A masterful performance by Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) saw him take pole position and then dominate the race … winning with a sizeable gap over second place teammate Jorge Lorenzo and third place Marc Marquez (Honda). The race stayed close for a few laps before Rossi began to steadily increase his gap to Lorenzo, who battled closely with Marc Marquez over second place until Marquez also faded. In the end, the three leaders raced alone, with the finishing order essentially established several laps before the checkered flag.
Marquez continues to have the points lead in the championship. Take a look below for complete race results, and visit the official MotoGP web site for additional details.
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 157.5 | 45’28.834 |
| 2 | 20 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 157.4 | +2.386 |
| 3 | 16 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 157.1 | +7.087 |
| 4 | 13 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 156.9 | +10.351 |
| 5 | 11 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 156.7 | +14.143 |
| 6 | 10 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 156.5 | +16.772 |
| 7 | 9 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 156.0 | +26.277 |
| 8 | 8 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 155.7 | +30.750 |
| 9 | 7 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 155.7 | +32.325 |
| 10 | 6 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 155.6 | +32.624 |
| 11 | 5 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | LCR Honda | Honda | 155.3 | +38.497 |
| 12 | 4 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 155.2 | +39.669 |
| 13 | 3 | 76 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 154.9 | +45.227 |
| 14 | 2 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 154.8 | +47.886 |
| 15 | 1 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 154.8 | +47.988 |
| 16 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | 154.7 | +49.414 | |
| 17 | 43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 154.7 | +49.513 | |
| 18 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 154.5 | +53.334 | |
| 19 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | 153.8 | +1’05.555 | |
| Not Classified | ||||||||
| 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 155.7 | 18 Laps | ||
| 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 153.9 | 22 Laps | ||
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Looking that these race results, I have to wonder if Lorenzo is worried about the 24 seconds he put into Ducati’s best rider on the bike he just signed to ride next year.
the thing with Lorenzo is he absolutely believes he is the fastest man in MotoGP, and I can guarantee you he believes he is more than 24 seconds faster than any man on Ducati’s current squad. In a way that kind of confidence is good, on the other hand if he doesn’t win, that means it’s something else’s fault.. helmet, tires, weather, God.
I share that opinion. He isn’t afraid to move to Ducati because he believes 100% that he is the secret ingredient to the Ducati being a constant threat. In fact, he probably relishes the opportunity to prove it to everyone. And who knows? Maybe he is right.
Hopefully Crazy Joe will stay at Ducati and become Jorge’s teammate, because wouldn’t it just be hilarious if Rossi’s good pal and fellow Italian Iannone pulled another Iannone and took out Jorge one corner from a podium?
That would be…simply tremendous.
22 million AND italian umbrella girls…..who cares if the bike is good
Wow, great comments. Read and enjoyed all of ’em.
You’re right, the conversations were good this week.
Here’s a question to ponder (maybe someone has brought this up here and I just missed it scanning through the comments). Do you think Lorenzo’s team gets the same amount of technical support from Yamaha (the remainder of the year) that they give Rossi? I seem to recall that the top factory rides are limited in terms of engine development and refinement once the season starts, but I’m sure there are parts of the bike that can be developed as the season goes on. Will Yamaha make the same investment in Lorenzo’s bike that they make in Rossi’s? Obviously, if the season is coming down to Lorenzo and Marquez in a tight race for the title, they’ll fully support him. But what if it was coming down to Lorenzo and Rossi again with a week or two to go in the season?
if both are still in contention for the title, no way is Yamaha NOT going to give equal considerations. It ain’t over until the checkered flag flies at the end of the last race.
I agree. Yamaha wants to win above all else. That is what they are invested in.
I don’t agree. If it comes down to a fight between VR46 and JL99 for the title then Yamaha must throw their full support behind VR46 because they cannot afford to have JL99 taking the WC title and number 1 plate over to Ducati. It would be marketing suicide and they sure as hell know who the market likes – VR46. Also there are a thousand outher good marketing reasons for VR46 to win a 10th title on a Yamaha.
