Valentino Rossi Jorge Lorenzo MotoGP Grand Prix of Catalunya 2016

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Valentino Rossi returned to the top rostrum today after a brilliant performance at the Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya, celebrating his second victory of the season. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo suffered from a premature ending to the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya after a race incident caused by Andrea Iannone.

[section_separator divider_candy=”top” icon=”fa-flag” icon_color=”” bordersize=”1px” bordercolor=”” backgroundcolor=”” class=”” id=””]

1st | VALENTINO ROSSI
44’37.589 / 25 LAPS

NC | JORGE LORENZO
– / 16 LAPS

Grand Prix of Catalunya
Montmeló, Spain, 5th June 2016

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Valentino Rossi charged to an impeccable victory today at the Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya, taking his second win of the season at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya.
Jorge Lorenzo also set a strong pace over the first stages of the race, but he was unable to hold his lead due to front tyre grip issues. Riding in fifth place, he was looking to take home vital points for the championship, until Andrea Iannone clipped him and caused a DNF for them both.
Starting from fifth on the grid Rossi had his work cut out for him as he dropped back to eighth when exiting the first corner. The Doctor immediately put his nimble YZR-M1 to work and carved his way through the pack like a knife through butter. By the end of the first lap he had overtaken Hector Barbera and Andrea Dovizioso. Riding in sixth place as he crossed the line for the first time, Rossimoved on to his next targets, Maverick Viñales and Andrea Iannone. He overtook the both of them with a great manoeuvre and quickly passed Dani Pedrosa to earn a spot in the top three with still 22 laps remaining to reel in the front riders.
As he pursued Marc Marquez, the Italian quickened his pace setting a fastest lap of the race so far. He soon reached the back of his rival‘s bike and smoothly passed the Spaniard on lap six and swiftly moved on to pass his teammate to take over the lead on the very next lap. Now with a clear track in front of him, he put the hammer down, but he was unable to shake off Marquez, who was riding in second place.
[recent_works picture_size=”fixed” layout=”carousel” boxed_text=”boxed” filters=”yes” columns=”1″ cat_slug=”catalunya-2016″ exclude_cats=”” number_posts=”25″ excerpt_length=”35″ animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][/recent_works]
The end of the race saw a brilliant fight between the two key protagonists. The local rider made a move in turn five, but Rossi was quick to respond with a brilliant move in turn two a lap later. Marquez used the slipstream to find a way through again, but Rossifought back. With two laps to go the Italian was in Marquez‘ slipstream and needed no second invitation when the Spaniard left a gap on the penultimate lap in turn seven, allowing Rossi to make the race-winning pass. Marquez was unable to make up the lost time, while Rossi rode towards his second victory of the season, holding a 2.652s margin over the finish line.
Lorenzo had a lightning fast start from second on the grid to take the holeshot. He rode the early stages of the race exactly as he had planned, increasing his lead to over 0.7s by lap two, whilst the 20 riders behind him tried to sort out their order.
The Mallorcan rider pushed hard, but was unable to completely break away from Marquez in second place and his fast approachingMovistar Yamaha MotoGP teammate. He was forced to let the pair go past with 19 laps to go as he struggled to find grip on the harder front tyre. Lorenzo tried to make his Yamaha as wide as possible, yet Pedrosa also found his way past. He was then put under pressure by Viñales. A hot battle followed, with multiple overtakes from both riders, but in the end Lorenzo was unable to stick with his compatriot as the grip-level of his tyre was too deteriorated. The Spaniard then cleverly focused on collecting as many points as possible and was determined to keep Andrea Iannone at bay, but then disaster struck. Nine laps before the end Iannone ran into the back of Lorenzo‘s bike whilst entering turn ten, thus ending the race for both riders.

Race Results

1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 44’37.589
2. Marc Marquez (SPA) | Repsol Honda Team | +2.652
3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) | Repsol Honda Team | +6.313
4. Maverick Viñales (SPA) | Team Suzuki Ecstar | +24.388
5. Pol Espargaró (SPA) | Monster Yamaha Tech3 | +29.546
Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | NC

46
Valentino Rossi

“I think it was a perfect Sunday, because this morning we improved the setting of the bike a lot and after the warm-up I felt more confident about the race. The race was great! Though the start was not fantastic, I was strong enough to come back, do some good overtaking and arrive in front. From that moment I tried to push at 100 percent to go away alone, but unfortunately I wasn‘t fast enough to pull away from Marquez. I tried to stay quiet and ride well, because I felt I had a good pace and felt good with the bike. At the end I was ready for the battle, which was a good one, with a lot of overtaking and I was ready to give it a try. You can‘t wish for a better race, I think. This is one of my favourite tracks and it was from 2009 that I didn‘t win here, and that wasn‘t great for me. For this reason I‘m more happy today and the battle with Marquez we can put on the same level as the battle with Lorenzo. What happened in Mugello was very sad because I was ready to fight for the victory there, which was fantastic. Over the last week I just thought I had to try do the same, to arrive ready for the race. Together with my team we did a great job and I think this is the best way to forget about the zero points in Mugello.”


