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MotoGP
Here's what you need to know about the Valencia Grand Prix
Andrea Dovizioso won a red-flagged MotoGP of Valencia amid heavy rain, as Álex Rins claimed second and Pol Espargaró celebrated scoring KTM's first-ever premier class podium in third.
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As the lights went out on the final MotoGP of the 2018 season at the Valencia Grand Prix, Suzuki's Álex Rins made the best start on a very wet track and led the first lap convincingly from Andrea Dovizioso, as polesitter Maverick Viñales slotted back into fourth.
As Viñales went backwards and Rins pulled away, it was Pol Espargaró on the KTM who seemed perfectly suited to the increasingly wet conditions, and he battled for third with newly crowned world champion Marc Márquez. Valentino Rossi, meanwhile,took just three laps to move up from 16th on the grid to eighth.
Espargaró’s brave challenge ended in a crash, before Márquez was also caught out by the conditions and thrown heavily from his bike, promoting Rossi into third ahead of team-mate Viñales.
With 14 laps remaining the race was red-flagged due to the worsening conditions, just as Rins sacrificed the lead to Dovizioso and Rossi. The race would be restarted with Rins starting from pole.
Rins made another great getaway at the restart, and led the opening lap, before being passed by Dovizioso's Ducati. The Italian managed to pull out a lead, as Rossi passed Rins for second with eight laps remaining.
Just three laps later, Rossi slid off into the gravel, promoting Rins back up to second place, and Espargaró, who'd managed to make the restart, to a surprise podium. Up front, Dovizioso held it all together and gave Ducati their first win in Valencia since 2008.
Dovizioso wins a race of two halves
With the race essentially reset following the red flag, everything was set for a thrilling 14 lap shootout on a still wet Valencia track.
Despite a second quick start from pole position by Rins, the Spaniard was quickly caught and passed by Dovizioso, who was followed through once again by Rossi.
The top three continued to push hard despite the standing water and continuing rain, and, with 10 laps remaining, Dovizioso stamped his authority by lapping half a second quicker than anyone else.
With four laps remaining, Rossi overdid it and crashed out, leaving Dovizioso to calmly survive the chaos and claim his fourth win of the year in style.
Marc Márquez crashes out
2018 world champion Marc Márquez dislocated his shoulder following an off in practice, but that didn't stop him throwing caution to the wind and challenging for second place in the treacherous conditions.
It all went horribly wrong in what would be the first part of the race, as the six-time title winner was unceremoniously thrown from his machine, and was left having to once again pop his left shoulder back into place.
Pedrosa bows out with a solid result
In his 217th and final MotoGP race, Honda's Dani Pedrosa used all his skill and guile to stay out of trouble, and when the race was stopped on Lap 14, he was up to fourth place. At the restart, 16 riders remained, and Pedrosa battled it out with Espargaró on the KTM for fourth position.
Pedrosa eventually crossed the line for the final time in MotoGP in fifth place to bring down the curtain on a stellar career.
KTM and Espargaró celebrate their first-ever podium
A podium finish for Pol Espargaró and the Red Bull KTM team looked an unlikely outcome before the race was red-flagged on Lap 14.
The Spaniard was already out of the race at that stage, following a crash, but the race stoppage allowed Espargaró to take his place on the grid for the restart, and he continued where he left off with his scintillating wet weather pace.
Up until the final race of the season, Espargaró's best results were a handful of 11th places in an injury plagued run, and a first podium for him and his KTM team is an incredible result to end the year.
Lorenzo says goodbye to Ducati
In his final race for Ducati, before heading to Honda for 2019, Jorge Lorenzo bravely returned from injury to remain on his bike when the red flag was thrown, and was able to take the restart.
Nursing his injured wrist, Lorenzo came home 12th, which was no mean feat considering the number of riders that crashed out and the fact that the Italian was not only injured, but had also sat out the last four races.
Valencia crashfest
The very slippery track conditions claimed a number of victims before half distance, as the number of crashed riders over the weekend exceeded 150 across Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP, including Viñales, Danilo Petrucci, Jack Miller, Andrea Iannone, and rookie of the year Franco Morbidelli.
Following the red flag, the second half of the GP saw fewer spills, but Álvaro Bautista managed to crash out in his final Grand Prix, and he was joined by Rossi, who got back up to rejoin the race and finish 13th.
Moto3 rookie Can Öncü makes history...twice
Earlier in the day, before the drama of the MotoGP race, it was former Red Bull Rookies Cup rider Can Öncü, aged just 15 years and 115 days, who made history in the Moto3 race by becoming the youngest winner of a motorcycle Grand Prix and first-ever Turkish rider to win a world championship race.
Watched by his twin brother and fellow racer, Deniz, Öncü saved an late race highside to skilfully negotiate the greasy Ricardo Tormo circuit and beat Scott Redding's record set back in 2008, when the British rider won the British 125cc Grand Prix at Donington Park aged 15 years and 170 days.
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