The MotoGP 2016 season got off to a fantastic start in Qatar with three interesting races in all three classes but for different reasons.
The MotoGP race got off to a great start with Jorge Lorenzo starting from pole and getting the holeshot into T1. He was followed by the Ducatis of Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso and teammate Valentino Rossi. Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa were next on their Hondas, with Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales hanging on to the coattails of the leading group.
At the start of the second lap, the Ducatis of the two Andreas swamped Lorenzo and took the lead from him going into T1. The Ducatis clearly showing they had the horsepower to win any drag race. The Yamahas of Lorenzo and Rossi managed to keep up in the slipstream of the Ducatis, but the Honda of Marquez just couldn’t get the drive out of the last corner to even show a wheel.
As the laps ticked off the two Ducatis swapped paint and pulled off some aggressive moves on each other as they battled for the front position. Iannone crashed out a couple of laps later as he was pushing his Ducati to make a move on his teammate. His front slid out as he clipped the white line on the track. With the crash of Iannone the race turned processional, as Lorenzo upped the pace behind Dovizioso and mounted the pressure for the lead.
Lorenzo finally made his move on the Ducati of Dovi and made it stick. From there he eked out a tenth in every lap as he slow but steadily increased the gap to the Ducati. The trio of Dovizioso, Marquez and Rossi couldn’t maintain the pace of the reigning champion and the battle was to be for second place only. Lorenzo broke the spirit of the three riders with a record breaking lap. Marquez though made a move on Dovizioso and tried to gap him, but the Ducati stretched its long legs and took him back down the front straight. On the last lap, with Lorenzo out of sight, Marquez made another attempt on Dovi on the penultimate corner, but once again the Ducati used its horsepower advantage.
Jorge Lorenzo took victory, with Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez taking the remaining spots on the podium. Valentino Rossi though was unable to attack during the entire race, he was always close to the podium, but was unable to find that extra pace to convert it.
The Moto 2 race was a bit of a fiasco with multiple riders getting time and ride through penalties for jump starts. Some of the riders who were penalised even suggested that it was probably because the lights flickered for a moment before it went out. Tom Luthi though took the win convincingly at the end of the race.
Moto 3 was mayhem. Just as we hope and expect every time. Romano Fenati and Brad Binder looked the strongest throughout the race on their KTMs till the last couple of laps. Fenati ran wide on the first corner of the last lap and was unable to recover to fight for the win. Binder lead into the last corner of the lap hoping to take the win, but Nicolo Antonelli timed his slipstream perfectly to take the win by 0.007 seconds ahead of Binder. Mahindra took the final spot on the podium with Francesco Bagnaia. Fenati’s teammate Nicolo Bulega also had a fantastic opening race in his rookie season. Enea Bastianini came from a long way back to finish in a credible 5th. A good day for the Italians and VR46 riders in Moto3.
Off the race track there was some big news as well!
Valentino Rossi signed a new two-year agreement with Movistar Yamaha to race for Yamaha MotoGP team until the 2018 season.
Rossi has had a very special bond with YZR-M1 starting from his first race with Yamaha at Welkom Circuit, South Africa, in 2004, which ended in an iconic win. Valentino Rossi has won four titles and taken 53 Grand Prix wins over ten seasons with Yamaha MotoGP team.
With fifteen brilliant podiums and four strong GP victories last year, Yamaha is confident about their partnership with Valentino Rossi and look forward to being a serious title contender for 2016 and the following seasons. Earlier Yamaha had announced that Rossi’s merchandise company will produce merchandise for Yamaha Racing. And Yamaha will supply the Yamaha R3 for the VR46 Academy.
According to Yamaha Boss Lin Jarvis, Jorge Lorenzo was offered a contract at the same time as Rossi. While the Italian has already signed, the Spaniard is yet to make a final decision.
Bradley Smith currently riding for Yamaha Tech 3 Racing announced that he will be riding for the factory effort of KTM in 2017. KTM’s GP bike might be raced at Valencia at the end of the year if it is ready. Currently it is still under development.
Reigning Moto2 Champion Johann Zarco is also rumoured to have signed with Suzuki, but that has not yet been confirmed.
