There were tears of joy for the Spaniard, who completed arguably the greatest comeback in MotoGP history, 1897 days after his devastating injury at Jerez.
Marquez underwent several surgeries and spent the rest of 2020 on the sidelines before returning in 2021.
What followed was a turbulent spell with Honda. He won again with the Japanese marque, but Honda’s gradual decline forced Marquez to move to Ducati by 2024.
In 2024, he ended the season in third. Less than a year later, and Marquez is the champion-elect with five events to spare.
The factory Ducati rider finished behind his teammate Francesco Bagnaia at Motegi. That was enough to put the championship beyond doubt, beating his brother Alex Marquez to the crown.
In doing so, Marquez joined Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi as the only rider to win seven or more premier class titles.
The post-race theatrics included briefly donning a special helmet and adding his name to the riders’ championship trophy.
This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.
