Photo by Gold & Goose
Jorge Lorenzo was dominant from start to finish Sunday in the 2016 MotoGP season finale at Valencia in Spain. Lorenzo got a great start and pulled clear of the field. His margin of victory of 1.1 second over second-place Marc Marquez was deceptive, since Lorenzo backed off the pace in the closing laps preserving his win. Andrea Iannone rounded out the podium finishers in third after an epic nearly race-long battle with Valentino Rossi.
For Lorenzo, it marked his fourth win of the season, in his final race with Yamaha. The three-time MotoGP world champ is moving to Ducati for 2017.
When asked the emotions he was feeling after his victory, Lorenzo replied, “Very happy. Very, very happy. Now I can stay quiet, I can relax, I can sleep deep because I had a perfect end in my stage with Yamaha all these nine years. Very emotional.
“Before the race I didn’t expect to win, because I knew Marquez was very strong, but luckily I could open this gap at the beginning and maintain a little bit the distance. I suffered so much the last ten laps, because when I saw Marquez in second place I knew he was going to attack and push for the limit. But finally, just for one second I could win the race and make this last present to Yamaha. Today we are going to have a big celebration.”
Lorenzo nailed the holeshot on the factory Yamaha to lead the 21-rider field into the first turn to begin the season-ending 30-lap Grand Prix of Valencia, in front of a massive crowd under soft autumn sunshine. Andrea Iannone and Maverick Viñales followed. Marc Marquez got swamped in the first turn and fell back a number of positions coming out of the first couple of turns.
A couple of laps in and Lorenzo held a half-second lead on Iannone. Viñales was still holding third, but was coming under pressure from Valentino Rossi and Marquez.
Yonny Hernandez was the first to crash out.
Five laps in and both Rossi and Marquez got around Viñales in rapid succession to take over third and fourth.
The next lap Rossi moved past Iannone. By now Lorenzo was over two seconds up the road in first. A half a lap later Iannone used the power of his Ducati to move back by Rossi at the end of the front straight. After all his strategizing Rossi would have to try all over again, all the while with Marquez breathing down his neck.
Dani Pedrosa crashed out at turn two while running seventh on lap seven.
On lap nine Rossi once again got by only to be repassed by Iannone again. The two swapped second place a couple of times over the next few laps with Marquez and Viñales closing up, enjoying the best view of the great battle.
Ten laps in and Marquez and Iannone began going back and forth giving Rossi just a bit of breathing room. With all this battling going on Dovizioso quietly moved his way up to join the fray just behind Viñales.
With 13 laps to go Cal Crutchlow crashed out on the final turn.
With 12 to go Marquez moved ahead of Rossi with an inside move braking for turn two. He immediately began looking to get by Iannone.
Marquez and Iannone had a wonderful exchange with the two going back and forth for second for a couple of times before Marquez made the pass for second stick with 10 laps to go.
Mika Kallio pitted the new KTM GP machine with 10 laps remaining, talking to his crew afterwards about some issue he was having with the machine. The crew reported it was likely electrical.
With seven to go Rossi moved to third, but Iannone and Viñales continued to threaten. Iannone was able to get back by a lap later. With two to go Rossi made one more stab at getting the final podium spot, but Iannone was not to be denied.
In the closing laps Marquez slowly narrowed the gap, but Lorenzo could manage the gap, which had been over five seconds. Marquez actually got a bit closer than Lorenzo would have liked, but in the end the gap was 1.1 seconds.
Iannone held off Rossi for third. Viñales dropped off in the closing stages, but still managed to bring the Suzuki home in fifth.
There was a great battle for sixth on the final lap with Pol Espargaro just barely holding off Andrea Dovizioso and Pol’s brother Aleix Espargaro.
Next up for the MotoGP paddock is this week’s test in Valencia, where fans will get a first peek at next year’s series lineup.
GRAN PREMIO MOTUL DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA
MotoGP Race Classification
Cheste, Spain, Sunday, November 13, 2016
| 1 | 25 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 157.0 | 45’54.228 |
| 2 | 20 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 156.9 | +1.185 |
| 3 | 16 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 156.6 | +6.603 |
| 4 | 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 156.6 | +7.668 |
| 5 | 11 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 156.4 | +10.610 |
| 6 | 10 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 156.0 | +18.378 |
| 7 | 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 156.0 | +18.417 |
| 8 | 8 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 155.9 | +18.678 |
| 9 | 7 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 155.5 | +25.993 |
| 10 | 6 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 155.0 | +35.065 |
| 11 | 5 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 154.9 | +36.425 |
| 12 | 4 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | 154.6 | +42.415 |
| 13 | 3 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 154.2 | +49.823 |
| 14 | 2 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | Ducati | 154.1 | +52.035 |
| 15 | 1 | 43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 153.9 | +55.625 |
| 16 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Pull & Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 153.7 | +58.254 | |
| 17 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 153.7 | +58.555 | |
| 18 | 76 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 153.3 | +1’06.164 | |
| Not Classified | ||||||||
| 36 | Mika KALLIO | FIN | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 152.3 | 11 Laps | ||
| 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | LCR Honda | Honda | 155.5 | 14 Laps | ||
| 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 154.8 | 24 Laps | ||
| 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Pull & Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 150.7 | 26 Laps | ||
