Pedrosa wins the MotoGP race in Valencia, Márquez is World Champion

The MotoGP World Championship closed the 2017 season in grand style at the Valencia Grand Prix, packed to the rafters: more than 110,000 people watched from the Valencia circuit the end of a motorcycling year that kept the excitement going right to the finish.

The final race of the season was going to present us with the champion of the 2017 edition of the premier class, Marc Márquez or Andrea Dovizioso, so the excitement was served at the Valencia circuit. The start was very positive for Márquez, who made the most of his pole position on the grid to pull out all the stops and keep first place. Alongside him was Dani Pedrosa, without doubt the 26 was the best squire in this case; his teammate had his back covered.

For his part, Johann Zarco was glued to the two men of Honda. The Frenchman on the Yamaha had been very strong in these last races and was an obvious danger, so much so that he managed to overtake Dani and right after did the same with Marc. Both let the Yamaha rider pass without putting up much of a fight, to avoid problems or bigger scares. Moreover, it had been confirmed that Zarco was running much softer tyres than the rest of the rivals at the front, and that could cost him at the end of the race.

With Zarco in the lead, Márquez in second place and Pedrosa closing the podium, everything seemed to be going very well for Marc’s championship interests. But after a minor spat with Johann, at the end of turn 1 he went wide and ran onto the gravel, losing many positions at the front and rejoining in fifth place. Before this event, we had seen on several occasions how Ducati sent Lorenzo the message “Mapping 8”, since Dovi was right behind him; therefore, the team asked the Mallorcan to yield his place to the Italian. And not only through the Ducati’s controls, but also on the pit board they signalled it to him on several occasions.

Lorenzo gave up his position to Dovi after Marc’s incident, who had saved a big one. So Zarco was in the lead pulling out all the stops to try to split the race open even further, with Pedrosa in second and Dovi trying to make trouble, followed by Lorenzo. But suddenly we saw a Ducati on the ground, with the 99, so Lorenzo was out of the race, and just a second later the fall of Dovi, the other Ducati, was signalled: he had gone wide and had been unable to save the crash on the gravel, so another change of direction in a few minutes of madness at the Valencia circuit.

With this incident involving Dovi, Márquez was mathematically WORLD CHAMPION OF MOTOGP 2017, a great result for the 93’s tense and tough year in the premier class. While Zarco at the front tried to hold off Pedrosa, who was reaching his rear wheel, and with one lap to go he managed to pass him, making it a great finish for the 26, who scored his second victory of the season, leaving the Frenchman in second place and Márquez in third. The rider from Honda was able to celebrate his championship from the podium.

A tense and very exciting race, with a somewhat messy finish full of crashes, team orders and Márquez’s saves, but intense and spectacular. The remaining positions were completed by Rins 4th, Rossi 5th, Iannone 6th, Miller 7th, Cal 8th, Pirro 9th and 10th Rabat.

In Moto3 we had the first victory of Jorge Martín, and in Moto2 we saw the triumph of Miguel Oliveira, his third consecutive.

Márquez has achieved his coveted big six. Many congratulations to him and his team.