The WC title and number 1 plate won’t mean a thing if Lorenzo can’t win on a Ducati. Yamaha will back whomever can win the manufacturer’s title.
I agree. It it comes down to a nudge, Yamaha will side with Rossi. It would be silly not to.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen enough of a disparity between two factory bikes to support that idea. Closest I can think of was when Hayden was leading the championship while HRC was developing a bike for the upcoming year under him.
They’re spending millions of dollars annualy per bike, wouldn’t make sense to make one look “bad” in the face of that investment.
In Hayden’s case, after his championship season, the bike they replaced his with was designed for the smaller Pedrosa. I’ll always wonder what his career would have looked like if Honda hadn’t decided Pedrosa was their future. I never considered Hayden one of the aliens, but he wasn’t far removed from them, given the right machinery. I doubt he could have won another championship, but a top 3 season finish wouldn’t have been out of the question.
Not true, a rumor that just won’t go away. Look it up. Google Nicky Hayden and read his Wikipedia page. Hayden was signed in Sept of 2006 before he even won the championship to 2 more years at Honda to be lead rider and developer. In the meantime the rule changed to 800cc. You don’t want a big bike with a smaller motor, so you build a smaller bike with a smaller motor. Everybody did it.The 800 Yamaha was smaller than the 990 Yamaha. They didn’t just stick an 800 motor in a 990 frame and call it done. The Honda did fit Pedrosa better because he was smaller but it wasn’t “built” for him. Plus they started using more electronics which Hayden didn’t like. The 800s were designed to carry more corner speed than the 990’s which were more square it off point and shoot. A style Pedrosa had already mastered as 2 time 250 WC. Another thing Hayden didn’t adapt to.In 2008 Hayden was still the number 1 rider for Honda even though he wasn’t fairing well on the track. Yamaha was running pneumatic valves that revved more, and Honda gave their only pneumatic valve motor to Hayden. Pedrosa got the old mechanical valve motor. By mid 2008 Nicky and Honda were not seeing eye to eye and Nicky decided to leave. I hate revisionist history. Tell it like it is and let the chips fall where they may.
I agree with others who have stated that Lorenzo may regret his choice to move to Ducati. Look at where the Ducati’s are placing, especially versus the surging Suzuki’s, and it’s clear that much remains to be done.
Yeah, the race was boring in its lack of drama. But, watching Rossi lay down perfect lap after perfect lap kept me enthralled.
Loooooove seeing Suzuki doing so well. And this far, so consistently as well. With the rapid pace of tech changes, it’s amazing how they can consistently get so close to the ever dominant Hondas and Yamahas so quickly. I take that as a sign all the electronics still haven’t dramatically altered what it takes to build and tune a world class racing chassis for world class riders, and that Suzuki still retains that knowledge in spades.
I’m honestly less impressed with Ducati. But perhaps JL will focus their minds and bring a bit more consistency. You’d think a crowd favorite team, from the continent where young talents still flock to MC racing like nowhere else, would be more consistently competitive than Ducati currently is.
No question that Lorenzo is nearly unbeatable when in the zone and able to get into his rhythm. But when things aren’t just to his liking on race day (tires, weather, other riders, etc.) he seems to have more difficulties adapting than the other aliens. I’m not sure if it’s a riding style thing or a mental thing – but it sure boils to the surface. JL’s body language after the race was hilarious, even when he smiled it looked like so forced.
With this in mind, the key question to me is what’s it going to be like for JL next year at Ducati? I mean sure the bike improved significantly in 2015 and has shown flashes of brilliance in 2016 too. But consistent it ain’t and I think this will make it very difficult indeed for JL to wrap his head and his seemingly fragile ego around the somewhat fickle nature of the Ducati.
I am going to go out on a limb here (ok I know no one asked for my opinion) and say that barring major improvements to the Ducati between now and the start of the 2017 season, JL is not going to win a single race on that Ducati on his first season on it. He will get some podiums for sure, but that’s it. Note that while JL is not my favourite racer, I made pretty well the same prediction when VR made the move.
