2016 Qatar MotoGP: Lorenzo dominates season opener

2015 season was among the most exciting season of MotoGP in the recent past. It had drama, controversy, racing of the highest order and close contests to the delight of motorsport enthusiasts. While the final output wouldn’t have pleased Valentino Rossi fans, the fact remains that Jorge Lorenzo was the fastest rider of the 2015 season. With so much drama in the final stages of the season, MotoGP aficionados were very keen for the 2016 edition to commence at Qatar. The biggest change for 2016 season of MotoGP was the introduction of Michelin tyres which replaced Bridgestone and a uniform ECU package. Pre-season timing sprung a few surprises to add to the anticipation for the inaugural race at Losail circuit. Lorenzo continued from where he left last year as another great qualifying performance saw him grab pole ahead of Marc Marquez while Maverick Vinales astonished everyone by qualifying third. It was an all-Italian affair in second row with Andrea Iannone, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso. 

Lorenzo made a great start to safeguard his pole advantage while Marquez and Vinales swept down the order as the Ducati duo and Rossi overtook them. It was a closely contested affair as five riders were in contention for the race lead. The Ducati GP16 had set the new record for the highest achieved by any MotoGP bike at Losail and the superior straight line speed of the GP16 allowed Iannone to take the race lead from Lorenzo while his team-mate Dovizioso followed suit. Behind the trio, Marquez was in salvage mode and he overtook Rossi for fourth place and set the fastest lap. It was a tightly contested race as only few tenths of a second separated riders. 

The Ducati riders were racing hard as both the riders touched on few occasions in pursuit of the lead and it was Dovizioso who emerged victorious from the scuffle to grab race lead. Iannone was pushing to the limit to regain the race lead and it cost the Italian dearly, he lost his front in pursuit of his team-mate to crash out of the race. Lorenzo was upping the ante and with 14 laps in the race remaining grabbed the race lead from Dovizioso, the Italian was also put under tremendous pressure from Marquez who was in hot pursuit. Rossi was slowly slipping down but was managing to stay as close as possible to Marquez in fourth place while Pedrosa was riding a lonely race in fifth position ahead of Maverick Vinales. 

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

Lorenzo was in his zone and in typical fashion was posting blistering fast lap times to etch out an one second plus race lead. With just 4 laps remaining, Marquez finally made his move to take second position from Dovizioso. The Ducati rider wasn’t giving up his position easily and was utilising the straight line speed advantage to close down on Marquez. This persistence paid off for the Italian rider as he overtook Marquez in the penultimate lap of the race.

The Honda rider made a desperate lunge in the last few corners but Dovizioso was able to fend him off to grab a well deserved second place while Lorenzo cruised past the chequered flag to grab victory. Rossi finished fourth ahead of Pedrosa and Vinales. Although it was just the first race of the season, the superior race pace of Lorenzo was clearly visible and he seems to be in a great position for a title defence while his rivals will have to raise the bar to make life difficult for the reigning champion.