Valencia, Spain – Double world champion Marc Marquez gave his home fans a record 13th premier-class win of the season, passing Mick Doohan’s previous benchmark of 12, set in 1995.
Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi - who started from pole for the 50th time – and Marquez’ works Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa made up the final podium of the 2014 MotoGP season, confirming Rossi in second for the year.
Earlier, Marquez’ younger brother Alex took the Moto3 title with a nail-biting third in a dramatic junior-class season finale, making them the first siblings to hold world titles in the same year in the history of Motorcycle Grands Prix.
South African teen Brad Binder, meanwhile, in his last ride for Mahindra before moving to KTM, came up from 16th on the grid to run in the top 10, finishing ninth and ending the season 11th in the Moto3 standings.
MOTOGP
Ducati privateer Andrea Iannone pulled a brilliant start off the front row of the grid, leading Rossi, Marquez and Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo off the line. Pedrosa, and Ducati Team-mates Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso soon moved up to challenge Lorenzo, the four riders jostling for fourth while Rossi and Marquez tried to pressure Iannone into making a mistake.
Marquez made his move on lap 10, passing Rossi for second and, a lap later, Iannone for the lead. Just one lap later Iannone made the mistake they’d been hoping for, running through the kitty litter and dropping back from the battle for the lead to dispute fourth with the chasing pack.
Spanish weather is unpredictable this late in the autumn and all the riders were aware that rain was possible so, when a few drops fell on lap 20, Lorenzo and Iannone were quick to duck into the pits and swop to spare bikes set up for rain with wet-weather tyres and softer suspension.
But the threatened rain never came and the circuit stayed dry; within six laps Lorenzo’s wets were shredded and he finally gave up on lap 25, while Iannone battled on to the end, finishing stone last, a lap down.
Meanwhile, Dovizioso came out on top of the race-long battle for fourth, beating Crutchlow by just 0.068sec in their final race as team-mates.
Pol Espargaro (Yamaha Tech3) finished sixth in the race to confirm sixth in the championship in an excellent rookie season, 0.284sec ahead of his brother Aleix (Forward Yamaha) - who also finished seventh in the standings.
Honda privateer Stefan Bradl, wild card Michele Pirro (Ducati Team) and Scott Redding (Honda) completed the top 10.
MOTO2
Suter rider Thomas Luthi grabbed the win by 0.133sec, passing Tito Rabat in the final dash to the flag, after a race-long battle, as the newly crowned world champion’s Kalex spluttered and slowed, apparently short of fuel, coming out of the final corner.
Johann Zarco (Caterham Suter) finished a lonely third, 10 seconds down, as Luis Salom (Kalex), held off late charges from Kalex riders Xavier Simeon and Dominique Aegerter to come home fourth.
Sam Lowes (Speed Up), Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3), Anthony West (Speed
Up) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Suter) rounded out the top 10.
Sandro Cortese (Kalex), Jonas Folger (Kalex) and Gino Rea (Suter) came together on the opening lap, though the latter two were able to remount quickly and get back into the race.
Soon after, Maverick Vinales (Kalex) skittled Mika Kallio’s similar machine; Vinales was able to limp round to the pits to retire but Kallio’s race was over on the spot.
MOTO3
A breathtaking 24 lap contest saw Honda’s Alex Marquez take the title by just two points, holding off a late charge fight from Husqvarna rider Danny Kent in the final stages for the crucial last podium spot behind the KTMs of Jack Miller and Isaac Vinales.
Miller produced another stunning ride for his sixth win and tenth podium of a remarkable season, but it was Marquez’s third place – also his tenth rostrum of 2014 – and consistency over the season that won the day.
Vinales held the early lead, chasing his first career win, but was eventually overtaken by Miller and finished second by 0.155sec, while Marquez came home 0.617sec ahead of Kent, after the KTM rider missed a gear on the final lap and wasn’t close enough to challenge on the run-in to the flag.
Alex Rins (Honda), Efren Vazquez (Honda), pole-sitter Niccolo Antonelli (KTM), Miguel Oliveira (Mahindra), Binder and Karel Hanika (KTM) made up the top 10.
Albert Arenas (KTM) was an early crasher, but remounted to finish the race. Gabriel Rodrigo (KTM) also fell and was taken to the medical centre for checks.