VALENTINO ROSSI clinched the ninth world title of his career, by finishing third in yesterday’s FIM MotoGP race in soggy Sepang behind Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner’s second successive race victory was achieved with a yawning gap of 14.666seconds back to Pedrosa.

Yet it was Rossi’s achievement which dominated, as he duly defended the crown he won last year.

For Pedrosa, minor honours were accompanied by the statistic of a 78th career podium finish.

The Spaniard nonetheless surged past Rossi, who started on pole but quickly dropped back to 10th.

Lorenzo was eventually to finish fourth, just behind the Italian.

As Stoner began to grind out a huge advantage – four seconds in front after only two laps – Nicky Hayden, Lorenzo and Rossi jockeyed for their positions in behind.

Before mid-race, Stoner was 15 seconds ahead of the pack.

Further back, Pedrosa and his Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso were engaged in a duel for second until the latter slid off on lap 14 on a still greasy track.

Rossi was therefore up to third - and although he could never get to Pedrosa, he had done enough.

Rossi said: “Today it went a bit like how the season has gone - because we were so fast on the dry tyres but right before the start of the race it started to rain,” he said.

“We had to go out on the track without any wet setting.

In the end, though, it made no difference.”