Marquez pots the #8ball with incredible last corner win in Thailand

Roberto Magni By Foto ReD Photographic Agency - Marc Marquez was crowned the 2019 MotoGP World Champion in the only way he knows how: with a thrilling race win delivered at the final corner.
A full house at the Buriram Circuit were treated to an edge of their seats MotoGP race as they witnessed Marc Marquez crowned World Champion 2019

for the eighth time. From the front of the grid, Marquez charged forward and immediately began to chase pole setter Fabio Quartararo. With his only title rival, Andrea Dovizioso, a distant fourth Marquez was able to focus solely on the race win. After trading fastest laps, the pair settled into their rhythm and Marquez waited for his moment to attack. The final laps were explosive as the 2019 MotoGP World Champion launched an all out assault on the young French rider, moving ahead as the last lap began. But it would go down to the final corner, Marquez expertly defending from Quartararo in the last corner to take the 2019 MotoGP World Championship in style.

With 325 points, nine wins, 14 podiums, nine poles and 10 fastest laps - Marc Marquez becomes the MotoGP World Champion alongside the Repsol Honda Team for the sixth time and takes the eighth World Championship of his career. The victory is also Honda“™s 150th in the MotoGP class - an achievement no other manufacturer has been able to match. The 2019 MotoGP World Champion will attend the media at an official Repsol Honda Team press conference on Tuesday, October 8th, at 9:15am. The official Repsol Honda Team press conference will take place at Repsol Campus, the headquarters of the energy company, on Méndez Álvaro 44, Madrid at 9:15am.

Sensational podium number five for Quartararo at Thailand GP Fabio Quartararo has taken a sensational fifth podium finish of his rookie MotoGP season for PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team at the Thailand Grand Prix, finishing a mere 0.171 secs behind 2019 World Champion Marc Marquez. Quartararo was once again able to spend almost all of the race in front, converting his pole position into the race lead with a blistering start. Defending from Marquez until the final lap of the race, the newly-crowned world champion was just able to make a move in the few corners, leaving Quartararo to settle for second place for the second time in three races. The result helps consolidate his lead in the rookie of the year and Independent Riders“™ championship, as well as moving him to only two points from sixth in the overall title fight.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Maverick Viñales secured third place on the podium, his sixth podium and fourth bronze trophy of the season. Viñales had a good start from second but had to hand over a position to Marc Marquez before Turn 1. The pace was relentless at the front of the field. The two riders ahead of the Factory Yamaha man consistently set times in the low 1'31s. The Spaniard was pushing on every lap but was unable to stay in touch with the leaders, due to a lack of traction. Today's third place sees Viñales move up to fourth in the championship standings, two places ahead of Rossi, with 18 points between them. Yamaha remains third in the constructor standings, and Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP also stay in third place in the team classification. Yamaha extend their congratulations to Marc Marquez of the Repsol Honda Team for taking the 2019 MotoGP World Championship.

Marc Marquez 1° Team Honda Repsol HRC 2019 MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPION 1st “I“™m very happy. I“™m so happy. When you have an advantage like I had you realise you are so close to the championship but you need to find something to keep you motivated. Today it was winning the race and it“™s what I did. Fabio was so fast during the race but I never gave up, even during the middle of the race where it looked like he was escaping. It was a beautiful way to win the championship - even if I wasn“™t thinking about it on the last lap! Arriving in parc ferme with the whole Repsol Honda Team there was fantastic; it“™s a dream to do it with the whole fan club and the nice celebration. Every year is special, it“™s not easy to keep everything perfect each year to fight for the title and I had a very hard winter with the injury but myself, the team and HRC managed it well. Now we“™ll enjoy this feeling a little bit!“ Yoshishige Nomura HRC President “Marc Marquez did a magnificent job once again to win his sixth MotoGP title on Honda“™s 60th anniversary of World Grand Prix racing. I wholeheartedly salute his dauntless riding that mesmerizes his fans, supported by his persistent training and mature attitude towards racing. I“™m grateful for all the support in winning the championship he had from the team staff, the many sponsors who support our racing activities, and MotoGP fans worldwide.“

Fabio Quartararo 2° Team PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing “It was an amazing race, thanks largely to feeling so comfortable with the bike from the very beginning. Unfortunately, we didn“™t finish on the top step of the podium, but we were able to have another fight with the new world champion right to the last corner. It was an important race because we“™ve made another step forward at a track that isn“™t exactly perfect for us. Marc“™s race pace in practice was three tenths of a second a lap faster than us, but we were able to battle with him. I gave it my all in the last corner because if I didn“™t, I wouldn“™t have been able to sleep until the next race in Japan, and I can“™t wait to head there next!“

Maverick Viñales 3° Team Monster Energy Yamaha "I'm happy, I'm feeling positive, and I accept the third place, but it's not enough. We have to work harder and make another step. I noticed a difference between myself, Fabio, and Marc, especially in traction areas. But I was still able to hit good lap times and close the gap at the end of the race. This means we have some strong points, but we have to improve the weak points. When you have no traction and a full tank, it's very difficult to get the lap times. As soon as the fuel went down a bit, I could carry a lot of corner speed and make the lap times again. I had a much better feeling in today's Warm Up than I had during the race, so we need to understand this and improve for Japan."

GP of Thailand - Race Classification:

1. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 39'36.223
2. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT +0.171
3. Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +1.380
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team +11.218
5. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +11.449
6. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT +14.466
7. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +18.729
8. Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +19.162
9. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team +23.425
10. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU +29.423
11. Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing +30.103
12. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL +33.216
13. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +35.667
14. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing +39.736
15. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +40.038

MotoGP World Championship Standings:

1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda 325
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 215
3. Alex RINS Suzuki 167
4. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 163
5. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 162
6. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 145
7. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 143
8. Jack MILLER Ducati 119
9. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 102
10. Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 90
11. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 80
12. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 74
13. Joan MIR Suzuki 58
14. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 46
15. Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 34
16. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia 33
17. Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 29
18. Johann ZARCO KTM 27
19. Jorge LORENZO Honda 23
20. Tito RABAT Ducati 18
21. Stefan BRADL Honda 16
22. Michele PIRRO Ducati 9
23. Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki 7
24. Hafizh SYAHRIN KTM 7
25. Karel ABRAHAM