Marquez defeats Dovizioso in last lap thriller

Marc Marquez has edged closer to another MotoGP championship with a last corner victory over Andrea Dovizioso at the inaugural Thailand Grand Prix.

In a highly competitive finish, Repsol Honda’s Marquez took the lead from Ducati Team’s Dovizioso at Turn 5 of the final lap, only for Dovizioso to slid down the inside at the final corner.

In wasn’t to be for Dovizioso, though, with Marquez using better exit speed to reach the line with a slender 0.115s gap, securing his seventh win of 2018.

With just four rounds remaining and a maximum of 100 championship points on offer, Marquez now holds a 77-point lead over Dovizioso.

From pole, Marquez led the opening laps before Valentino Rossi took the advantage, and held sway until Dovizioso swooped in.

Dovizioso would lead the majority of the race until the final five laps where Marquez mounted a real challenge.

The Spaniard tried a number of passing attempts, all of which failed and allowed the Movistar Yamaha pair of Maverick Viñales and Rossi to make it a four-way battle.

Marquez eventually took the lead at Turn 5 on the final lap and withstood the last-corner dive to secure a great win.

Viñales secured his first podium finish since the German Grand Prix, coming home ahead of team-mate Rossi.

Another Yamaha pilot, Johann Zarco, produced a fine ride to secure fifth on his satellite Tech 3 machine, passing Suzuki’s Alex Rins and the LCR Honda of Cal Crutchlow to score a top five place.

Fifth place looked set to go to Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), who had held the place until Lap 19 when he crashed out.

Nieto Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista finished eighth ahead of the Pramac Ducati pair of Danilo Petrucci and Australian Jack Miller.

The next round of MotoGP is the Japanese Grand Prix at Twin Ring Motegi on October 19-21.

Race results: Thai MotoGP

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	39:55.722
2	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+0.115
3	25	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+0.270
4	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+1.564
5	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+2.747
6	42	Alex RINS	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+3.023
7	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	+6.520
8	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	ESP	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	+6.691
9	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	+9.944
10	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	+11.077
11	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+15.488
12	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+17.691
13	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	+21.413
14	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	+22.802
15	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+23.628
16	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	+23.804
17	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Angel Nieto Team	Ducati	+32.507
18	10	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	+37.216
19	81	Jordi TORRES	ESP	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	+39.204
20	12	Thomas LUTHI	SUI	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	+39.421
21	44	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+53.388
22	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	2 Laps
DNF	26	Dani PEDROSA	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	8 Laps

Championship points

Pos	Rider	Nat	Pts
1	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	271
2	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	194
3	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	172
4	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	146
5	Jorge LORENZO	ESP	130
6	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	128
7	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	126
8	Johann ZARCO	FRA	123
9	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	113
10	Alex RINS	ESP	102
11	Dani PEDROSA	ESP	87
12	Jack MILLER	AUS	74
13	Alvaro BAUTISTA	ESP	72
14	Tito RABAT	ESP	35
15	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	33
16	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	32
17	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	32
18	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAL	28
19	Bradley SMITH	GBR	19
20	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	18
21	Scott REDDING	GBR	12
22	Mika KALLIO	FIN	6
23	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	5
24	Michele PIRRO	ITA	1
25	Thomas LUTHI	SUI	0
26	Stefan BRADL	GER	0
27	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	0
28	Jordi TORRES	ESP	0
29	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	0
30	Christophe PONSSON	FRA	0