It will be interesting for sure to see how he does on the Ducati. I think you could put Marquez with his ragged edge riding style on the Ducati and see him take a few wins, but I am not so sure about Lorenzo either. The Ducati just doesn’t seem as buttoned down as the Yamaha (all of the other bikes in fact, Hondas included, look like they require more work and risk to ride fast than the Yamaha to me), so I think it is going to test his mettle.
That said, while I don’t expect it, I can’t say I’d be completely surprised if Lorenzo figures out how to ride the Ducati fast and poses an constant threat for top spot on the podium.
If JL can approximate his current corner speed while capitalizing on the Duc’s straightaway speed, he will be a threat for sure provided the bike/tires can last through the race. That said, I am not sure JL’s style and temperament fit the Duc in its present form.
The thing I love about sports and motorcycle racing in particular is that occasionally all of our speculation about a result is entirely wrong. There is soooo much talk about Rossi’s age and declining speed but yesterday, with the same tire choices and on the same track as his rivals, the Doctor served up a clinic. It was a boring race but I cheered like a madman the entire time!
Disappointing race for Hanna (Hector) Barbera and Bradley Smith who both had showed more promise earlier in the season. Surprised to see Vinales lose to Espargo as well. congrats to Mr. Rossi. Marquez offers his sincere condolences for challenging Lorenzo, and he’ll find there will be no snuggling tonight.
In the Yamaha Sweepstakes, Aleix is raising his hand and saying, “Hey! Over here! Don’t forget about me!”
Ha!
“Marquez offers his sincere condolences for challenging Lorenzo, and he’ll find there will be no snuggling tonight.”
George is my friend…………..
Rossi’s win wasn’t a surprise given his performance in practice and qualifying. He ran a brilliant race, and no one could touch him, but damn if it wasn’t a boring race.
I know most people here don’t follow Moto3, so hopefully I’m not spoiling anything because I just have to comment:
The fantastic Moto3 race was won by Brad Binder, his first GP victory, despite being forced to start from last, 35th(!), position on the grid following a technical penalty during qualifying. Amazing stuff.
Yes that was the race of the weekend. Also great to see that everyone on the podium for Moto3 was relishing their spot on the podium. It’s a big class with excellent racing. Everyone should tune into it and see the young up and coming stars battle for each win.
Binder’s performance was absolutely stunning, and it’s the kind of stuff that puts you on the radar of the MotoGP teams. Now, he needs to start backing it up consistently. Was this a fluke? Or was it the start of a new era of domination? If this is what we can expect from him in the future, we’re looking at a superstar…
Yes, it was a relatively boring race, but the boredom factor was mitigated by the knowledge that this wasn’t the usual fare. Sure, Lorenzo does this all the time: dominate qualifying, take the holeshot from pole position, lead from the first lap and clear off into the distance, never to be challenged for the entirety of the race.
Rossi? He’s been competing at the top level of Grand Prix racing since mickey was piloting the Sopwith Camel against the Red Baron, and still this was the first time #46 had ever led every lap of of a GP on his way to winning.
Think about that. Even when he was utterly dominant on the Repsol Honda, not once did Rossi ever do what we witnessed yesterday. And to do it in Spain, smoking the Three Amigos at Jerez, of all places?
That was truly remarkable, and not one of us saw it coming. Admit it, following FP1 and FP2, who here wasn’t expecting a repeat of Jerez 2015? At the start of this race, who here wasn’t expecting Jorge to nab the holeshot and lead into the first turn? Once Jorge did briefly manage to pass Rossi, did anyone here expect Rossi to respond by immediately taking back the spot and checking out on everyone?
Come on.
“…this was the first time #46 had ever led every lap of of a GP on his way to winning.”
He’s done that, but not from the pole position. Which is still hard to believe.
It was an amazing ride by Rossi, and while I picked him as the favorite to win after watching qualifying, I certainly didn’t expect him to pull a Lorenzo. I would say it was remarkable feat, but it isn’t because of the two other guys on that track that do that routinely. So there isn’t much awe factor in it for me even if it is a personal first for Rossi. Rossi’s (stunning) performance did nothing to mitigate the dullness of that particular race for me. Your experience may vary, of course.
