This is supposed to be a Honda track where Yamaha struggles, but a recent test by the factory Yamaha team together with the current level of Jorge Lorenzo changed that today. Based on practice and qualifying times, Lorenzo was expected to battle with Marc Marquez (Honda) for the win today, but Lorenzo got his usual blazing start and Marquez crashed on the second lap while running in second position and trying to close the gap to Lorenzo.
Lorenzo went on to lead every lap and win the race (something that has occurred several times this year) creating a comfortable gap back to the second place battle between his Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi and Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa had the measure of Rossi today despite some exciting back-and-forth with the Italian during the final several laps. Pedrosa therefore took second with Rossi taking the final step on the podium.
The factory Yamaha team clinched the team championship for the season today, and Lorenzo cut Rossi’s championship points lead to 14 with four races remaining. Here are the results for the top 15 finishing riders. For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Team | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 41’44.933 |
| 2 | 20 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +2.683 |
| 3 | 16 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +2.773 |
| 4 | 13 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati Team | Ducati | +7.858 |
| 5 | 11 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | Ducati | +24.322 |
| 6 | 10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +24.829 |
| 7 | 9 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | LCR Honda | Honda | +25.367 |
| 8 | 8 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | +25.503 |
| 9 | 7 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | +26.452 |
| 10 | 6 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | +43.889 |
| 11 | 5 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +44.255 |
| 12 | 4 | 45 | Scott REDDING | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | +48.176 |
| 13 | 3 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +49.755 |
| 14 | 2 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | +50.271 |
| 15 | 1 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Aspar MotoGP Team | Honda | +50.364 |
OMG, the Pedro-bot has become “self aware”. he’s going to kill us all…! run for your lives…!
I would love it if he came out of his slump.
What a great season! Continues to entertain, on several levels. Judging from the comments, others agree. So great!
Awesome racing between Rossi and Pedroza (I am a Rossi fan BTW), and Lorenzo clearly is very confident once he gets up front. Marc needs to slow down and think more about his strategy to win, be more patient, he has the skills, he just needs a little more wisdom…
It’s a little bit like MM put off having his rookie year until now…
to everyone that wonders why Repsol keeps signing Pedrosa to contract extensions, this is why…
No sweat to Rossi, Lorenzo isn’t going to sweep the rest of the season. Rossi loves Australia and I see him grabbing a few points back.
from hero to zero, tough crowd
I agree. MM haters will be cheering for him again next year if he goes on another historic win streak like he did in 2014.
Tough crowd here. I’ve watched MM’s bike jumping all over the place this year and it’s not a surprise he’s gone down as much as he has. I’ve got to wonder how it’s affecting confidence and will it tone down his aggression
Again MM is too aggressive. For no reason in this case, as the title is done for him this year. Once again if he’s going to bin the Honda I’m glad he just took himself out. I know he wants to win more races this season but at what cost? Not saying he should not try and win but just be smart about it.
MM pushes his Honda like a dirt bike in corners and crashes often
He just crashed his bicycle and broke his left hand yesterday
Glad VR at least picked up 3rd. I really hope those 4 points don’t become an issue by the end of the season.
Yamaha’s straight speed sucks when compared to Honda & Ducati, Rossi lost to Pedrosa because of lack of straight speed where Honda was dominant in the 1 KM stretch.
The winner on a Yamaha had only the 8 th fastest bike at Aragon according to official speed measuring while the fastest bike on a Ducati didnt finish on the podium
The difference in speed between Bradly Smiths Yamaha and Marquez’s Honda was 1 mph
As a matter of fact 6 of the 7 fastest bikes at Aragon didn’t finish on the podium
I saw Pedrosa’s advantage on the back straight as a non-factor. He never passed Rossi there because he always re-passed him in the corners. His speed made Rossi fail to consolidate the turn-1 pass.
Pedrosa is much lighter than most of the others, and as the commentators pointed out, he’s better than anyone at standing the bike up on corner exit (even though Rissi seemed to hold a much tighter line on exit most corners).
It was a great battle to watch. I think Rossi’s first couple of attempts were going to be enough to rattle Dani but he responded like a champ.
I agree. Had Rossi managed to make a turn-1 pass at some point, I would have fully expected Pedrosa to take it right back considering the way he was riding that day.
Few riders can come under that kind of pressure for that long, especially from Valentino Rossi, without getting rattled. Pedrosa reminded everyone that day why he is on a orange and white Honda.
You must keep in mind Pedrosa had the advantage to take the preferred line and block. I’m not taking anything from his performance, he played it perfectly. He exploited his advantages, and minimized that of Rossi’s. He did just what Rossi would have, and was trying to do.
Finally Dani brings a gun to a gun fight and out-Rossi’s Rossi. Well done Dani. Although I say this with much bias since I’m a Lorenzo fan. GO JORGE!!!
So Dani’s arm pump problems are behind him?
Dani appeared much more aggressive toward the end of a race than I can remember. At first I wondered if his attitude had changed. But more likely, perhaps: his arms work better, finally?
Best year of MotoGP EVER! Serious respect to Pedrosa for that battle. I’m sure being in front of the home fans had something to do with that. Glad it was clean and no one got tangled.
