Doha, Qatar – The 2016 MotoGP world championship got off to a dramatic start at Losail as Jorge Lorenzo blitzed the field ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez. With new Michelin tyres and unified electronics, the Qatar Motorcycle Grand Prix not only heralded the start of a new season but also a new era in premier-class racing.
The Binder brothers from Gauteng had a solid if ultimately frustrating start to the season as Brad missed out on a maiden Grand Prix win by 0.07s after the dice of a lifetime and younger brother Darryn came home 23rd.
MOTOGP
As the lights went out it was Lorenzo who dived into the first corner ahead of Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) and world Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, while Marquez got a poor start, dropping out of the top five. After the first couple of corners, Lorenzo led from the factory Ducatis of Iannone and Dovizioso, with Rossi fourth.
The top speed of the Ducati proved a force to be reckoned with as both Iannone and Dovizioso blasted past Lorenzo on the straight, dropping the World Champion to third as they ended the first lap, while Rossi stayed just ahead of Marquez as all five began to settle into their rhythms.
Iannone led across the line, he and Dovizioso having opened a lead of several tenths over the pursuing Yamaha pair, while Pedrosa and Maverick Vinales on the leading Suzuki tried to close the gap.
Marquez slid up the inside of Rossi to grab fourth at Turn 6 on lap three; the pace kept getting hotter, the new Michelin tyres seemingly improving with every lap.
On lap six Dovizioso tried to take the lead but was quickly pushed back by an aggressive move from his team-mate – but when he tried again later in the lap Iannone stuffed it up the inside into Turn 13 and took a big tumble
With Iannone gone, Lorenzo took up the challenge and pushed Dovizioso hard for the lead. Dovizioso was consistently faster down the straight than the Yamaha but on lap nine Lorenzo took the lead and managed to open a small but crucial lead through the infield that put him out of the reach of the Ducati on the main straight.
A string of fastest laps followed as the Qatar GP entered its middle stage, with Lorenzo and Dovizioso taking turns – but by half distance Lorenzo held an advantage of more than 0.3s.
Neither Marquez nor Rossi was able to make a serious impression on the leading pair; Rossi appeared to be fading away but then produced a 1:55.281 on lap 14 to leap back into the fray. Marquez closed in on Dovizioso as Lorenzo finally pulled away during the final five laps, sliding effortlessly slid up the inside of the Ducati to move into second.
He then tried to chase down Lorenzo but soon found himself the target of Dovizioso and Rossi once morec – and as they charged down the straight to start the final lap Dovizioso used the sheer speed of the Ducati to pass Marquez into Turn 1.
Lorenzo came home 2.019s ahead of the battle for second, with Dovizioso Marquez and Rossi finishing within less than half a second of each other.
Pedrosa was a distant fifth, with Vinales, Yamaha Tech 3 team-mates Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, and Ducati privateers Hector Barbera and Scott Redding rounding out the top 10.
A number of early penalties and crashes saw the Moto2 race turned upside down, with Thomas Luthi finally taking the win from taking victory from Luis Salom and Speed Up rider Simone Corsi – the only finisher in the top 18 who wasn’t on a Kalex.
Starting from pole, 2015 Qatar winner Jonas Folger got a great launch off the line to take the lead, unaware of the issues unfolding behind him. Takaaki Nakagami and Sam Lowes settled in behind Folger, but the German was off like a rocket and opened up a one second lead by the end of the first lap.
Luthi then moved up to join Lowes and Nakagami in the debate for second – but thare was chaos behind them as Johann Zarco, Lowes, Marcel Schrotter and Alex Rins were all handed ride-through penalties for jumping the start.
Then Folger crashed out of the lead at Turn 4 on lap three, handing the lead to Franco Morbidelli, who was battling with Luthi for second at the time A lap later Luthi took the lead, just as the penalty boards (also for jumping the start) came out for Nakagami and Robin Mulhauser
The battle continued to rage between Luthi and Morbidelli at the front, the Italian living up to his reputation as one of the hardest men in the intermediate class, throwing himself up the inside of Luthi whenever a gap opened.
With 15 laps to go Nakagami came into the pits for his ride through penalty, promoting Corsi to third with Sandro Cortese right behind him.
On lap 10 Morbidelli took the lead and tried to pull a gap, while Cortese latched onto Corsi as they debated the final podium spot.
Meanwhile Salom was leading a five-way battle for fifth that included reigning Moto3 champion Danny Kent – but on lap 14 race direction announced that the race starts of Morbidelli and Cortese, who were at the time in first and fourth, were under investigation.
Unaware of what was going on, Morbidelli continued to push at the front with Luthi in tow, doing all he could to take a maiden Grand Prix win.
In the closing laps Morbidelli was able to hold a steady lead of just over a tenth of a second from Luthi but midway through the penultimate lap the Swiss rider saw his chance and began to close in.
Luthi just edged out Morbidelli in the drag race to the line – the winning margin was 0.047sec – only for Morbidelli and Cortese to be handed 20-asecond penalties for for jumping the start, which pushed Morbidelli down to seventh and Cortese to 15th.
Salom and Corsi were promoted to second and third respectively, with Malaysian youngster Hafizh Syahrin in a stunning fourth ahead of experienced campaigner Dominique Aegerter and Danny Kent.
A great ride after his jump-start penalty saw Alex Rins come home eighth ahead of similarly penalised Lowes, with Valentino Rossi’s half-brother, Motor2 rookie Luca Marini, battling through the pain barrier after a heavy crash in qualifying on Saturday to round out the top 10 .
MOTO3
KTM privateer Romano Fenati charged off pole position to lead through the opening corners with Livio Loi (Honda) and Binder hot on his tail. Loi tried to take the lead with 17 laps to go before running wide at Turn 1 and dropping outside the top five.
Binder and Jorge Navarro (Honda) tried to break away but the effect of slipstreaming – crucial in Qatar - saw all of the top 20 riders running together.
Positions changed constantly as the top five slowly began to eke out an advantage with 15 laps remaining, as Losail’s long main straight produced dramatic changes, the rider leading out of the final corner often finding himself sucked back to fifth.
Francesco Bagnaia was the best of the Mahindra riders, staying in the top five throughout the race, dicing with Niccolo Antonelli (Honda) as he had done in 2015.
In the middle stages rookie Nicolo Bulega (KTM) closed down the leading riders, as Binder moving into the lead at half distance – only to be reeled in by Fenati, and the brawl was on again. The top six were ducking and diving, carving each other up in every corner as Binder pulled a tiny lead through the corners, only to be hauled in on the straight.
With four laps to go rookie Bulega pulled the pin and took the lead; Binder responded immediately as the two KTM riders battled it out. Then Bulega grabbed the lead again just as his team-mate Fenati put in a couple of robust moves to muscle his way into second.
In true Moto3 style it all came down to the last lap. Binder moved back into the lead as Fenati ran wide in Turn 1, with Antonelli tucked in behind him, waiting for his chance to strike.
Antonelli played the race to perfection, pulling out of Binder’s slipstream on the spring to the line to steal the race by 0.007s, with Binder second and Bagnaia third.
Fenati secured a solid fourth from pole while Enea Bastianini (Honda) rounded out the top five, ahead of Bulega, Navarro, Loi, Philipp Oettl (KTM) and Jakub Kornfeil (Honda), who completed the top 10.