The Showdown: Marc Márquez and Andrea Dovizioso’s 2017 title fight
Welcome to the third piece in our Showdown series. This time, we’re looking back at a more ‘recent’ title battle, though still a decade ago, when Marc Márquez and Andrea Dovizioso went head-to-head in a championship fight that, as the series follows, went all the way to the final round in Valencia to decide the champion.
Opening rounds
Márquez was the reigning champion, having won five world titles across all classes at the time. The season opener took place in Qatar, a night race that proved to be an unusual one. The starting grid was determined by the riders’ performances in practice, with the qualifying sessions cancelled due to rain.
As a result, Maverick Viñales took pole position and converted it into a victory in his first race after moving to Yamaha. Meanwhile, the two riders at the centre of this piece had contrasting results, with Márquez finishing fourth after starting third, while Dovizioso secured second place after starting fifth, joining Viñales and Valentino Rossi on the podium.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, for both riders, the second round also saw them finish the race, allowing them to continue building their championship campaigns in the early stages of the season.
By the end of Round 2, Viñales led the championship standings with 50 points, while Dovizioso sat in third place with 20 points, with Rossi in between them.
Márquez catches up
After a two-week break, the grid headed to Texas, where Márquez claimed victory at a circuit that had long favoured him. He carried that momentum into Jerez, finishing second and closing the gap after a difficult start to the season.
However, the momentum did not last long, as a crash at Le Mans and a sixth-place finish at Mugello saw Márquez continue to lose ground, while Dovizioso strengthened his position in the championship behind Viñales, who still held a commanding lead.
The turning point for Márquez came at the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring (Round 9), where he secured a victory and began a run of five consecutive podium finishes.
The win propelled him to the top of the championship standings with 129 points, just five ahead of Viñales on 124 and six ahead of Dovizioso on 123. With Valentino Rossi close behind in fourth with 119 points, the title fight was wide open.
Trading the lead
Dovizioso refused to fade. In Austria, he won a thrilling duel by 0.176 seconds, with the lead changing hands several times, including twice on the final corner.
Two weeks later at Silverstone, Marquez’s engine failed on lap 13 while Dovizioso took a second straight win, with Viñales just 0.114 seconds behind in second. A 16-point deficit had shrunk to nine for Dovizioso, with only 13 points separating the top three.
Misano levelled the fight. Marquez passed Petrucci on the last lap while Dovizioso settled for third, leaving both on 199 points with Marquez ahead on more second places. It was the sixth change of leader that season.
A crash in qualifying left Márquez fifth on the grid at Aragon, but he picked off rivals one by one to win, while Dovizioso managed only seventh and Viñales slipped 28 points back after another fourth place.
Motegi brought one of the season’s best battles, with the pair trading the lead in pouring rain until Dovizioso edged ahead on the final corner by 0.249 seconds, cutting the gap to 11. It did not last.
At Phillip Island, Dovizioso ran wide early on, fell to 20th and recovered only to 13th, while Marquez won and the gap jumped to 33 points.
Sepang kept the fight alive. Dovizioso passed Lorenzo with five laps to go to win a wet race, while Marquez finished fourth. Viñales, in ninth, was left on 226 points, and even a win at Valencia could not lift him past Dovizioso’s 261.
That left Marquez and Dovizioso as the only two riders still in the fight, with a 21-point gap, and Marquez needing only 11th place or better at Valencia to clinch the title.
The grand finale
Valencia offered one last chance, but the math was against Dovizioso. Marquez, holding a 21-point lead, needed only 11th place to clinch the title, while Dovizioso had to win and hope Marquez finished outside the top 11. Starting ninth of the grid made it even more challenging on race day.
The race stayed tense until the closing laps. Marquez ran in the leading group behind rookie Johann Zarco, with teammate Dani Pedrosa acting as a buffer between him and the Ducatis of Lorenzo and Dovizioso.
Dovizioso spent much of the race stuck behind Lorenzo, who was repeatedly told by Ducati to let him through. Late on, Lorenzo crashed, and Dovizioso ran wide and fell too, ending the title fight on the spot.
With his only rival out, Marquez settled for third and became champion for the fourth time in MotoGP, his sixth world title overall. Pedrosa passed Zarco on the final lap to win by 0.337 seconds, the last victory of his career.
The season ended with a gracious Dovizioso congratulating the new champion, a fitting close to a fight that stayed open until the final round.
Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
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