Starting things off in style was the very first race of the season under the lights in Qatar. As always the tension mounted before the Moto3™ race with a number of new riders looking to make a name for themselves and some more established stars looking to push on to become title contenders. As it came down to the last lap, four riders were in the hunt for the victory and it was anyone’s guess who would come out on top, with the winner eventually taking victory by just 0.007s.
The 2016 Italian GP went down in history as the closest weekend of racing that the World Championship has ever seen. Just 0.087s separated the first and second riders across the line in all three classes combined! First up on the day was the Moto3™ race that saw the top five riders finish within 0.077s of each other after an incredible last lap.
Up next on the day was the Moto2™ race and the intermediate class wouldn’t disappoint either. A red flag after just three laps saw the race restarted as a ten-lap sprint, and in the final stages two incredible battles emerged. One for the race win and the other for the final podium spot, with the winning margin just 0.030s and the first four riders across the line separated by just 1.2s.
After what had already been a rather exciting race day, the MotoGP™ race had a lot to live up to at Mugello. Everything was setup for an incredible three-way fight for the victory between Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) on pole at his home race, his teammate Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda). Disaster would strike for Rossi whilst he was in the hunt for the win, but even that couldn’t detract from the incredible battle to the line between Lorenzo and Marquez. The winner eventually triumphed by just 0.019s, making it the seventh closest finish of all time in the premier class.
After Mugello, surely we would have to wait a while for the next dramatic finish? Nope! At the very next race in Barcelona we were treated to the battle we had all been waiting for as Rossi and Marquez fought it out over the last few laps. The duo swapped places at nearly every corner in the latter stages of the race before a mistake cost one of them the chance for victory on the very last lap. After such a brilliant display of riding, even these two fierce rivals acknowledged just how good the battle was afterwards with a rare handshake, in what was a fitting end to an incredibly emotional Catalan GP.