Amazing. Rossi keeps proving the naysayers wrong … including me. I can’t believe he is still winning. Congrats!
It’s amazing Rossi is still able to compete and win races at his age. I read an article once, I can’t recall if it was just speculation or based on fact, but the premise was that the older you get the more you fear accidents and death and the more risk averse you become, and they said that’s why you didn’t see older motorcycle racers remain competitive after a certain age. It wasn’t so much about physical reaction time as it was about the increased fear of crashing as the rider ages. I think most people can understand that. I know I did a lot crazier things on bikes in my younger days than I would ever be able to convince myself to do now. Then again, I like to blame my current, more conservative riding style on the cost of plastic and alloy parts.
I’m sure crashing doesn’t feel any better when u get older. Hell, I’m 47 and need like a day to recover from a minor fall. can’t imagine MotoGp hurt…
Well, these aren’t ordinary people. To get to where Rossi is you have to take 100 life times worth of risks. Secondly he’s hardly old. Quite a few have won races at over 40. Some even world championships. The real wonder is how these riders maintain their drive and ambition after racing for so long (about 30 years for Rossi).
Its children that really slow a racer down, not just plain age.
lol try grandchildren
If 93 or 99 runs away with it then it’s pretty dull. Not so when 46 wins. Loved it. And blaming the tires instead of giving credit where credit is due equals his thumbs down in Malaysia last year.
Especially considering Rossi was dealing with the exact same problem, i.e., his rear tire spinning up on the straights. Before flapping his gums again, Lorenzo never stopped to wonder why he was suddenly able to pick up a couple-few tenths on Rossi there for a short while, after being slower the entire race.
“Paging Hot Dog to the white courtesy phone….Hot Dog, please pick up the white courtesy phone….”
LOL
LOL!
MST Fans say “Croooooooooooow”
Wonder if it gave Rossi and Marquez as much joy as it did me seeing Lorenzo’s sour puss face after the race. Not that I have anything per se against Lorenzo. Great rider…poor winner…poorer loser. If you are going to celebrate each win like it’s the championship, you should be magnanimous in defeat. Just admit Rossi had a better day, be thankful for beating Marquez and getting some points and complain to the Michelin rep in private. We will probably get to see that face a lot next year when he has to fight with these guys on the Ducati.
It appears as if Marquez finally gets it …points beat a wadded up bike everytime. Glad the kid is showing some maturity to go along with his impressive skills.
and C’mon Dani..pick it up man!
Not only did Sourpuss say he would have won, he said he lost what would have been an easy win.
Oh, really? I guess that spinning tire mid-race explains why Rossi was faster than you in practice, in qualifying, off the line, and throughout every moment of the race, except for when he eased off a bit to manage his own tires before opening the gap all the way up to four seconds and coasting home.
What were your excuses then?
AND WE HAVE THE NAPALM IN THE TREELINE
So much for the changes bringing more close racing. Rossi said he couldn’t maintain traction, on the straights! I am a voice in the wilderness here but they have to cut down the displacement as no tires are adequate nor ever will be for 240HP and 215mph. It may be true that the very best riders do manage to manage the unmanageable, that is the bikes that overwhelm the tires, and so the best man may still often win, but what’t the point in that. Would it not be better if clearly the better bikes and their setup produced wins. Not the guy who somehow makes the tires work on any given day.
RE: “Would it not be better if clearly the better bikes and their setup produced wins. Not the guy who somehow makes the tires work on any given day.”
Wat?! So you’re wanting “AI racing” with autonomous things on the bikes instead of riders?
They already tried that..did u not follow MotoGp during the 800cc era from 2007- 2011? It was with few exceptions, deadly dull..
and if memory serves me it only took them about 3 races before they were turning faster lap times than on the 1000’s…actually going faster. I believe the record for top speed was by Dani Pedrosa at over 217 on the 800 and that was just broken this year
“It may be true that the very best riders do manage to manage the unmanageable, that is the bikes that overwhelm the tires, and so the best man may still often win, but what’t the point in that.”
