Marquez clinches championship with Buriram victory

Marc Marquez has won the 2019 MotoGP World Championship by beating Fabio Quartararo to victory in Thailand in a battle decided only at the last corner.

Marquez tailed Quartararo for the first 25 laps but finally made a move stick on the last lap around the Buriram International Circuit.

Quartararo tried to fight back with a last-corner dive but Marquez re-passed him on exit to clinch a sixth premier class title, and eighth in total, in thrilling fashion.

Behind the #93 Repsol Honda and #20 Petronas SRT Yamaha was the #12 Monster Energy Yamaha of Maverick Viñales, who ran third all the way.

Jack Miller apparently stalled his Pramac Ducati on the starting grid and had to push the bike into pit lane, while Quartararo led the field away when the lights went out, from Marquez and Viñales.

Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) gave his slim hopes of keeping the championship alive a boost by jumping from seventh to fourth by the exit of the first corner.

Marquez got a run on Quartararo as they headed towards Turn 3 on Lap 2, but was on the outside and ran long, failing to complete the move.

Aside from that moment, the Honda rider appeared happy to merely follow the satellite Yamaha, although he looked to be upping the pressure as the 26-lap race moved towards its halfway mark.

Marquez did not try another pass until Lap 23, a similar attempt to his earlier effort which was similarly unsuccessful.

However, he stuck with Quartararo and, on the 26th and final lap, was able to blaze past the rookie even earlier and get his bike stopped in time at Turn 3 to take first position.

Quartararo lunged back past the Spaniard at the final corner but was criss-crossed on exit and ultimately came up 0.171s short of a maiden MotoGP race win.

“I was planning the weekend for try to win the race, doesn’t matter the championship, doesn’t matter the distance between me and Dovi,” said Marquez.

“My target was (to) try to find the best way to win the race and is what I did.”

The contest between Marquez and Quartararo was extremely similar to that which they had two races ago in Misano, as was Viñales’ performance as he lost touch then started to recover ground only once it was too late to challenge for the win.

Dovizioso, the only rider still a mathematical chance of denying Marquez the championship at the start of the weekend, took the chequered flag nearly 10 seconds further back.

The Italian came under early pressure from compatriot Franco Morbidelli (Petronas SRT Yamaha) before he found himself in a battle with Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar), who finished 0.231s behind Dovizioso.

Morbidelli ended up sixth, ahead of Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar), and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha).

The latter ran as high as sixth before losing spots to both the Suzukis in quick succession, on Laps 10 and 11.

Rounding out the top 10 were Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu LCR Honda), while Miller finished 14th from a pit lane start.

Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda) got home in 18th position but Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM Factory) crashed out and Aleix Espargaro (Gresini Aprilia) retired in pit lane.

Dovizioso appears destined to finish runner-up in the championship for a third year straight given he is 48 points ahead of third placed Rins in the standings with four races to go.

Round 16 will be held at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi on October 18-20.

Race results: Thailand MotoGP

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	93	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	39:36.223
2	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	+0.171
3	12	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+1.380
4	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+11.218
5	42	Alex RINS	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+11.449
6	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	+14.466
7	36	Joan MIR	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+18.729
8	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+19.162
9	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+23.425
10	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	+29.423
11	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	+30.103
12	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	+33.216
13	44	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	+35.667
14	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	+39.736
15	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	+40.038
16	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	+40.136
17	53	Tito RABAT	ESP	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	+44.589
18	99	Jorge LORENZO	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+54.723
19	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	+56.012
20	55	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAS	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	+1’01.431
DNF	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	9 Laps
DNF	82	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	23 Laps

Race winner: 26 laps

Championship points

Pos	Rider	Nat	Pts
1	Marc MARQUEZ	ESP	325
2	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	215
3	Alex RINS	ESP	167
4	Maverick VIÑALES	ESP	163
5	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	162
6	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	145
7	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	143
8	Jack MILLER	AUS	119
9	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	102
10	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	90
11	Pol ESPARGARO	ESP	80
12	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	74
13	Joan MIR	ESP	58
14	Aleix ESPARGARO	ESP	46
15	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	34
16	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	33
17	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	29
18	Johann ZARCO	FRA	27
19	Jorge LORENZO	ESP	23
20	Tito RABAT	ESP	18
21	Stefan BRADL	GER	16
22	Michele PIRRO	ITA	9
23	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	7
24	Hafizh SYAHRIN	MAS	7
25	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	5
26	Bradley SMITH	GBR
27	Mika KALLIO	FIN