Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Sport

Motorcycling: Marquez triumphs in Valencia to give Honda triple crown

MotoGP - Valencia Grand Prix - Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Valencia, Spain - November 17, 2019 Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez celebrates winning the race REUTERS/Heino Kalis

(Reuters) - World champion Marc Marquez won the Valencia GP on Sunday with a superb performance for his 12th victory of the season to ensure that the Repsol Honda team won the teams' world title.

The 26-year-old, who began the day behind Petronas Yamaha's pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo, overtook the French rookie with a superb move in the eighth lap and never looked back to finish the race in 41 minutes, 21.469 seconds.

Quartararo finished second, 1.026 seconds behind Spaniard Marquez, while Australia's Jack Miller was third for the non-works Pramac Ducati team.

MotoGP - Valencia Grand Prix - Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Valencia, Spain - November 17, 2019 Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez celebrates winning the race REUTERS/Heino Kalis

Marquez, who won his sixth world title last month, recovered from an early fall to top the warm-up session earlier in the day but looked unstoppable in the race despite a slow start.

Victory meant that the Repsol Honda team captured the teams championship ahead of Ducati, in addition to the constructors' title for a memorable triple crown.

Triple MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who announced on Thursday that he would retire after the season-ending race, kept his cool in windy conditions that made racing tricky with a number of riders crashing out.

MotoGP - Valencia Grand Prix - Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Valencia, Spain - November 17, 2019 MotoGP champion Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez poses with Moto 2 champion EG 0,0 Marc VDS' Alex Marquez and Moto 3 champion Leopard Racing's Lorenzo Dalla Porta REUTERS/Heino Kalis

The 32-year-old Mallorcan, representing the Repsol Honda team, finished his illustrious career and an injury-blighted season in 13th place.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru)

MotoGP - Valencia Grand Prix - Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Valencia, Spain - November 17, 2019 MotoGP champion Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez poses with Moto 2 champion EG 0,0 Marc VDS' Alex Marquez and Moto 3 champion Leopard Racing's Lorenzo Dalla Porta REUTERS/Heino Kalis
MotoGP - Valencia Grand Prix - Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Cheste, Valencia, Spain - November 17, 2019 Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez celebrates winning the race REUTERS/Heino Kalis
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.