Defending champ Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) rode to victory today at the opening round of the 2016 MotoGP championship series in Qatar. Finishing second was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, who led a significant portion of the race. Dovizioso won a battle with Marc Marquez (Honda), who took the final spot on the podium. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) finished a close fourth.
The racing today went a long way towards proving the quality of the new Michelin tires, which seemed to easily last the full race distance. Indeed, Lorenzo set the fastest lap of the race just a few laps before the checkered flag came out (and he was on the softer compound rear tire). Racing was close until the last few laps, when Lorenzo showed that he had some speed to spare and put a gap between himself and second place.
For additional race results, take a look here.
See more of MD’s great photography:
I really enjoy my Moto GP package since I get to watch it all. It was amazing to see the Ducs top end speed over everyone else. The slow motion cameras gave a good view of smoke coming off the Ducs rear tires at speed. I’m surprised nobody has commented on Rossi’s temper tantrum towards JLo during FP4. Rossi seems like a crotchety old man who wants everyone off his lawn. It was good to see him get a JLo enema at the end of the race.
Why did fox buy Speed Channel just to dump motorsports ? thier coverage of Moto GP didn’t last long and they dumped that. Maybe Velocity will pick it up ,if Dorna doesn’t charge to much for it .
Fox didn’t dump MotoGP. Dorna awarded the U.S. concession to show MotoGP to beIN. Sorta how major league baseball and the NFL sell broadcasting rights to NBC one year, Fox one year and CBS one year. Whoever is willing to pay the most for the right to broadcast.
The whole thing reeks of violating US anti-competitive laws if Dorna decided they don’t want anyone other than BeIN to broadcast GP and WSBK. If Fox Sports would have paid more, would they have had the rights this season or was this a nationalist decision to help out a Spanish channel that really only cares about football.
Regardless, there’s less coverage (and worse) and lower resolution than what was broadcast on FS1.
If this was deliberate to bully consumers into buying their streaming package, I’m not biting. I’m sure there’s a large percentage of USA viewers that also are not biting and would rather just do without and read about it here. As such, MotoGP loses even more fans and money in the USA.
I don’t see how awarding the concession to beIN violates any US antitrust laws? Even if Fox Sports did offer more (I doubt they did), there could be good reasons for making a change. Everyone complained relentlessly about Fox’s coverage last year, and that alone could have prompted Dorna to go in a different direction.
Dorna wants(or should want) to increase viewership and see increased satisfaction by those viewers. If viewership declines significantly under beIN’s stewardship, they would be unlikely to award the concession to them next year unless beIN contractually agreed to make changes that address consumer grievances.
If a violation in anti-trust laws exists, it may only be indirectly as USA providers like Xfinity and DirectTV have allowed BeIN into their lineup. But I’m not admitting I know anything about how the decision was arrived at or how the anti-trust law applies to it.
Obviously Dorna wants to increase viewership. Preferably on their online membership for maximum profit. BeIN could possibly be Dorna’s plan to piss off cable subscribers with crappy coverage as a bet that viewers will move from a channel on cable to subscribing to motogp.com.
You should get a MotoGP video pass, IMHO!
That said, it would be a pretty reckless managerial decision to try to force people onto your own distribution channel. The penalty for failure would be pretty high, too high to justify such a risk, IMO. I think what we are seeing play out is just an economic fact of life. The American market doesn’t create much value for MotoGP, so the coverage quality suffers as a result. That’s my take anyway.
Last year, they broadcasted Moto2 & 3. Nothing was shown but a couple of brief highlights yesterday on beIN.
anti=trust laws? in the US? that’s a funny story
This is the first year since 2004 that I haven’t bought a motogp video pass.
I did however buy the wsbk pass for the first time and I actually watched a wsbk race for the first time since 2012. So Dorna got my $$ anyway.
I’m done with gp for now, I’m going all in with wsbk and MotoA.
I have the WSBK video pass this year too (as well as the MotoGP pass). I would have thought the way the content is organized and presented would be identical to MotoGP, but it isn’t. I really miss the little “bookmarks” on the MotoGP videos that you can click on to bring you pivotal moments in a race. I also like how the content is organized much better on the MotoGP pass. It is still worth the money, though.
I am so angry with BeIn. How come they do not show the Moto2 and Moto3 races? Boy how I miss good old Fox, they always had coverage of the whole weekend including the most exiting races (2/3) I guess the American market does not mean much to Aljazeera and they do not care about US!!!!!!
Spain and Italy have dedicated 24/7 MotoGP channels. Now that’s love!
The fact of the matter is that they would care about the US market if the US cared about MotoGP. Only a tiny percentage of us are motorcycle racing fans (and then some of that percentage is split between WSBK and MotoGP), and I suspect a small but material fraction of us have abandoned broadcast coverage in favor of the streaming service which makes the broadcast market here even less favorable.
It was amazing to see that with all the changes… there weren’t a lot of surprises, but we know this track is different from all the rest, so we’ll see.
