Marquez win in Malaysia earns Honda the 2018 MotoGP Constructors Title

Roberto magni By Foto ReD Photographic Agency - From seventh on the grid to the 70th win in his career: In Malaysia, Marc Marquez took his ninth win this season and his 44th in MotoGP, earning Honda its 24th Premier Class Constructors Title. Such were the numbers, but today´s competition was also another master class race for the 2018 MotoGP World Champion, who recovered from the third row of the grid to second place within five laps of the start before beginning a long chase of erstwhile leader Valentino Rossi. Marc was preparing for what seemed certain would be a battle for the victory when the Italian slipped off four laps from the end.

Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR end fly-aways on a high. The 18th round of the 2018 MotoGP Championship got underway in blazing hot temperatures in front of over 100,000 fans. With a constant threat of rain and a track temperature of over 50c it was to be a challenging 20 laps. Alex Rins lost ground early on when he was pushed wide and dropped to 7th, but the Spaniard held his focus and kept the leading riders in his sights. On Lap 5 he set the fastest lap of the race and before long he had worked his way into 4th place. With just four laps remaining Rins was promoted to 3rd place when Rossi went down, but he continued to fight until the chequered flag and managed an excellent 2nd place. This moved him up five positions in the standings to 5th, and gave Team SUZUKI ECSTAR their 3rd consecutive podium - making them the only team to achieve the rostrum in all three fly-away races.

Johann Zarco reconquers podium. Starting from the first place of the grid, Monster Yamaha Tech3´s Johann Zarco came off the line well and was on an impressive pace from the word go. For 20 scorching laps, he was following the top and eventually fought the heat to be back on the podium with an amazing third place. Thereby, he was the fastest independent rider and retook the lead in the independent riders´ championship before the last round of the season in Valencia.

Marc Marquez Winner “It was a hard race, first of all because I was starting from seventh place. I didn´t get a perfect start, and then my first lap was good but not one of the best of my career. Step by step, I overtook some riders and got to second place. I saw that Valentino was pushing and I started to chase him, lapping at qualifying pace! But in the process, I overheated the rear tyre; the front was also warming up quickly and the feeling wasn´t good. So for a few laps, I just tried to cool down and in so doing I began to feel better and better. I saw I was getting closer to Valentino and honestly that gave me extra motivation. At that moment, it was just a matter of instinct and pushing, something that you can do when you´ve already got the Championship. Unfortunately, he made a little mistake in turn one, which is a shame as it would have been nice to see how the duel would have ended. Anyway, when I saw him crash, I just cooled down and focused on finishing the race. We won, and that was the best way to seal the Constructors Championship. I would also like to congratulate Jorge Martin and “Pecco“ Bagnaia for taking Championships. We´ll celebrate together in Valencia.“

Alex Rins “I feel very happy because our race pace was strong and I was able to close the gaps to the other riders and pass them during the race. I still had very good pace even in the last few laps because I was able to manage the tyres well, but I lost time earlier in the race so that made it more difficult. We´re working really hard and we have found important things and learned more for next year. I´m very excited to go to Valencia, especially as we are feeling very strong with the bike now, and Suzuki deserve to end the season on a high.“

Johann Zarco Position: 3rd““ Championship: 6th““ Points: 149 "I´m pretty happy, it was a fantastic race! But also difficult like usually in Malaysia. I was tired at the end, but the energy is coming back already. I think the key for that podium was the beginning of the race. I was thinking about overtaking Valentino (Rossi), but he was fast and it was good to be behind him. I could go away, but did a little mistake, when Marc overtook me. I tried to stay behind Marc, had a little gap, but was able to keep a good pace and then Valentino crashed, so I was second. I thought I can control, but four laps to the end Alex (Rins) was faster than me. Even if I was controlling the race well, when I tried to push a little bit more on the last laps, but I just got three tenths faster, which was not fast enough to keep the gap. He overtook me on the last lap. I tried to fight again, but I didn´t have any rear grip anymore. Anyway, the third place is a good finish."

GP of Malaysia - Race Classification:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 40'32.372
2. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +1.898
3. Johann ZARCO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +2.474
4. Maverick VIÑALES Movistar Yamaha MotoGP +4.667
5. Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +6.190
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team +11.248
7. Alvaro BAUTISTA Angel Nieto Team +15.611
8. Jack MILLER Alma Pramac Racing +19.009
9. Danilo PETRUCCI Alma Pramac Racing +22.921
10. Hafizh SYAHRIN Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +26.919
11. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +29.503
12. Franco MORBIDELLI EG 0,0 Marc VDS +30.933
13. Stefan BRADL LCR Honda CASTROL +35.322
14. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU +37.912
15. Bradley SMITH Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +39.675
16. Thomas LUTHI EG 0,0 Marc VDS +41.820
17. Xavier SIMEON Reale Avintia Racing +43.978
18. Valentino ROSSI Movistar Yamaha MotoGP +58.288
19. Scott REDDING Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +1'00.191
Not Classified
17 Karel ABRAHAM Angel Nieto Team
29 Andrea IANNONE Team SUZUKI ECSTAR
44 Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
51 Michele PIRRO Ducati Team

MotoGP World Standings 2018:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda 321
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 220
3. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 195
4. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 193
5. Alex RINS Suzuki 149
6. Johann ZARCO Yamaha 149
7. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 148
8. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 144
9. Andrea IANNONE Suzuki 133
10. Jorge LORENZO Ducati 130
11. Dani PEDROSA Honda 106
12. Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati 105
13. Jack MILLER Ducati 91
14. Franco MORBIDELLI Honda 50
15. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 44
16. Hafizh SYAHRIN Yamaha 40
17. Tito RABAT Ducati 35
18. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 35
19. Bradley SMITH KTM 30
20. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 23
21. Scott REDDING Aprilia 15
22. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 10
23. Mika KALLIO KTM 6
24. Stefan BRADL Honda 3
25. K. NAKASUGA Yamaha 2
26. Xavier SIMEON Ducati 1
27. Michele PIRRO Ducati 1
28. Thomas LUTHI Honda
29. Jordi TORRES Ducati
30. Mike JONES Ducati
31. Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki
32. Christophe PONSSON Ducati