Spaniard Marc Márquez triumphed in the Japanese Grand Prix, proclaiming himself the champion of the MotoGP season, with three races remaining.
Márquez took the lead in his Honda with four laps remaining and crossed the line with a time of 42 minutes, 36.438 seconds. He outscored Honda’s Cal Crutchlow by 1,573 seconds.
Alex Rins was third on his Suzuki, 1,720 seconds behind Márquez, who claimed his eighth victory of the season and claimed his fifth MotoGP world title.
Andrea Dovizioso, who started first, held the place of honor for much of Sunday’s race, and could have at least postponed Marquez’s crowning with a win. However, the Italian crashed two laps from the end, when he was running second, and finished without scoring any points.
Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was fourth, while Álvaro Bautista completed the group of the top five on his Ducati. AP