MOTORSPORT: Everything is still playable for the title of the MotoGP world champion and the conclusion will finally take place in Valencia, Spain at the last Grand Prix of the season
Everything is still playable for the title of the MotoGP world champion and the conclusion will finally take place in Valencia, Spain at the last Grand Prix of the season. This is the Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) who won maintaining at the same time the suspense since it now has “only” 21 points behind Marquez. Favourite on a dry track, the French rider Johann Zarco landed a podium, his second, on a wet track.
Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) won Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix and prolongs the suspense leading the World Championship in a round of the end, the Spanish leader Marc Marquez (Honda) only finishing as fourth. Dovizioso, the last to be able to deprive Mark of a fourth world crown, beat his teammate, Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo of 743/1000 and the French Johann Zarco (Yamaha Tech 3) 9 sec 738, which landed his second podium .
In the drivers, “Dovi” has 21 points behind Mark (261 against 282), while 25 units need to be distributed at the last meeting of the season in Valencia on 12 November. So it will take him another win in Spain and hope that Marquez finish beyond 13th place, to be champion.
On the Sepang circuit (5.543 km) he had already conquered in 2016 in the rain, Dovizioso has mastered his subject. While Zarco, 2nd grid, and Mark, 7, took the best starts, the Romagna, accompanied by Lorenzo managed to emerge from the 6th round (20). Both Ducati teammates flew with the Spanish head, leaving open the team orders spectrum, whereas at the moment of the race, Marquez was world champion.
A fault in the braking Lorenzo five laps allowed Dovizioso to pass him. “I had a good pace. It was very difficult but the bike worked very well for me. The weekend was perfect “, reacted hot Italian.
This doubled Ducati just clear the underperformance against Australia last weekend (13th Dovizioso, Lorenzo 15th). Behind the Italian motorcycles, Zarco signed his second podium of the season and took his revenge after his frustrating 4th place in Australia, where it has long been in the top three. The pole winner, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa (Honda) finished 5th when official Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales disappointed, 7th and 9th respectively. Another French rider Loris Baz (Ducati Avintia) abandoned.
