Already assured of the rider and constructor titles before the final round, there was just one more title Honda needed to wrap up the triple crown in Valencia: the Team Championship, with Repsol Honda Team arrived at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana with a 39-point advantage over Movistar Yamaha MotoGP.
A Marc Marquez crash on Sunday wasn’t going to put stop to their clean sweep hopes, with Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) also crashing out of contention before the red-flags. This – with Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) unable to claim more than 25 for a race win – meant the final crown of 2018 went the way of Repsol Honda, with Rossi later crashing and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) capping off a stunning career with a top-five finish.
“It looks like it’s easy for Honda to win the triple Crown because we won it last year, also,” commented Marquez. “But it’s really special to celebrate being champion and the teams and constructor’s championship. Today, Dani did it – also both Yamahas crashed. The season was very good, one of my best seasons, with very few mistakes. Today was probably my biggest mistake of the year. I’m really proud of the 2018 season.”
Now, 2019 has already begun. Can Repsol Honda take the title again with Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo at the realm?