Valencia, 9 Nov 2014: 2014 World Champion Marc Marquez has broken another record in Valencia on Sunday, winning his 13th race of the season, the most ever in the premier class. Nine-time world champion Valentino, who started from pole, had to be content with the second position.

Marquez's teammate Dani Pedrosa took third place – continuing his impressive record at the Valencia track with six podium finishes in nine starts in MotoGP – and together the Spanish duo have clinched the Team Championship resulting in back-to-back Triple Crown.

Starting from pole in what began as a dry race, Valentino Rossi took off as soon as the lights dimmed and arrived at the first corner in second place behind compatriot Andrea Iannone. Followed closely by Marc Marquez, the nine-time World Champion was quick to find a strong pace, but as soon as the first lap was finished white flags were waving, signaling rain and allowing riders to come into the pits to change bikes.

It was another complicated race with rain constantly threatening to arrive. Dani starting from 3rd and Marc in 5th traded positions on the opening lap as the race began at a very quick pace with riders jostling for position. Dani fought with Crutchlow in the early laps but finally completed the pass into 4th and joined the battle for the podium. Meanwhile Marc attacked Rossi – setting a new record race lap of 1’31.515 (beating Pedrosa’s 2013 lap of 1’31.628) – and passed him on lap ten and after a brief battle with Iannone on lap eleven, finally took the race lead. The following lap Dani also passed Iannone and began to chase down Rossi and Marc.

Then with twelve laps remaining small spots of rain began to appear. Lorenzo entered the pits for his wet setup bike, but fortunately for the other riders the rain never arrived. Although lap times fluctuated, Marc was able to control his lead and Dani consolidated third place resulting in Repsol Honda winning their 7th Team Championship (since the beginning of the MotoGP class in 2002) to add to the Rider and Constructor Championships and marking Honda’s third Triple Crown in four years and second in succession.

The 2014 season is now officially over but the 2015 season will begin tomorrow with a three day test in Valencia. Dani will be on track after lunch but Marc and his team will take a break and start their testing programme on Tuesday, with Marc’s brother – 2014 Moto3 World Champion Alex – enjoying some laps on the Factory RC213V as a gift from Honda.

Movistar Yamaha team release adds:

Meanwhile, starting from pole in what began as a dry race, Valentino Rossi took off as soon as the lights dimmed and arrived at the first corner in second place behind compatriot Andrea Iannone. Followed closely by Marc Marquez, the nine-time World Champion was quick to find a strong pace, but as soon as the first lap was finished white flags were waving, signaling rain and allowing riders to come into the pits to change bikes.

Rossi didn’t let the changeable conditions slow him down and set a fastest lap of 1’32.437 on lap five. As things closed up at the front, fans were thoroughly entertained with a heated battle between Rossi, Marquez and Iannone. Sparks were flying from Rossi’s bike on lap 12 as Dani Pedrosa started to get into the mix. Six laps later rain threatened again, allowing the Doctor to reel in Marquez. Rossi kept his head down, but as the track dried again he came just short and finished in a deserved second place, 3.516 seconds behind the front man.

Teammate Lorenzo had an unlucky end to the 2014 season. Starting from fourth on the grid, he soon got caught up in a fight with rival Pedrosa. The Movistar Yamaha rider looked to be the stronger of the two until drops of rain began to fall and he took a few laps to get a feel for the situation, falling back to seventh.

As the track started to dry Lorenzo regained confidence and rose to fifth, having retaken Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso by lap nine. Four laps later the Spaniard arrived at the back of Iannone’s bike and won a hard battle with him before continuing his hunt for Pedrosa in third, until rain once again disrupted the race.Lorenzo struggled to get the bike stopped in the uncertain conditions and dropped down the order. He decided to come into the pits on lap 20 to switch to his wet bike and rejoined the race in 14th place. Unfortunately the gamble didn’t pay off. He dropped back to 21st and was forced to retire with five laps remaining as the conditions remained dry.

With second place Rossi gains 20 championship points, securing second in the championship, with 295 points total. Lorenzo finished third in the championship as his points total remained 263.

Tomorrow Rossi and Lorenzo will be back aboard the M1 on the Valencia circuit for the first test sessions in preparation for next year’s season.

RACE RESULTS

  Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana - Round 18

Pos.

Rider

Num.

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Marc Marquez

93

ESP

25

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

46'39.627

2

Valentino Rossi

46

ITA

20

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

YAMAHA

+3.516

3

Dani Pedrosa

26

ESP

16

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

+14.040

4

Andrea Dovizioso

4

ITA

13

Ducati Team

DUCATI

+16.705

5

Cal Crutchlow

35

GBR

11

Ducati Team

DUCATI

+16.773

6

Pol Espargaro

44

ESP

10

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

+37.884

7

Aleix Espargaro

41

ESP

9

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

+38.168

8

Stefan Bradl

6

GER

8

LCR Honda MotoGP

HONDA

+41.803

9

Michele Pirro

51

ITA

7

Ducati Team

DUCATI

+45.710

10

Scott Redding

45

GBR

6

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

+51.191

11

Hector Barbera

8

ESP

5

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

+56.512

12

Danilo Petrucci

9

ITA

4

IodaRacing Project

IODA-SUTER

+57.000

13

Nicky Hayden

69

USA

3

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

+57.262

14

Bradley Smith

38

GBR

2

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

+57.517

15

Hiroshi Aoyama

7

JPN

1

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

+58.775

16

Alvaro Bautista

19

ESP

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

+58.864

17

Karel Abraham

17

CZE

Cardion AB Motoracing

HONDA

+1'02.389

18

Alex De Angelis

15

RSM

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

+1'15.795

19

Michael Laverty

70

GBR

Paul Bird Motorsport

ART & PBM

+1'26.309

20

Broc Parkes

23

AUS

Paul Bird Motorsport

PBM

+1'37.212

21

Mike Di Meglio

63

FRA

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

+1 lap

22

Andrea Iannone

29

ITA

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

+1 lap

23

Jorge Lorenzo

99

ESP

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

YAMAHA

DNF

24

Randy De Puniet

14

FRA

Team Suzuki MotoGP

SUZUKI

DNF

25

Yonny Hernandez

68

COL

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

DNF

RIDER STANDINGS

Sunday, November 9th 2014

Pos.

Rider

Num.

Nation

Points

Team

Constructor

1

Marc Marquez

93

ESP

362

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

2

Valentino Rossi

46

ITA

295

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

YAMAHA

3

Jorge Lorenzo

99

ESP

263

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

YAMAHA

4

Dani Pedrosa

26

ESP

246

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

5

Andrea Dovizioso

4

ITA

187

Ducati Team

DUCATI

6

Pol Espargaro

44

ESP

136

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

7

Aleix Espargaro

41

ESP

126

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

8

Bradley Smith

38

GBR

121

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

9

Stefan Bradl

6

GER

117

LCR Honda MotoGP

HONDA

10

Andrea Iannone

29

ITA

102

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

11

Alvaro Bautista

19

ESP

89

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

12

Scott Redding

45

GBR

81

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

13

Cal Crutchlow

35

GBR

75

Ducati Team

DUCATI

14

Hiroshi Aoyama

7

JPN

68

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

15

Yonny Hernandez

68

COL

53

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

16

Nicky Hayden

69

USA

47

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

17

Karel Abraham

17

CZE

33

Cardion AB Motoracing

HONDA

18

Hector Barbera

8

ESP

26

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

19

Michele Pirro

51

[caption id="attachment_3543" align="alignright" width="300"] Marc Marquez takes 13th win of the season in the premier class to set a record in Valencia on Sunday. A Repsol Honda image[/caption]