MotoGP 2017 – Top 10 riders
- Lewis Duncan
- @Lewis__Duncan
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MotoGP 2016 was always going to be a tough act to follow. Nine riders took to the top step of the podium, eight of those coming one after the other – the first time in history that has happened. Satellite riders won races for the first time since 2006, and Britain welcomed its first grand prix winner in 35 years courtesy of Cal Crutchlow.
Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and Suzuki welcomed winners trophies into their cabinets, while the racing proved just as dramatic and as nail-biting as it ever has been.
Though we may not have had nine winners in 2017, what we did get was arguably the greatest season in motorcycle grand prix racing’s near 70-year history, with twists and turns throughout, new faces making their mark and old ones defying the odds.
While the eventual outcome of Marc Marquez winning the title was no surprise on paper, his journey to his sixth world championship across all three classes was one fraught with may hurdles – on track and off it.
With the sun setting on 2017, Read Motorsport brings you its list of the top 10 riders of an incredible year of MotoGP.
10. Cal Crutchlow
Expectations were high for LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow after taking two victories in 2016. However, 2017 proved to be much tougher for the Briton than expected – an RC213V even more difficult to ride than the previous season the route cause of this.
Crutchlow wrestled his Honda to a third in Argentina, and would likely have added to that tally at Assen had he opted against passing Marc Marquez on the penultimate lap, denying the Spaniard the opportunity to suss where there was more grip in the tricky conditions.
Consistent top five results throughout the campaign netted the LCR rider ninth in the standings and a two-year contract with HRC.
9. Jorge Lorenzo
Jorge Lorenzo’s long-awaited switch to Ducati saw the Spaniard endure his first winless season in the premier class as he slowly adapted to the fickle Desmosedici.
After a shaky start to the year, Lorenzo began to creep closer to the frontrunners as he gradually adapted his riding style, and scored a maiden podium for Ducati at Jerez.
The introduction of a new aerodynamic fairing gave Lorenzo the confidence on the front-end he had been craving, and the improvement was immediate. Leading briefly, Lorenzo finished fourth in Austria and could have bettered his fifth at Silverstone had he been less cautious – a legacy of his drop in form brought about by tyre wear and high fuel consumption at the Red Bull Ring.
Leading for 15 of the Aragon race’s 23 laps, Lorenzo claimed another third, and took second at a rain-lashed Sepang to end the year seventh in the standings on 137 points. Crucially, however, he heads into the second year of his Ducati contract very much pointing in the right direction.
8. Pol Espargaro
Pol Espargaro took a leap into the unknown for 2017 by ditching the relative comfort of the satellite Tech3 Yamaha team to spearhead KTM’s maiden premier class campaign.
The 2013 Moto2 world champion was able to guide KTM in the correct direction and reaped the rewards, scoring a 14th-place finish in Argentina and a 12th in France. With team-mate Bradley Smith struggling to adjust to the RC16, Espargaro only grew more confident on the ever-improving bike as he scored points on all bar two occasions from the Dutch TT onwards.
Tallying up four top 10 results and 17th in the championship, Espargaro’s efforts helped KTM to beat Aprilia – the Italian team in its third season back in the premier class – to fifth in the manufacturers’ standings.
7. Danilo Petrucci
Pramac’s Danilio Petrucci came into 2017 armed with a factory-spec Ducati GP17, though this appeared to be more of a curse than a blessing in the early races.
Used by Ducati as a test mule, the Italian spent the opening rounds trying to adjust to the bike, failing to make the top five in the first five races as a result. However, by the Italian Grand Prix, Petrucci emerged as a real threat as he hounded factory counterpart Andrea Dovizioso and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales for the win.
Finishing third at Mugello, Petrucci challenged Valentino Rossi for the victory at Assen, but once again came up short. This Italian managed second at Misano – this time pipped to the win by Marc Marquez – and a third in a rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix.
But for every strong result, Petrucci suffered dramatic and mystifying dips in form, the Pramac rider often backing up his podium appearances with results outside of the top 10. This meant he ended the year down in eighth in the standings on 124 points.
6. Dani Pedrosa
With Michelin returning to a slightly softer construction rear tyre for 2017, the diminutive Dani Pedrosa was able to keep himself an outside bet for the championship with consistent podium appearances.
An emphatic victory at the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez made sure his record of scoring at least one victory a year in the premier class would be maintained, and he backed this up with a win at the season finale in Valencia.
