Marc Marquez celebrates a standout season as he crosses the line at Valencia. Image: MotoGP.com.

Honda’s Marc Marquez has been crowned 2013 MotoGP World Champion after an enthralling season finale at Valencia in Spain.

At just 20 years of age, the rookie rider becomes the youngest ever to win the premier class title, a feat achieved by recording six grand prix wins amongst a total of 15 podiums.

The final Spanish showdown played out as predicted between the title protagonists. Marquez secured pole but it was his closest title threat, Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who took the advantage early on.

The first half of the race saw a captivating back and forth stoush at the front, with Lorenzo trading places and paint in aggressive fashion with Marquez’ teammate Dani Pedrosa.

Marquez found his way to the front when the pair made contact, but was content to allow the Yamaha pilot back past as he still held a handy points buffer, without the pressure of setting the pace.

Lorenzo’s crew urged him to allow Marquez back into the mix but once the race rhythm settled it was clear that the rookie was making no major aspirations to challenge for the  lead, preferring to settle back into a safe third.

The Yamaha rider crossed the line with a 3.934-second advantage over Pedrosa, with the Valencia crowd erupting as an emotional Marquez claimed third and confirmed his place in sporting history.

The second factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi claimed fourth, unable to run the leaders’ pace and consequently leaving Lorenzo to go it alone.

Alvaro Bautista claimed a solid top five finish after running as high as third, with Stefan Bradl sixth, Bradley Smith seventh, Nicky Hayden eighth, Andrea Dovizioso ninth and Michele Pirro completing the prototype finishers in 10th.

Bryan Staring was the only Aussie finisher, putting in a solid final performance with his GO&FUN Gresini Honda team in 19th place, while fellow Australian Damian Cudlin was forced out of the race aboard the Paul Bird Motorsport in-house mount.

The Moto2 class saw an Aspar Team one-two finish, with Nico Terol claiming victory from Jordi Torres after recently-crowned world champion Pol Espargaro crashed out of the lead.

Espargaro had held a comfortable advantage before a simple mistake soured an otherwise stellar finish to the season.

The fight for third was decided on a photo finish, with Came Ioda Racing’s Johann Zarco awarded the position by 0.001s over Simone Corsi.

Ant West produced the most outstanding ride of the race, fighting back from 21st on the grid to move to eighth aboard his QMMF Racing Team machine.

Team Calvo’s Maverick Vinales sealed the Moto3 race victory and title in one swoop, denying rivals Alex Rins and Luis Salom.

Vinales, Rins and Salom battled early before the latter was sent into the gravel trap and into the mid-pack on the back of a small mistake.

The fight would play out between Rins and Vinales, with a last attempt at a pass seeing Rins run slightly wide, handing the advantage back to Vinales.

Jonas Folger split the pair at the line to claim second after spending much of the race attempting to sidestep the riders vying for the title.

Australia’s Jack Miller was racing in fourth and on for his best result of the season before crashing out while pushing to maintain the pace of the lead KTM group.

The second Aussie in the field, Arthur Sissis, struggled to make an impact in his final outing with Red Bull KTM, taking 18th.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round 18 – Valencia, Spain

MotoGP race:
1. Jorge LORENZO
2. Dani PEDROSA +3.934
3. Marc MARQUEZ +7.357
4. Valentino ROSSI +10.579
5. Alvaro BAUTISTA +14.965
6. Stefan BRADL +24.399
7. Bradley SMITH +29.043
8. Nicky HAYDEN +39.893
9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO +53.196
10. Michele PIRRO +1m02.983
11. Aleix ESPARGARO +1m04.197
12. Hector BARBERA +1m06.826
13. Claudio CORTI +1m11.481
14. Danilo PETRUCCI +1m13.643
15. Colin EDWARDS +1m24.249
16. Hiroshi AOYAMA +1m33.010
17. Michael LAVERTY 1 Lap
18. Luca SCASSA 1 Lap
19. Bryan STARING (AUS) 1 Lap
DNF. Damian CUDLIN (AUS)