Coverage was good and of course you can record and skim through the early interviews and such, but it’s good and for the first race of the year and such… very informative if you are not up on everything like most of us.
That said, I am also used to seeing Moto2 and Moto3… anyone know if they plan to show the races later or for the rest of the year?
Always said… if you are not as fast as those up front… certainly don’t let them beat you to the first corner or it’s over… usually. (Note: Suzuki)
What is the point of the Satellite Yamahas by the way? Or the Hondas for that matter? What do these teams get from racing other than being rolling billboards?
MotoGP (Dorna) requires the manufacturers to supply bikes for satellite teams. Without the satellites the grid would be 8 or 10 bikes and the possibilities of a rider moving up from Moto2/3 and getting a seat in the big show would be a lot less.
They get what amounts to development riders ready to move to the head of the class.
Provided those positions ever open up. On his 2nd Yamaha go around, Rossi will have kept his spot on the factory team for 6 years by the time his new contract is up. Lorenzo is now on his 8th Yamaha factory season and will probably get another 2. Smith is going to KTM already. Yeah it’s a factory ride, but a great unknown and possibly that makes it undesirable by others.
I’m just glad MotoGP is back . I have never been a fan of Qatar because it’s a night race, but it is what it is and from now on they race in the daylight (even if it’s cloudy and raining).
As far as this race itself, yes not much drama, but it was interesting to see that (maybe) MM has matured, waitied made several clean passes, then didn’t risk anything dangerous to repass, but settle for the points. His post race interview seemed to indicate he was learning. And finally good night, those Ducati’s are fast lol. Personally I was dissapointed Dani lost the lead pack so quickly, and that young Maverick wasn’t in the mix at the end.
Poor Crutchlow and Bradl….in the dirt again.
Marquez did seem unusually reserved. I expected an all out assault in the last three to four laps, but he instead settled in for the points.
Simply satisfied with finishing ahead of Rossi, I guess. Doubt it was a more mature attitude.
I don’t think so. Marquez has always been in it to win or crash trying. Third place isn’t satisfying to a guy like that regardless of who he finishes ahead of.
in his interview he said he could have tried a last minute pass of Dovi but chances were the Ducati would have beat him to the finish line down the long straight anyway, and that the 16 points were important toward the championship. That shows more maturity than last year for sure. The kid is learning. 16 points beats zero points and a wadded up bike every time. If this had been race number 18 and he absolutely needed to beat Dovi to win the Championship he probably would have given it his best shot to stuff a wheel under him.
I think Rossi is nothing more to him than another rival he needs to beat to win the championship, which is what Honda is paying him many millions to do.
Regarding Mickey’s remarks, it appears the winglets on the Ducatis are mainly there to make being behind them/overtaking difficult (wake turbulence). So this may have factored in.
Yamaha used to have a tail section back in the late 70’s on the OW’s that created turbulence for the rider behind, and the FIM eventually outlawed them.
There is no doubt in my mind that the wings are there to make slip streaming more difficult.
“I think Rossi is nothing more to him than another rival he needs to beat to win the championship.”
Uhhh…no.
🙂
Regarding those winglets, I love Rossi’s purely Italian response to them…
“They’re ugly. I don’t want them on my bike!”
MM can beat Rossi 18 races in a row and it gets him nothing if he doesn’t also beat Lorenzo the majority of those races.
Right now Lorenzo is the bigger threat to prevent MM from winning another World Championship which is his ultimate goal
I have to pay an extra $13.99/month to DirecTV to get a channel full of futbol that I’ll never watch just so I can see MotoGP races again? Boo.
I just call it the MotoGP channel and accept the fact that it costs me to watch my favorite sport
Yep. That sucks. Had to buy a package I’ll never use for anything else but I’ll cancel it when the season ends.
Wonder if this will harm viewership in the US?
Certainly can’t help.
FIM should be negotiating broadcasting packages that further the sport here, not set it back.
I don’t think they’re too concerned with the American market any more, not that they ever were. This country cares so little about MotoGP (or any kind of motorsport that isn’t NASCAR), we’re lucky it’s on ANY channel…
Yep, I think that is exactly the case. How many of the brands splashed on the sides of MotoGP bikes actually sell products or services available in the US? I can’t think of any that have a big footprint in the US other than Monster Energy.
And Redbull, both selling extremely well to all 20-somethings and younger. But yes Monster Energy is most prominent, especially since they also sponsor Supercoss which is a huge cash cow.
Forgot about Redbull, though I don’t think they are a primary sponsor for any of the teams in the Premier Class though I know they are tertiary sponsors for Repsol Honda and Suzuki Ecstar. And maybe Aprilia.
They should start caring before COTA ends up being a waste of money when attendance starts going down, down, down …
This reminds me I haven’t bought my ticket yet. This will be the only time I’ll get to see Moto2 and 3 this season.
