Marc Marquez defeated Fabio Quartararo on the final lap of the Thailand Grand Prix to secure victory, and with it sealed his sixth premier class title in just seven years.
Marquez made a good start to move from third on the grid to second on the first lap behind Quartararo, before sitting behind for the majority of the race, similar to last month's San Marino Grand Prix.
The Petronas SRT man looked to be pulling away from Marquez at the mid-point of the race though, as the Honda rider seemingly beginning to struggle with rear tyre wear.
Thailand GP: Riders' Standings | Teams' Standings
This was shortlived, and with half-a-dozen laps remaining Marquez had clawed his way onto the back of the M1.
He then drew alongside several times on the run down to Turn 2 in the closing laps, before attacking and passing Quartararo in the braking zone around the outside into the same bend on the final lap.
The Frenchman refused to give up though and stuck to the Honda’s rear wheel like glue, shooting down the inside into the final corner in a last-ditch bid for supremacy.
He ran just a smidge wide however, allowing Marquez to drive back up the inside and cross the line just a few hundredths clear.
Marquez therefore secures his eighth Motorcycle title – his sixth in the premier class – with four rounds to spare as he extends his title advantage to 110.
A distraught Quartararo therefore had to settle for second ahead of the chasing Maverick Vinales, who despite closing in across the final laps once again failed to become a part of the victory battle to the tune of just 1.5 seconds.
Andrea Dovizioso salvaged fourth from eighth on the grid, but this was insufficient to prevent Marquez securing the title as the Spaniard needed to outscore him by just two points.
Suzuki's Alex Rins recovered from a so-so qualifying result to pressure Dovizioso in the second part of the race, but ultimately didn’t have the required pace and took fifth.
Franco Morbidelli brought the second Petronas SRT bike home in sixth ahead of the second GSX-RR of Joan Mir, while Valentino Rossi classified a distant eighth in what was another tough race for the Yamaha man.
Danilo Petrucci was ninth for Ducati, while Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the top 10 for LCR Honda.
Jack Miller recovered to 14th after being forced to start from pit lane when he stalled on the line, despite not exiting the pits for a significant amount of time after the race had got underway.
Aleix Espargaro was the race's only retirement, the Aprilia man dropping out of tenth late on with technical trouble.
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