2016 Catalan MotoGP: Rossi’s Spanish domination continues

It wasn’t the perfect weekend for the MotoGP riders after upcoming Moto2 rider Luis Salom met with a fatal crash. But as it is said, the show must go on and that’s what the family of the deceased rider wanted and qualifying commenced for the Catalan Grand Prix. Marc Marquez grabbed his first premiere class pole in Barcelona while Lorenzo was a close second and Valentino Rossi was in second row starting from fifth place on the grid. As is the norm, Lorenzo made a scorching start to grab the race lead heading into the first corner. Marquez was close on his heels with his teammate Pedrosa in third position. Rossi made a terrible launch which saw him getting dropped to eighth position but he was quick to respond and was in sixth position by the end of first lap.

Lorenzo was slowly trying to etch out a lead but Marquez and Pedrosa were trying their best to stick close to the race leader. Rossi seemed to have regained his composure and was registering some hot laps and was the fastest rider on the track. In what can be judged as among the best moves of the 2016 MotoGP season, the Italian rider made a brilliant move to pass both Vinales and Inannone in a single manoeuvre. Rossi was on fire and he wasted no time in getting past Pedrosa. Such was his pace that within a lap he was in second place and was gunning down the championship leader. Lorenzo didn’t put up a great fight to Rossi as the Italian rider was riding at a supreme pace. The MotoGP legend had risen from eighth place on the grid to the race lead in less than five laps and he seemed determined to make amends for his disappointment in Mugello. Lorenzo on the other hand was struggling as he dropped to fourth place behind the Repsol Honda pair. 

Vinales also sensed that he was in a good position to overtake Lorenzo and stake claim to fourth position. But the reigning champion wasn’t making it easy for the young Spaniard who is set to replace him at Yamaha. The duo exchanged positions on a regular basis before Vinales was finally able to make his move wok. It seemed that Lorenzo was again suffering from wheel spin problems similar to the one he had encountered at Jerez. Among all this action, Rossi and Marquez had split away from the trailing pack and it seemed certain that the race winner will be among the duo. Marquez was really riding hard to keep Rossi in his sight and also had a close call when the front of his bike almost washed off. 

Ducati rider Iannone was closing down on a struggling Lorenzo but misjudged his braking which resulted in him darting into Lorenzo’s bike and both the riders crashed out of the race. With five laps remaining in the race, Marquez tried to pass Rossi but the Italian rider was quick to respond and regain his race lead. The Honda rider was trying to pressurize the nine-time champion but Rossi was riding brilliantly to hold his lead. With three laps remaining Marquez passed Rossi on turn one and was trying his level best to stay ahead but he was trailing him like a shadow. Rossi returned the favour to Marquez as he mimicked his move on the penultimate lap of the race to grab the race lead. 

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Rossi was able to carve out a slender lead to have some breathing space between Marquez and himself. The Honda rider was pushing to the limit and in this process ran wide on turn seven and Rossi utilised this moment to expand his lead and crossed the finish line with an over one second  gap to a roar from the grandstand. Pedrosa rode home in a lonely third place with Vinales finishing fourth. With this result, Marquez leads the championship followed by Lorenzo and Rossi.