The home crowd helped. Having a massive advantage in HP and gapping Rossi every time on both straights helped a lot more.
Well he did beat him on the straights, but he also beat him thru the turns
If Dani didn’t have such a huge advantage on the straights, he wouldn’t have been within shouting distance. Rossi fell behind every time they hit those two straights, only to reel Dani back in immediately. That advantage would have quickly led to a huge gap, if only Rossi didn’t have to give it right back every lap.
Considering Dani’e obvious advantage on the straights, it was clear he was losing out under breaking and in the corners, otherwise he would have easily checked out on Rossi.
well everytime Rossi passed him in a corner, Dani passed him right back so……
Dani did pull him down the long straights, Rossi did out brake him going into the turns after the long straights, but when they got into the turns they were virtually side by side and Dani came out on top
In this case I wish he hadn’t, as I hated to see Rossi lose the points, but I can only observe and report the outcome.That’s what I saw, and that’s obviously what everyone else saw too judging by the comments here.
Then how do you explain Lorenzo’s 3 second lead?
Edge grip and corner speed! Jorge didn’t have to deal with protecting a line from MM after the first lap. Give him that advantage and he does what he does best, ride smoothly and turn in consistent fast laps. Make him dice for a place and he’s not so dominant.
Lorenzo is a monster if he can get out front and run away. If he’s in a crowd he’s in trouble.
The difference is who was in front and who was trailing. Dani’s enormous advantage on the straights allowed him to enter the two key corners ahead of Rossi, only Dani didn’t have the ability to pull away anywhere else. Rossi easily caught Dani but couldn’t get by him because Dani was always leading into those two key corners, which allowed him to protect the inside line. The only way through for Rossi was via an untenable line that he couldn’t maintain on the exit. Had Rossi ever been ahead of Dani entering those two corners, he then would have pulled steadily away.
Just like Lorenzo did, absent anyone to block his path and kill his corner-speed advantage.
It’s the same old story. Valentino needs to qualify better so he doesn’t immediately find himself stuck in traffic while Lorenzo pulls an easy two-second gap. In this case, Rossi got stuck behind a Repsol Honda that was at least fast enough in the corners to take full advantage of its straightline advantage, something which the Ducatis can’t manage.
FANTASTIC performance by Perosa. I don’t think he’s ever beat Rossi in a straight fight. Should do wonders for his confidence.
Marquez is a squid.
Marquez is no loser (spelled correctly). He tries to win and will take risks. Not always the best strategy but he has a trophy case the size of a garage…do you Provologna?
He’s not a loser, he’s a retard. He must had something like an excess of twice the speed than Lorenzo when he crashed out in that corner today. That’s not taking risks, that’s being an idiot with absolutely no race strategy.
ed –
Disgraceful word to use, there.
Twice the speed of Lorenzo – oh yeah? How did you work that one out? And what does it suggest about tour mental ability?
These guys operate right on the ragged edge, and it takes a crash to remind us of that.
sure MM has crashed alot this year, but look at how dull things were when he didn’t crash during the first dozen or so races last season.
The only thing I’m glad is that he took himself out without crashing another rider after using him as bumper rail as he’s already done two or tree times this year.
Don’t know how long Honda will be impressed about his trophy case of the size of a garage if things go on like this….
I’m sure his team takes great comfort from that. “Sure, he routinely crashes our million-dollar factory bikes–but isn’t it exciting?”
Heh heh. You made me laugh out loud. Thanks for that!
You might be a better speller, but definitions, not so much. If Marquez did not lose today, what did he do? If you think you’re passing along “news” that MM has a lot of trophies, you’re as arrogant as much as you lack reasoning.
Do you think Honda management is as happy with MMs performance today as much as you are enamored with MMs trophy collection?
I wonder if you work for Honda or have business or personal relation with MM.
One particular contrast is interesting between Pedrosa and MM. MM traded his 2015 chassis for the 2014 version, while Pedrosa soldiered on developing the 2015 chassis. Even with all his medical issues this year, Pedrosa finishes second ahead of Rossi while MM crashes.
Rossi may have created a monster. Before Lorenzo got off the bike he was sporting the shark fin.
Spirited and aggressive riding by Dani, WOW that was a heck of a race for second. Good to see Dani ride well again, but I wish Val had gotten past him. Didn’t mean anything to Pedrosa, may have meant everything to Rossi. Asos good ride by Iannone with the bum shoulder.
Yeah, I loved watching 26 and 46. Then the dust settled and I thought, damn it that was 4 pts!
Meant nothing to Pedrosa??
‘It was one of the best battles because of the rival, because normally you can have a good battle with many riders as I’ve had in the past in other classes, but Valentino is the master of this situation’ – Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi got beat by the shrimp whose reputation is to back down in such fights. Pedrosa is back in the game which only adds to the drama of these final races. The winner is gonna have to earn it.
Meant nothing to Pedrosa??
Toward the championship. That was implied and think understood by most
Oh, I’m sorry, I almost forgot…Congrats, Jorge!
how could you forget!? Jorge makes sure EVERYONE knows when he wins a race.
Marquez: embrace the suck, looser!
Four world championships at 21 years old. Any other “losers” like that? By the way, there is only one o in loser.