Marquez Fourth As Honda Takes 2017 MotoGP Constructors Crown

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) took a safe fourth-place finish in today’s rain-soaked Malaysian Grand Prix. The result gives him a 21-point World Championship lead over title rival and Sepang winner Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) as the thrilling battle for the 2017 MotoGP crown goes to the final round at Valencia, Spain, next month. Team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) started from pole position and finished the race in fifth position.

At Valencia on November 12th Marquez will need a minimum of an 11th-place finish, if Dovizioso wins the race, to take a remarkable fourth MotoGP title in five seasons.

Marquez’s fourth-place finish here may not have secured him the Riders World Championship with one race remaining, but it did seal the 2017 MotoGP Constructors World Championship for Honda. Thus the company retains the title it won last year and makes it an amazing six constructors crowns over the last seven seasons with its mighty RC212V and RC213V V4 machines. Honda has won a record 23 constructors titles in the premier-class since its first success with the RC181 four-cylinder four-stroke. The Repsol Honda Team also leads the Teams World Championship, taking a 44-point advantage to Valencia.

The premier-class title is the only riders crown still to be decided, after impressive Italian youngster Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex) today made sure of the title in the Honda CB600-powered Moto2 World Championship. Last Sunday Joan Mir (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) took the Moto3 crown. Honda had already wrapped up the Moto3 Constructors World Championship, giving the Japanese manufacturer both constructors titles in MotoGP’s two open categories: MotoGP and Moto3.

Marquez began today’s race in awesome attacking style, charging through from the third row of the grid to take the lead into turn one, albeit very briefly. He then settled into a rhythm behind early leader Johann Zarco (Yamaha) and Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) before Dovizioso came past. Fully aware of the implications of a mistake, Marquez rode intelligently as he watched Dovizioso move into the lead, the 24-year-old Spaniard doing the points arithmetic while staying fast and focused all the way to the checkered flag. He decided that the 13 points for fourth place was the right result for his title hopes after a few worrying moments on the slippery surface.

Pedrosa was set on victory after taking an excellent pole position, his third of the year. His pace in dry practice was very strong and the fact that he had won three of the last four races here made him confident of fighting for another Sepang victory. The former 125cc and 250cc World Champion was foiled by a change in the weather, but still benefited from a late wet set-up change that provided him with greater rear-end feeling to come home a strong fifth.

Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) is always fast in the rain, but his hopes of another podium charge were dashed by a lack of feeling at the rear. Starting from 12th on the grid, Miller acclimatized to the conditions then started moving forward. By lap 14 of 20 laps he had passed Scott Redding (Ducati) for eighth, a place he maintained to the checkered flag. The 22-year Australian, who broke his right tibia last month, was nonetheless happy enough with his sixth top-eight finish of the season. Miller was strong all weekend, regularly inside the top six in free practice.

Briton Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V) was frustrated with his 15th-place finish at the end of a tough weekend. The Briton struggled with rear-tire issues and a lack of front-brake feeling, possibly caused by the spray thrown up by other bikes during the opening laps, which saw him drop to 22nd. After that the two-time MotoGP race struggled to find traction, forcing him to settle for a single World Championship point.

Former Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) also endured a challenging afternoon in the rain. The low-grip conditions didn’t suit the Spaniard who came home in 18th place.

Today’s Malaysian Grand Prix was the last of three flyaway rounds held on consecutive weekends across the Asia-Pacific region. The MotoGP paddock reconvenes for the season finale at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, outside Valencia, where practice gets underway on November 10.

Marc Marquez

“Today the race was the most difficult one we could have had for the championship because we had rain conditions and the track was extremely slippery. Anyway, I got a good start, and I tried to push at the beginning because I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of the group. Then I tried to find the feeling and the pace, but I saw that both the Ducatis were very fast, so I decided to not take too many risks, to be calm, and to get good points for the championship. I thought about trying to get Zarco but the risk was too big just to have an advantage of 24 points instead of 21. This wasn’t the race to win the title but rather one to get closer to it. I’m happy because after a difficult weekend, at a track where we always struggle, we still managed to finish fourth. Of course now we need to keep focused, to train well this week, and to work to be at 100 percent on Sunday in Valencia without relaxing too much with the advantage we have. Today we won the constructors title, and that’s a first step!”

Dani Pedrosa

“Overall I’m happy with the result, and I’d like to thank my team for giving me a bike that allowed me to be competitive. Of course, after earning pole yesterday, the expectations would have been high if conditions had been dry, and when I saw the rain starting to fall I thought we might go from first to last. But in the end we changed the setting, trying something we had never used before in an effort to get more rear grip, and it worked! That and the choice of the soft rear tire gave me confidence. The feeling still wasn’t perfect because the tire was spinning on the straights, but at least it gave me edge grip and I was able to lean the bike. We’ve learned something that I think may also be helpful for the technicians in the future, so we can be satisfied. Today Honda won the constructors championship, and that’s important. It’s another title for the company, and I’m happy about that.”

Jack Miller

“The opening laps were not easy with the grip levels and it was a struggle to stay on the track, especially when I was on the left side of the tire I was just trying to stay on two wheels. It was a little scary. But from halfway in the race the rear tire started working better and I was able to make up some positions and grab eighth. Overall a good weekend, I was very strong in the dry and this was my second top ten since coming back from the broken leg so I'm now looking for more points in Valencia.”

Cal Crutchlow

“Today was a very tough day. To finish 15th in the rain is very disappointing, but we had a clear issue from the warm-up lap, so I just had to stay on the bike to collect some points. Obviously it’s very disappointing for me and the team to have this unfortunate issue, but we have to go to the last race of the year at Valencia in a positive frame of mind. I honestly felt we would’ve been much more competitive in the rain, but we had something wrong with the rear tire. I was in survival mode the whole race – just cruising around at the back, trying to stay on the bike. Only when it started to dry a bit at the end of the race could I start to open the throttle in the correct way. Let’s see what Valencia brings.”

Tito Rabat

“It was dry and sunny all morning, then it rained for our race, so it wasn’t ideal for me and then I feel I had some issues with the rear tire. My knee was on the tarmac many times even with very little throttle, I had zero grip. I had a strange feeling and at one point I thought about stopping, but I pushed to the end although I'm disappointed to be so far behind.”