One of the several reasons I “cut the cord” entirely and subscribed to MotoGP online.
new tires, new electronics. Nothing changed from last year other than Lorenzo’s helmet…
Same aliens in front, mid-pack Suzuki and a DNF for #35…
Still can’t look away…
Using SlingTV (with the added Sports package) on Roku one can fast forward to any point you wish allowing you to avoid the first hour of talking. And then you can fast forward through the commercials during the race.
Relax. They did the same thing for the WSBK season opener. After that, it’s just the race. I think they did it just to bring the new/casual race fans up to speed.
Yes, they had ONE commercial during the race. Unfortunately, we missed the only pass that mattered. It still beats the hell out of anything Fox Sports ever gave us…
^ This was more for Tony, below. The first hour of “worthless talking” was only for the first race of the year.
Glad I’m able to see the race on BeIn. Sad that the coverage cut away at critical moments and they didn’t replay critical passes. A bit of a snooze at the end despite the announcer’s attempts to build drama.
The announcers suck. Badly. I much preferred the English gits who got excited throughout the race with the same exuberance as if it were a footie game in Mexico. GOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!
After years of faithfully watching every MGP race, this year I can’t. Why the series organizers chose a media outlet that is apparently based in Spain and has no presence with the major US TV providers is beyond me.
I have an account at MotoGP.com and watch online
Directv channel 620
I am really happy to see the Ducatis so competitive. I hope the two Andreas mix it up in the points race all season.
Keep in mind, Dovi finished second in Qatar last season, too. He was grabbing podiums left and right early in the year, before the Ducs faded.
This race looked a lot like last year.
That is true, but the Ducatis are coming into 2016 with no technical concessions. They started Qatar 2015 with extra fuel capacity, far more engine allowances for the year and a sticker tire option. They could afford to run the bikes hard early in the 2015 season.
It is still too early to say for sure, but this good of a showing without the concessions implies that the bikes (and riders) are on par with Honda and Yamaha this year.
If nothing else, from here on out I think we can expect to see Iannone near the front.
Dovi, not so much. Pretty sure Iannone will out-qualify him most every weekend, and usually finish ahead of him. I know Maverick is looking strong, but I suspect Iannone will be the most consistent threat to break the factory Honda/Yamaha stranglehold on the podium.
I agree with you there. Mav has the talent, but I don’t think the Suzuki has the grunt yet to be much of a threat. I think Iannone has demonstrated that he is most likely the top Ducati rider, though I hope to see both of them mixing it up on the podium.
Jeremy..the Suzuki posted some impressive qualifying laps (hence the front row start) and was actually faster in trap speed than some of the aliens. When they get their gear box straightened out and Vinales starts believing he belongs up front, things will improve for Suzuki.
Iannone was stronger last year than Dovi. IMO Iannone and Vinales are future superstars of the sport, along with Marquez, and further back Cruthlow, Smith and Bradle if CC and SB can keep it on the track.
Mickey, I could be wrong, but the Suzuki in the race didn’t look like the Suzuki in qualifying and practice. Vinales ran with Pedrosa for a large portion of the race, and the Honda was faster on the straights. Despite being on Pedrosa’s rear tire like glue coming out of the last turn many times, Vinales never even managed to slip stream Pedrosa on the straight. Not once.
I suspect Suzuki might be dialing it back for the race amid reliability concerns. They may choose to uncork it a few races in, but for now, the Suzuki is still facing a power deficit, albeit a very small one. And as Yamaha has proven, you don’t need to have the most HP to win races. So we’ll see. I still don’t think Vinales is going to pose much of a threat… not this year. I hope you are right and I am wrong about that, though.
Also, unless I’m mistaken, it doesn’t seem like the Honda has a power advantage over the Yamaha anymore? Marquez didn’t run away from Rossi on the straights.
I can’t get over how fast the Ducatis are.
Boy those Ducs are flying fast!! Love it. My heart sank for Iannone when his Duc flew into the tarmac. The Supersonic Quackers are back.
no I don’t mean podiums threats from the Suzuki except for maybe one or two, but top 6 consistently in there fighting with Dovi for a top 6 placing.
I think a bad start really hampers everybody but Rossi and Marquez maybe, and Vinales got a poor start yesterday. Pedrosa used to be such a hole shot artist that’s how he won so many races. I wonder what has happened to him. And JLO never was until the last 2 years, now he launches fast and straight.
Ironically that’s where Bradl had taken the old Suzuki to..fighting for a top 6. Unfortunately he was all the time dropping it.
That race practically put me to sleep. No joke.
Don’t you say this every season?
Not for every race, though. It’s mainly just the ones Lorenzo wins, which are almost always processional, and downright boring.
Yeah, but hard to blame him for being the better rider. Maybe we should blame the rest for not being able to keep up.
BeIn sports coverage, what a waste of time! First hour was nothing but some sports guy and two former racers droning on about this and that, totaling worthless. Next time I’m not tuning in until the second hour when the race is actually run.
Using SlingTV (with the added Sports package) on Roku one can fast forward to any point you wish allowing you to avoid the first hour of talking. And then you can fast forward through the commercials during the race.
..also with Sling you can send it onto your portable device wherever you might be.