Larry Lawrence | April 24, 2016
Photo courtesy MotoGP.com
The Doctor gave Jorge Lorenzo a taste of his own medicine Sunday in the Grand Prix of Spain in Jerez. In front of the packed hills of Jerez, Valentino Rossi got off to a great start from the pole and then simply dominated the race, leading every lap and pulling away from his Yamaha teammate with the margin of victory at the finish 2.386 seconds at the flag, the gap having been up to 4.234 seconds before Rossi backed it off on the final lap. Honda’s Marc Marquez finished a distant third, over four seconds behind Lorenzo.
It was a command performance for the veteran Rossi, who scored his 87th-career MotoGP victory. Rossi was only headed one time, briefly for maybe 100 yards when Lorenzo tried once to take over the lead.
The results of race find Marquez now leading the championship by 21 points over Lorenzo (66-45) with Rossi now third with 33 points after four rounds.
“I think this was the perfect weekend,” Rossi said. “We start to go fast from Friday morning and worked very well the bike. In the race it was fantastic. We worked very well with the team, so I have to thank you to the Yamaha MoviStar MotoGP team, especially my crew. I had good pace. I had a good start, I feel good with the bike from the beginning so I could push. This was a special taste. We like this.”
Rossi led into the first turn with Lorenzo pressuring him. The Hondas of Pedrosa Marquez following. A few laps in Lorenzo lunged in to take the lead in turn three only to be quickly repassed by Rossi. At the same time Marquez moved past his Honda teammate to third. There was nothing between the top four in the early laps.
Aleix Espargaro ran fifth, holding off Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales.
After the flourish of passes and repasses, Rossi was able to establish a small gap on Lorenzo. Lorenzo in turn was being hounded by Marquez and Pedrosa struggled to stay with those two.
On lap eight Alvaro Bautista crashed out in turn 11. Vinales moved around Dovi to take sixth, one place behind his Suzuki teammate.
On lap 10 Dovizioso slowed, a puff of smoke coming from the tailpipe of his Ducati, his rotten luck of 2016 continuing.
Mid-race and Rossi built nearly a three-second lead. Lorenzo and Marquez still ran close in their battle for second. Pedrosa was a distant fourth and then the Suzukis of Aleix Espargaro and Vinales. The big grouping in the race was back in the battle for eighth between Eugene Laverty, Hector Barbera, Andrea Iannone and Cal Crutchlow.
Lorenzo began to chip away at Rossi’s lead and at one point had it down to two seconds even and appeared he might challenge in the late going, but Rossi responded and picked his pace up again. Within a couple of laps Rossi’s lead was back up to 3.3 seconds with five laps to go.
After a terrible start to the race, Iannone set about making up for lost time and quickly got past Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and ran away with seventh place. This would be one of the last battles of the race as the field stretched out, only a handful of riders within a second of each other.
Overtakes were scarce at the front but the battle for seventh place produced some thrilling racing, Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) leading the group ahead of Laverty. Just behind them Andrea Iannone and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) pushed each other hard for 10th position, not what either rider wanted before the race. Ahead of them Pedrosa had Aleix Espargaro to contend with, Pedrosa working hard to hold off the Suzuki man. Since his fifth in Austin, Espargaro has been in some of the best form of his career after a setup breakthrough.
Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) crashed out of the race at Turn 11 after battling with Cal Crutchlow in the opening stages.
The Monster Energy Grand Prix de France will seem them do it all again for round five of the 2016 World Championship on May 8.
Results of the Red Bull Grand Prix of Spain MotoGP race from Jerez – April 24, 2016
| 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 |
