower tyre pressure than permitted, leaving the win to the second rider across the line, Pecco Bagnaia. As Oliveira could only finish third, the Italian’s lead in the standings is now 37 points, giving him a mathematical (though rather remote) chance of clinching the title in Australia, the next race.

And in Moto3 the championship is tightening considerably after the victory of Italian Marco Bezzecchi, and the leader, Jorge Martín, has not scored points for the fifth time this season, this time due to a silly crash. As things stand, Bezzecchi, who took a narrow victory by just thousandths of a second over his compatriot Lorenzo Dalla Porta, is now just one point behind the Spaniard, with 204 points for Martín to 203 for the Italian.