Jorge Lorenzo ended the 2016 MotoGP season with a win in Valencia, also marking his final race with the Yamaha team to claim their first win since June, as he kept a charging Marc Marquez behind him.
Lorenzo, starting from pole, quickly raced off into the lead as he opened up a small gap in the early laps – helped by a record breaking laptime on his second tour of the circuit – putting distance between him and second-placed Andrea Iannone of Ducati.
Lorenzo's team-mate Valentino Rossi eventually moved up to second as he passed Iannone, but the Spaniard was already 2.5 seconds clear by then.
Rossi was accompanied by Marc Marquez and Maverick Vinales as they scrapped over second place.
Eventually, with ten laps remaining, Marquez would get past Rossi to begin his chase of Lorenzo at roughly half a second a lap – helped by his hard front-tyre which provided the extra grip he needed in the closing stages, as Lorenzo struggled with a graining medium.
The final lap saw Marquez just over a second behind, which proved too much as Lorenzo crossed the finish line to take his third victory of 2016 and what will likely be his last for Yamaha.
Marquez was second, following Iannone, Rossi, Vinales in fifth, also on his final outing for Yamaha Ecstar.
Pol Espargaro pipped Andrea Dovizioso to take sixth, with Aleix Espargaro eighth, followed by Tech 3's Bradley Smith.
Both Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow crashed out. Pedrosa falling at Turn 2 in the opening laps, whilst the latter came off at Turn 14.
Aspar Ducati's Yonny Hernandez and KTM's Mika Kallio also failed to finish.