Jorge Lorenzo

“First of all, as I said yesterday, everything is secondary after what happened on Friday. About the race, it‘s unbelievable that Iannone made this mistake again and when he did, instead of saying “sorry” he asked me if I had an engine failure or something strange happening in this corner. I thought it was his fault, but he had this reaction and didn‘t say sorry. There is always one rider that doesn‘t understand the risks and that his actions can seriously injure the other riders and if Race Direction don‘t give him a hard penalisation, like they did with me in 2005, these kinds of riders don‘t understand that they have to change their mentality. That’s why I think starting the race from last position is not enough, because in five to seven laps he will be positioned at the front again due to his pace.”

Massimo Meregalli
Team Director
Until the start of the race it had been a very strange weekend because we faced many issues, first with the front tyre wear, then with the new track layout and finally with the tyre choice. The decision on the tyres was never a question because there was only one option for us, but when we tested the hard tyre in FP4, the riders‘ feelings were not good at all, so we did not know what to expect from the race.
Our crew reacted in a magnificent way because they drastically revised the set up of both bikes, especially to make them suitable for T4, which was our weakest sector.
The race was another bittersweet one after Mugello. I‘m almost speechless in front of Valentino‘s supremacy on track today. I believe he‘s written a new page in the history of this sport, winning at Montmelò seven years after his last victory here. He‘s been able to recover from a less than perfect start that moved him back to the eighth place, and then he‘s given the race a rhythm that was unmatchable for his rivals.
Jorge did a great start and led the race for six laps, until the front tyre dropped and he had to manage the attacks from Pedrosa, Viñales and ultimately Iannone. I believe Iannone has no excuses and, because it‘s not the first time he causes such an accident, I expected the Race Direction to be more strict with him, as this incident could seriously compromise Jorge‘s chances to fight for the title.
Finally, a special thought to Luis Salom and his family. Today‘s show, put together by all riders, is the best way to pay tribute to a member of our extended “MotoGP Family” who is no longer with us.”

[title size=”3″ content_align=”left” style_type=”single solid” sep_color=”” class=”” id=””]Schedule & Standings[/title]

Rossi‘s first place earns him 25 points. This result keeps him in third place in the championship standings on 103 points, now just 12 points behind Lorenzo in second position.

Date Race Venue Location Lorenzo Rossi
Mar 20 Grand Prix of Qatar Losail International Circuit Qatar 1st
25 pts
4th
13 pts
Apr 4 Grand Prix of Argentina Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo Argentina NC
25 pts
2nd
33 pts
Apr 10 Grand Prix of the Americas Circuit of the Americas Austin, TX 2nd
45 pts
NC
33 pts
Apr 24 Grand Prix of Spain Circuido de Jerez Jerez de la Frontera, Spain 2nd
65 pts
1st
58 pts
May 8 Grand Prix of France Circuit de ls Sarthe Le Mans, France 1st
90 pts
2nd
78 pts
May 22 Grand Prix of Italy Autodromo del Mugello Scarperia, Italy 1st
115 pts
NC
78 pts
Jun 5 Grand Prix of Catalunya Circuit de Catalunya Montmeló, Spain NC
115 pts
1st
103 pts
Jun 26 Grand Prix of the Netherlands Circuit de ls Sarthe Assen, Netherlands
Jul 17 Grand Prix of Germany Sachsenring Saxon, Germany
Aug 14 Grand Prix of Austria Red Bull Ring Spielberg, Austria
Aug 21 Grand Prix of Czech Republic Automodrom Brno Brno, Czech Republic
Sep 11 Grand Prix of San Marino Misano World Circuit Misano Adriatico, Italy
Sep 25 Grand Prix of Aragón Motorland Aragón Aragón, Spain
Oct 16 Grand Prix of Japan Twin Ring Motegi Tochigi, Japan
Oct 23 Grand Prix of Australia Phillip Island Circuit Phillip Island Victoria, Australia
Oct 30 Grand Prix of Malaysia Sepang International Circuit Selangor, Malaysia
Nov 13 Grand Prix of Valencia Ricardo Tormo Valencia Cheste, Spain

Additional details, including extended imagery, are available on www.yamahamotogp.com.

MotoGP Partnership Details