Jorge Lorenzo took the win at the season finale in Valencia on board his Yamaha. Marc Marquez finished second on the Honda, while Andrea Iannone took the final spot on the podium.
The MotoGP race started with Lorenzo getting the holeshot and leading from the first corner to the last. Marquez did put in a string of fast laps at the end to reel in the Mallorcan, but Lorenzo had enough of a buffer to hold him off to the finish line with a second in hand. The race for the win might have gotten over in the first corner itself, but the battle for the podium was intense. With Iannone leading the chasing pack, Vinales, Rossi, Marquez and Dovizioso trailing. Dovi would soon drop off the group as he struggled to maintain the pace at the front, and eventually got passed on the line by Pol Espargaro. Pedrosa and Crutchlow both crashed out in the first half of the race.
Rossi and Marquez got past Vinales without any unnecessary risks, but had a hard time doing the same on Iannone. Rossi finally lined up a move on the Ducati only to get passed on the straight, with none of the bikes managing to keep up with the power of the Italian manufacturer. Iannone riding with a cracked T4 vertebra was taking it easy on the braking, since he lacked the strength, and this allowed Rossi to get past him repeatedly on the brakes. Rossi would eventually lose the battle to Iannone, while Marquez dispatched the two and chased down Lorenzo. Vinales did a fine job of hanging onto the coattails of the podium fighters, but in the last third of the race he dropped off with the tyres going off. The race ended with three of the top factory movers and shakers, putting in a great result as a goodbye present to their teams. Jorge Lorenzo, Maverick Vinales and Andrea Iannone will be shifting to Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki respectively for the 2017 season.
Wildcard entry for the race, KTM and Mika Kallio had a good race while it lasted. But the KTM had to pull into the pits mid-race after an electronic problem forced Kallio to retire. It will be good to see the KTM in the hands of regular MotoGP riders Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith who will ride for the orange factory for 2017!
Photo: Yamaha MotoGP
Photo: Yamaha MotoGP
Photo: Yamaha MotoGP
JORGE LORENZO: “It has been an incredible weekend with a perfect first few laps, the pole position, the fastest lap, and the victory. I arrived here in MotoGP at 20 years old, taking my first pole position on my first race. After almost ten years I leave with a pole position and a victory, I think I couldn‘t have given Yamaha a better present than this for their support and their hard work during these years. We always had a competitive and winning bike. Now we will enjoy and celebrate these memories. Tonight at the party I will enjoy the last moments with my team. During the race you spend 45 minutes completely focused on what you are doing to dominate this bike, so when you cross the line you aren‘t very emotional yet and you don‘t think too much, because you need to recover. After two or three minutes I started remembering the best moments in my career and also the hard moments and in parc fermé it was very emotional with my team. For sure I will throw one of my biggest and craziest parties today because it‘s a good day. We have to enjoy all of these experiences and especially this last moment with Yamaha.”
VALENTINO ROSSI: “I was pushing from the beginning to the end and the first half of the race wasn‘t so bad because I was in second position, but I wasn‘t fast enough to make a gap and after that I suffered on the second part. Marquez was very strong, so he arrived in second place and after that I had a fight with Iannone. Unfortunately he beat me because he was faster, so just fourth place for me today, but it was a good race. The 2016 season brought a lot of positive things; second place in the championship, a lot of podiums and front row starts. Next year I want to try to win more races, more than two, but we are always competitive. Unfortunately I made some mistakes and I was a bit unlucky with the engine in Mugello so I was a bit too far behind in the championship, but anyway it was a good season.”
Mika Kallio (Test Rider MotoGP): “Basically the start was more or less okay then I tried to choose a good line in the opening few corners and I think I gained a few positions. I was where I expected to be and I was fighting with the other guys in my group. I managed to stay on course in the first laps and this was positive, and I could also see the difference between my bike and the others – where we are okay and where we need to improve. After six laps I felt something happened on the bike going into the corner. I opened the throttle, the power went down and there was no acceleration. It seems there was a sensor problem and this affected the electronics and the controls. The rear tire started to spin and the grip went down fast, so riding became more complicated and the other riders started to pull away. It was a shame because it would have been good to see what we could have done. Anyway up to the point we had the problems the feeling was good. I’m just disappointed we didn’t finish the race.”
Pit Beirer (KTM Motorsport Director): “Despite the outcome, in principle I’m still satisfied because we understood the task, and nothing happened that we had not reckoned with. But what was extremely good to see was how the team reacted, because on Friday we simply didn’t have the speed that we had in the last test three weeks ago. They reacted overnight and prepared the bike so that Mika had a good feeling, times improved and we had the basis for the race today. In the race, the distance from the front was more or less okay. By that I mean we had no reason to be pleased but also none to be unhappy. Realistically speaking we are where we should be. I was happy with the way the team worked together. KTM is a family and no-one in the team is unhappy because we understand how difficult it is to be part of this elite class.”
Photographer: Romero S./ KTM
The Moto2 race was won by 2016 champion Johann Zarco, who put in a wonderful display of riding, by first putting up a gladiatorial fight with Franco Morbidelli and then pulling off into the distance in the second half of the race. Tom Luthi finished second, while Morbidelli eventually finished on the podium in third place. Sam Lowes and Alex Rins rounded up the top 5 positions. Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger will be moving up to MotoGP with Tech3 Yamaha for the 2017 season, while Alex Rins will be in the Factory Suzuki squad and Sam Lowes will be racing with the Gresini Aprilia team in 2017.
The Moto3 race was as entertaining as we have come to expect this season and even otherwise. 2016 Champion Brad Binder rode a champion’s race and showed why he is a cut above the rest. After starting off the race well, he dropped back to 22nd position as he had a technical problem, with the engine cutting off power. From there the World Champion worked his way to the front ultimately prevailing over the competition. Rookie Joan Mir took second place, while Enea Bastianini took the final spot on the podium. Mahindra’s Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of a strong position, as the rider in front of him highsided leaving him no room for maneuvering.
Photo: KTM
