Marc Marquez ended the MotoGP season in style as he became the first rider to win 13 grands prix in a single campaign with victory in the Valencia finale.
The 2014 world champion produced yet another masterclass as he reeled in and passed early pacesetters Andrea Iannone and Valentino Rossi to set up the win.
Marquez’s triumph eclipses the achievement of Australia’s five-time world champion Mick Doohan, who claimed 12 wins during the 1997 season.
Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi finished the year as runner-up to Marquez after finishing second ahead of Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.
Iannone made the most of a strong getaway to lead the field heading into the first corner with polesitter Rossi slotting into second with Honda’s Marquez in third.
Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo leapt up to fourth but he soon dropped all the way back down to seventh.
While Iannone set about opening up a lead at the front, the threat of rain forced pit crews to frantically prepare the spare bikes for a wet race. Officials waved the white flags to inform the riders of the conditions.
At the front Iannone established a 1.4s lead over Rossi with Marquez falling into the clutches of the Ducati pair of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.
Although, the man of the move was Lorenzo with the double world champion surging up to fourth spot.
However, Iannone’s lead soon came under under attack from Rossi and Marquez. The latter quickly reeled in the pair before launching himself into the lead on lap 11 with two slick overtaking moves.
Rossi didn’t waste time in passing Iannone with Pedrosa following suit as the Pramac Ducati rider dropped down the order.
The race soon developed into a battle between Marquez and Rossi while rain clouds gathered overhead.
The emergence of light drizzle forced Lorenzo into the pits as he gambled on the possibility of rain, but it proved to be the wrong call. He eventually retired from the race.
There was also disappointment for Randy De Puniet as Suzuki’s return to MotoGP ended in a retirement with 18 laps remaining.
There were no such problems for Marquez as he opened up a 1.8s lead over Rossi with Pedrosa in third.
In the end, Marquez made no mistakes in the closing stages to take the chequered flag for the 13th time in 2014.
Rossi came home in second to secure the runner-up spot in the championship, while Pedrosa completed the podium in third.
Andrea Dovizioso pipped his Ducati team-mate Cal Crutchlow to finish fourth.
Monster Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro was sixth ahead of brother Aleix Espargaro, with Stefan Bradl finishing in eighth.
Michele Pirro and Scott Redding rounded out the top 10.
Australia’s Broc Parkes finished the final race of the year in 20th position for Paul Bird Motorsport.
MotoGP Grand Prix of Valencia Result
Position | Rider | Team | Time/Gap |
1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 30 Laps |
2 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | +3.516s |
3 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | +14.040s |
4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | +16.705s |
5 | Cal Crutchlow | Ducati | +16.773s |
6 | Pol Espargaro | Monster Yamaha | +37.884s |
7 | Aleix Espargaro | Forward Yamaha | +38.168s |
8 | Stefan Bradl | LCR Honda | +41.803s |
9 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | +45.710s |
10 | Scott Redding | Gresini Honda | +51.191s |
11 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Ducati | +56.512s |
12 | Danilo Petrucci | Ioda ART | +57.000s |
13 | Nicky Hayden | Aspar Honda | +57.262s |
14 | Bradley Smith | Monster Yamaha | +57.517s |
15 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Aspar Honda | +58.775s |
16 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Honda | +58.864s |
17 | Karel Abraham | Cardion Honda | +1:02.389s |
18 | Alex De Angelis | Forward Yamaha | +1:15.795s |
19 | Michael Laverty | PBM Aprilia | +1:26.309s |
20 | Broc Parkes | PBM Aprilia | +1:37.212s |
21 | Mike Di Meglio | Avintia Racing | +1 Lap |
22 | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Ducati | +1 Lap |
DNF | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 6 Laps |
DNF | Randy De Puniet | Suzuki | 18 laps |
DNF | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Ducati | 21 laps |