MotoGP championship standings (after 18 of 18 rounds):
1. Marc MARQUEZ 334
2. Jorge LORENZO 330
3. Dani PEDROSA 300
4. Valentino ROSSI 237
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW 188
6. Alvaro BAUTISTA 171
7. Stefan BRADL 156
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 140
9. Nicky HAYDEN 126
10. Bradley SMITH 116
11. Aleix ESPARGARO 93
12. Andrea IANNONE 57
13. Michele PIRRO 56
14. Colin EDWARDS 41
15. Randy DE PUNIET 36
16. Hector BARBERA 35
17. Danilo PETRUCCI 26
18. Yonny HERNANDEZ 21
19. Claudio CORTI 14
20. Hiroshi AOYAMA 13
26. Bryan STARING 2

Moto2 race:
1. Nicolas TEROL
2. Jordi TORRES +4.047
3. Johann ZARCO +5.993
4. Simone CORSI +5.994
5. Esteve RABAT +8.316
6. Alex DE ANGELIS +10.596
7. Thomas LUTHI +11.219
8. Anthony WEST +12.334
9. Mattia PASINI +13.383
10. Dominique AEGERTER +14.609
11. Julian SIMON +14.805
12. Xavier SIMEON +18.168
13. Takaaki NAKAGAMI +18.792
14. Mika KALLIO +23.555
15. Scott REDDING +27.479
16. Sandro CORTESE +35.021
17. Franco MORBIDELLI +35.314
18. Marcel SCHROTTER +35.323
19. Gino REA +35.405
20. Axel PONS +35.420

Moto2 championship standings (after 17 of 17 rounds):
1. Pol ESPARGARO 265
2. Scott REDDING 225
3. Esteve RABAT 215
4. Mika KALLIO 187
5. Dominique AEGERTER 157
6. Thomas LUTHI 155
7. Nicolas TEROL 150
8. Takaaki NAKAGAMI 148
9. Johann ZARCO 139
10. Jordi TORRES 126
11. Simone CORSI 105
12. Xavier SIMEON 88
13. Julian SIMON 79
14. Alex DE ANGELIS 76
15. Anthony WEST 61
16. Mattia PASINI 55
17. Marcel SCHROTTER 33
18. Toni ELIAS 21
19. Randy KRUMMENACHER 20
20. Sandro CORTESE 19

Moto3 race:
1. Maverick VIÑALES
2. Jonas FOLGER +0.186
3. Alex RINS +0.187
4. Alex MARQUEZ +13.666
5. Efren VAZQUEZ +13.708
6. Alexis MASBOU +28.587
7. Isaac VIÑALES +28.776
8. Ana CARRASCO +28.794
9. Philipp OETTL +28.953
10. Miguel OLIVEIRA +29.185
11. Romano FENATI +29.347
12. Brad BINDER +29.507
13. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN +30.666
14. Luis SALOM +34.153
15. Matteo FERRARI +37.518
16. Jakub KORNFEIL +38.056
17. Eric GRANADO +38.487
18. Arthur SISSIS +42.363
19. Hyuga WATANABE +42.619
20. Lorenzo BALDASSARRI +43.890

Moto3 championship standings (after 17 of 17 rounds):
1. Maverick VIÑALES 323
2. Alex RINS 311
3. Luis SALOM 302
4. Alex MARQUEZ 213
5. Jonas FOLGER 183
6. Miguel OLIVEIRA 150
7. Jack MILLER 110
8. Alexis MASBOU 94
9. Efren VAZQUEZ 82
10. Romano FENATI 73
11. Jakub KORNFEIL 68
12. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 68
13. Brad BINDER 66
14. Niklas AJO 62
15. Arthur SISSIS 59
16. Niccolò ANTONELLI 47
17. Isaac VIÑALES 47
18. Philipp OETTL 34
19. John MCPHEE 24
20. Danny WEBB 15

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