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Suzuki ace Joan Mir finished seventh in the second Valencia GP to become MotoGP world champion for the first time. Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) and Jack Miller (Ducati) secured victory in the final meters.
Although Suzuki’s ace Joan Mir was only 12th on the grid, all eyes were on him – the 23-year-old Spaniard was 37 points ahead of Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo (right next to him in 11th position) and his teammate Alex Rins. (Starting position 14) in the penultimate race of the season.
Franco Morbidelli had secured a much better starting position with pole position, but the winners of Misano and Aragon were already 45 points behind in the World Cup standings. The Petronas Yamaha star left no stone unturned and controlled the race at the front for a long time. Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller did not give up and fought until the last meters.
After the start, I lined up in 10th place and drove what is probably the most important race of my career so far without errors. Seventh place secured the title from the start, while Quartararo fell and Rins had to be content with fourth place.
This was the race:
Start: Jack Miller escapes the best, but goes far in the first corner – Morbidelli passes, followed by Pol Espargaró. Quartararo goes far into the second corner, backing up to the end of the field.
Lap 1: Miller quickly regains second place. World Championship leader Joan Mir is in tenth place, his teammate and title rival Rins has already moved up to seventh.
2nd round: Morbidelli leads against Miller, Pol Espargaró, Nakagami, Oliveira, Zarco, Rins, Binder, Aleix Espargaró and Mir. Dovizioso in 12th place, Bradl in 19th place.
Round 3: There is a small gap of 0.6 seconds between Pol Espargaró and Nakagami.
Lap 4: Bagnaia goes far at Turn 1 and loses some places, he is now at P14.
Fifth round: Oliveira takes fourth place from Nakagami. The first 3 are separating a bit.
Lap 6: Zarco ranks 6th for Rins at the start-finish line, but then the Frenchman crashes at Turn 1. I’m ninth behind Aleix Espargaró.
Lap 7: Morbidelli leads 0.8 seconds ahead of Miller, Pol is another 0.6 seconds behind. Oliveira is already 0.9 seconds behind his brand colleague, but took off Taka. Rins, Binder, Aleix Espargaró, Mir and Dovizioso follow the Japanese. Rossi at P12. Quartararo falls back to 18th place.
Round 8: Nakagami has to be careful, he already receives a “trail limits warning”.
Lap 9: Quartararo crashes at Turn 6, the end of his title dreams.
Lap 10: Petronas teammate Morbidelli continues to lead the pack with confidence, the lead is constant at 0.8 seconds, Rins (6th) lags behind Nakagami and Oliveira. The Japanese then grabs the Tech3 KTM rider.
Round 11: Dovizioso (10th) gets closer and closer to Me. Ninth place would be enough for the world championship leader to win the title early if Morbidelli wins. But then I also got eighth place from Aleix Espargaró.
Round 12: Rins is in fifth place between Nakagami and Oliveira, very little to postpone the World Cup decision.
Lap 13: Morbidelli extends his lead to 1.2 seconds. Miller, for his part, has a half-second credit on Pol Espargaró.
Lap 14: Bradl is 17th. Miller is two-tenths closer to the leaders.
Lap 15: Nakagami lacks about a second over Pol and the coveted first place on the podium. He shook Rins. Binder (7th) lurks behind his brand colleague Oliveira. Eighth follows me another 1.8 seconds behind.
16. Round: At the top the situation has not changed, Morbidelli maintains a lead of 0.9 seconds. But Taka nibbles on his deficit with Pol.
Lap 17: Binder snatches sixth place from his future teammate, Oliveira. Miller puts pressure with the fastest lap in the race, he’s getting closer.
Round 18: Dovi takes the ninth place from Aleix Espargaró after the start-finish line. Pol has to watch out for Taka, it’s up to 0.2 seconds.
Lap 19: Morbidelli finds an answer to Miller, the lead is again 0.8 seconds Taka attacks Pol at Turn 14, but the Honda rider falls! That puts me in seventh place, confident on the road to the title.
Lap 20: Miller returns to Morbidelli.
Lap 21: Morbidelli is just 0.5 seconds ahead of Miller. Pol is 3.2 seconds behind, but at the same time he has 1.2 seconds of credit on Rins.
Lap 22: Miller wants the first dry MotoGP win, he gets closer and closer to the Petronas Yamaha in front of him.
Lap 23: Five laps to go, the top 2 are only 0.3 seconds apart, but Morbidelli counters and gets two tenths more.
Lap 24: I’m not under pressure as seventh, Dovizioso is 0.8 seconds behind him. Rins (4th), on the other hand, has Binder behind him. Morbidelli can keep the lead constant at around half a second.
Lap 25: Pol Espargaró goes safely to the podium behind him.
Lap 26: Miller attacked again two laps before the end, he approached the leader again.
Last lap: Jack Miller took the wake and took the lead, but Morbidelli responded at Turn 2. Two laps later, the game was repeated. After an incredibly exciting final lap, Morbidelli prevailed!
Joan Mir (7th) brings Suzuki his first MotoGP title since Kenny Roberts Jr. 2000. Suzuki Ecstar is also unmatched in the team standings.
Pol Espargaró finished third again, Stefan Bradl took two points in 14th.
MotoGP result, Valencia GP (15.11.):
1. Morbidelli, Yamaha, 41:22 478 min
2. Miller, Ducati, + 0.093 s
3. Pol Espargaró, KTM, + 3.006
4. Rins, Suzuki, + 3.697
5. Folder, KTM, + 4,127
6. Oliveira, KTM, + 7.272
7. Mir, Suzuki, + 8.703
8. Dovizioso, Ducati, + 8,729
9. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 15,512
10. Viñales, Yamaha, +19,043
11. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 19,456
12. Rossi, Yamaha, +19,717
13. Crutchlow, Honda, + 23,802
14. Bradl, Honda, +27,430
15. Petrucci, Ducati, + 30,619
16. Alex Marquez, Honda, + 30,619
17. Rabat, Ducati, + 42,365
18. Savadori, Aprilia, + 46,472
Drivers’ championship status after 13 of 14 races:
1. Mir, 171 Punkte (Weltmeister). 2. Morbidelli 142. 3. Rins 138. 4. Viñales 127. 5. Quartararo 125. 6. Dovizioso 125. 7. Pol Espargaró 122. 8. Miller 112. 9. Nakagami 105. 10. Oliveira 100. 11. Binder 87 12. Petrucci 78. 13. Zarco 71. 14. Alex Márquez 67. 15. Rossi 62. 16. Bagnaia 47. 17. Aleix Espargaró 34. 18. Crutchlow 29. 19. Lecuona 27. 20. Bradl 18. 21. Smith 12. 22. Rabat 10. 23. Pirro 4.
Constructors’ Championship after 13 of 14 races:
1. Suzuki, 201 Punkte. 2. Ducati 201. 3. Yamaha 188. 4. KTM 175. 5. Honda 133. 6. Aprilia 43.
World team championship after 13 of 14 races:
1. Suzuki Ecstar Team, 309 Punkte (Weltmeister). 2. Petronas Yamaha SRT 230. 3. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 209. 4. Ducati Team 203. 5. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 169. 6. Pramac Racing 163. 7. LCR Honda 134. 8. Red Bull KTM Tech3 127. 9. Repsol Honda Team 85. 10. Esponsorama Racing 81. 11. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 46.