Said no-one about the 500 2-strokes, ever
Exactly!
The point is to watch the most talented riders in the world tame bikes that mortals can’t. Both man and machine should be factors in winning. The machine should be a factor to keep manufacturers interested and accelerate development. The machine because we want to be able to admire raw talent.
Re: “The point is to watch the most talented riders in the world tame bikes that mortals can’t.”
This is what kills racing classes. If the bikes are too hard to ride, only a couple of riders can be competitive. with only a couple of bikes/teams able to promise wins, sponsors who can’t afford their asking price take their wallets and go somewhere else.
Creme always rises to the top. No matter how you restrict the bikes, there are inveitably some riders who have more skill, more nerve, more desire, more cunning and in the same group of 20 riders, they are always going to win. Put them all on identical bikes someone will finish first, someone will finish last, and the rest will be divided up into little groups of guys with equal abilities.
I can’t believe Rossi caved and started running those wings. It’s officially time to ban them across the board…
They prevent wheelies.
Riiiight.
And maybe all that downforce on the front is what’s causing the “wheelspin down the front straight” that Lorenzo is whining about. Plus, they’re stupid-looking. How long will it be before someone starts selling stick-on “wings” for your sport bike? Aaaaaagh.
I don’t have a problem with the wings. I have a problem with “rider aids.” Get rid of the 6 gyroscopes, six accelerometers, suspension sensors, the wheel speed sensors, and the ride-by-wire system that controls the throttle body butterflies on every bike. Let the riders go back to controlling the bikes.
Rossi won at MotoGP when it was GP500 with vicious 2-stroke bikes that took every bit of skill a rider had in order to not get spit off at speed. Put Rossi, Lorenzo, and Marquez on those and then lets see a race.
Amen, Fred. All that technology is wonderful for we who aren’t world championship caliber racers. Let the Aliens show us their stuff.
But then who would develop that technology for us laymen?
Well, BMW managed to develop a lot of that technology without running a GP program. They even have self-cancelling turn signals!
You’d have to supply the bikes, then. Otherwise “getting rid of” just means “miniaturize and hide.”
Or you could perhaps get rid of any trace of an ecu altogether, and go back to battery less carbed bkes…
In not too long, just like Big Blue or whatever beat Kasparov at chess, Big Red will beat even Rossi at racing a motorbike.
Rossi is just a genuine alien. Marquez at his finest is downright magical, but he at least grew up with traction controlled bikes and the different way they are ridden. Rossi, at a “ripe old man” age, just adapted. That’s just plain nuts.
Glad Rossi won,but yeah it was a boring race. Like watching F1…bring on WorldSBK @ Imola next weekend…
Hopefully Norm will be able to spice things up next year.
You know I always thought these types of races were boring. I guess if Rossi does it it changes my perspective.
On another note, I don’t think Michelin is going that happy with Lorenzo’s feedback all weekend. Is he crying, or is it legitimate?
JLo said his rear wheel was spinning up about midway thru the race. He was catching up, to a point, but Rossi did a good job managing his lead.
Sounds like he just got the traction control setting wrong.
He got beat, by a lot. Not sure why he thought he could have otherwise won “easily”. He’ll need a reality check before the next race.
If Lorenzo can’t manage his tires with traction control, imagine what would happen to him if you put in on a GP500 bike like the Rossi, Rainey, Lawson, Doohan, and Schwantz rode.
What a whiner. It’s always something with him. His tires were spinning, his helmet foam moved, a mosquito made him jump start… Just for once be a man and admit that you lost because someone else was faster than you.
The guy is priceless. And he wonders why he rides through a sea of yellow at every race. He would gain so many fans by just saying something like “my team mate had a great race….I just could not catch him today…..it was a great day for Yamaha finishing 1 and 2”. Instead he says “at the beginning of the race the pace was not that fast…..I could have easily won except for the tires, blah, blah, blah”. The guy needs a Dale Carnegie course!
Maybe Lorenzo thinks everybody but him is still on Bridgestones or something? Maybe he doesn’t know Rossi is on the same bike as him too. So unfair. Poor Lorenzo.