Marc Marquez has won his fifth MotoGP World Championship after winning the Japanese MotoGP in Motegi.

Starting from the second row of the grid, the Spaniard wasted little time in getting into the top two and battling with pole sitter Andrea Dovizioso. With four laps to go, Marquez moved under Dovizioso for the lead. On the penultimate lap, whilst following Marquez, Dovizioso lost the front end of his Ducati, leaving Marquez on his own for the victory.

Starting from the second row of the grid, the Spaniard wasted little time in getting into the top two and battling with pole sitter Andrea Dovizioso.

With four laps to go, Marquez moved under Dovizioso for the lead. On the penultimate lap, whilst following Marquez, Dovizioso lost the front end of his Ducati, leaving Marquez on his own for the victory.

It was Dovizioso who took the whole shot off the line and Marquez quickly fought up to second place with HRC stable mate Cal Crutchlow closely behind in third place. The factory Suzuki duo of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins started closing the front three down to try and make it a five-way battle at the front.

Before Iannone had a chance to join the leading pack, the Italian lost the front end of his Suzuki GSX-RR. Rins continued to push and as Crutchlow’s pace started to fade, the Spaniard was pushing hard to try and third podium of the year.

At the front of the race, Marquez moved past Dovizioso, sliding under the GP18 at turn seven with just four laps to go. Dovizioso stayed closely behind Marquez and it looked as if he had almost gone too early with another last lap battle between the pair shaping up.

Unfortunately for Dovizioso, he didn’t have a chance to avenge his second place last week, as coming into turn ten on the penultimate lap, Dovizioso’s soft front tyre couldn’t hold on any longer, causing him to slide out of second place.

With the board out telling him the Italian had crashed out, Marquez read his board, received his dash message and enjoyed his final lap before taking the chequered flag for a eighth time and being officially crowned World Champion for a seventh time.

With Dovizioso crashing out of second place the battle between Crutchlow and Rins was now for second, with the Brit holding onto the second step of the podium from the Spaniard.

Despite early pace, Valentino Rossi faded to fourth place finishing two second ahead of top Ducati Alvaro Bautista in fifth place on his Angel Nieto satellite bike. Johann Zarco was sixth after his front row start, finishing ahead of factory Yamaha man Maverick Vinales.

Dani Pedrosa was eighth on his final Japanese  MotoGP with Danilo Petrucci and Hafizh Syahrin rounded out the top ten. Franco Morbidelli got the better of factory KTM duo Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro for eleventh with Yamaha wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga in fourteenth. Hometown rider Taka Nakagami rounded out the point scorers in fifteenth.