However, three DNFs and three finishes outside of the top 10 put paid to his chances of a maiden premier class crown and he had to settle for fourth in the standings.
5. Valentino Rossi
At 38 years old, Valentino Rossi proved he could still run at the sharp-end of the field on his Yamaha. A hat-trick of podium at the start of the year despite ongoing troubles with the front-end of his M1 set him on the right course for a bid for a 10th world title.
But the wheels came off his charge when MotoGP hit Europe, with the high heat of the Jerez and Barcelona races laying bare Yamaha’s problems with its chassis, while a crash in the closing stages of the French Grand Prix and an abdominal injury prior to the Mugello race added to his woes.
Rossi struck back emphatically with a win at Assen, but a broken leg prior to the San Marino race on top of Yamaha’s endless chassis struggles ended his challenge. A determined fifth after qualifying third at Aragon just 23 days after breaking his leg proved his desire was still intact.
Claiming just two podium finishes following the summer break, Rossi finished 2017 down in fifth in the standings.
4. Maverick Vinales
A dominant pre-season and back-to-back wins from the first two races did nothing to quash the thoughts that Maverick Vinales would romp to the 2017 title on his factory Yamaha.
Winning again at Le Mans – forcing team-mate Valentino Rossi into a mistake at the end while battling for the win – saw Vinales further cement his intentions. But Yamaha’s woes in hot temperatures and the wet derailed his charge, and a switch of chassis for Assen proved a step in the wrong direction for the Spaniard.
The introduction of a 2018 prototype frame for the Silverstone race looked to have been the way forward for Vinales, as he just missed out on victory in a sweltering British Grand Prix.
But the bike’s poor form in rain conditions continued and ultimately ended Vinales’ hopes, the Spaniard finishing his maiden campaign in Yamaha colours a frustrated third in the championship.
3. Johann Zarco
Johann Zarco came into his debut MotoGP season with a sense of doubt around him. Despite winning back-to-back Moto2 titles in 2015 and 2016, Zarco was not expected to set the world on fire in his first year.
It took him until his third and finale season in the 125cc class before he was a race winner, and it wasn’t until his fourth year in Moto2 in 2015 that he became a serious threat.
However, the French rider stunned all when he led for the first six laps of the Qatar Grand Prix – becoming the first rookie since Max Biaggi in 1998 to lead on their debut – before he fell.
Zarco learned from his mistake, and proved to be a continual pest to the frontrunners with his no-holds-barred style.
Grabbing three podiums and two pole positions on his way to sixth in the standings, 2017’s top rookie has well and truly emerged as the new threat in MotoGP.
2. Andrea Dovizioso
Andrea Dovizioso was not a name on many people’s lips as being the man to potentially dethrone Marc Marquez when 2017 got underway, considering he had only just tallied up his second career MotoGP win – seven years after his first.
Indeed, after five rounds he had just one podium to his credit and a deficit of 31 points in sixth in the standings.
Back-to-back wins followed, however, the Ducati rider keenly aware of his machine’s potential on home soil at Mugello and that the Catalunya race would be decided by who could make their tyres run the distance.
Winning four more races, two of those victories over Marquez in straight dogfights, kept him in the hunt to Valencia. But a lacklustre 13th in Australia two races prior spelled the end of his charge.
Nevertheless, the Italian proved to the world – and himself – he could run with the best MotoGP has to offer, and this will surely see him challenging for a maiden premier class crown again in 2018.
1. Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez’s path to his fourth MotoGP title was far from straightforward. Two DNFs and a single win from the first six races left him languishing 37 points adrift of the standings lead.
Suffering from hair loss because of the stress exerted upon him by his so-far-failing title tilt, Marquez’s Honda crew rallied around him to give him a bike he could at least regain some enjoyment from.
Winning in Germany to go five points clear in the standings, Marquez was able to find a positive set-up on the 2016 frame he switched to prior to the summer break and came out of the blocks swinging in the second half of the year.
A win at Brno and a second in Austria in vastly different conditions confirmed Honda’s improvements, and an engine failure at Silverstone was quickly forgotten about with back-to-back wins at Misano and Aragon.
Striking a crucial blow with a win at Phillip Island while main rival Andrea Dovizioso struggled to 13th, Marquez sealed the deal in Valencia – despite suffering a spectacular 95mph front-end slide in the closing stages of the race – to etch himself into the history books as one of MotoGP’s all-time greats.