And the 2017 MotoGP World Champion Is...

The 2017 MotoGP Championship has finally come to a close, and it took racing under the Valencian sun for us to crown a victor.

Though he was easily the pre-season favorite, this year was a long season for Marc Marquez to claim his sixth world championship, and his victory seemed far from certain as the races ticked by.

A DNF for three races this season, Marquez left the door open for a number of would-be usurpers, with Andrea Dovizioso rising to the top of that list. With the pair fighting head-to-head on a number of occasions, the Ducati rider put up a strong fight against the Spaniard.

Though Marquez’s three race scratches – one due to a mechanical failure – showed a return to his old ways of aggressive riding, when Marquez did finish a race, he was able to grab crucial points, with 12 podium finishes and 6 race wins.

This consistency was vital to his championship success, and it should be noted that he finished the season with the same number of points as last year’s more “conservative” championship bid.

“I’m living a dream. ‘Six Titles’ are big words. The truth is that I’m incredibly happy because we worked so much this year, and today the race was incredibly tense and exciting—a bit ‘Marquez Style.’” said Marquez.

“The key to the year has been our mentality. In our world it’s very important to remain positive and motivated during the difficult moments. Some things happened to us at the beginning of the season but when we found the way to sort things out, everything went better.”

“Congratulations to Honda and the entire team for the Triple Crown. It’s an amazing achievement. Winning the Title at the last race of the season in front of our fans is one of the best things possible, really special.”

“Now I want to enjoy this with my entire team and my family, and after that we’ll start to work for next year.”

Congratulations go out to Marc Marquez on his accomplishments this weekend, but know too that the 2018 MotoGP Championship season starts tomorrow, and there are a number of strong candidates that the Repsol Honda rider will have to contend with.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	298
2	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	261
3	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	230
4	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	SPA	210
5	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	208
6	Johann ZARCO	Yamaha	FRA	174
7	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati	SPA	137
8	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	124
9	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	112
10	Jonas FOLGER	Yamaha	GER	84
11	Jack MILLER	Honda	AUS	82
12	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	SPA	75
13	Andrea IANNONE	Suzuki	ITA	70
14	Scott REDDING	Ducati	GBR	64
15	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	62
16	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	59
17	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	55
18	Loris BAZ	Ducati	FRA	45
19	Tito RABAT	Honda	SPA	35
20	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	CZE	32
21	Bradley SMITH	KTM	GBR	29
22	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	SPA	28
23	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	25
24	Mika KALLIO	KTM	FIN	11
25	Sam LOWES	Aprilia	GBR	5
26	Katsuyuki NAKASUGA	Yamaha	JPN	4
27	Sylvain GUINTOLI	Suzuki	FRA	1
28	Michael VAN DER MARK	Yamaha	NED
29	Takuya TSUDA	Suzuki	JPN
30	Hiroshi AOYAMA	Honda	JPN
31	Broc PARKES	Yamaha	AUS