Greatest Grand Prix battles remembered: Aragon 2015

2015 will forever be remembered for Rossi and Lorenzo’s duel for the title but The Doctor’s fight with Pedrosa was a stand-out moment

This week on motogp.com we’re offering you ten of our favourite Grand Prix battles for absolutely nothing. That’s right, we’ve searched through our archives and found ten modern greats across MotoGP™, Moto2™ and Moto3™ that you can sit down and watch for free. Over the next week, we’ll also look a little closer at some races in particular in order to fully explain why it’s worth your time. First up: Aragon 2015.

The 2015 MotoGP™ World Championship will live long in the memory for a whole host of reasons. It had everything. Two contenders for the greatest ever race in the Dutch TT and Australian Grand Prix, one of the most nail-biting season finales at Valencia, plus there were a few infamous moments along the way too. However, one race that played a pivotal part in the outcome of the Championship and was a great battle between two of the best we’ve ever seen in MotoGP™ was the Aragon Grand Prix.

Heading to MotorLand Aragon, there were just five rounds remaining with Valentino Rossi leading the Championship by 23 points after his title rival Jorge Lorenzo crashed out of a chaotic San Marino Grand Prix last time out. Therefore, heading back to his native Spain, the task for Lorenzo was simple: win. 

During Free Practice it looked like the two factory Yamaha riders were going to go head-to-head after they ended the combined sheets first and second fastest. However, during qualifying, both Lorenzo and Marc Marquez were a cut above the rest. Repsol Honda’s Marquez took pole position thanks to a new fastest-ever lap but Lorenzo was only a tenth adrift.  Everybody else, meanwhile, was over a half a second away from the two Spaniards at the front of the grid with Rossi starting from the back of row two. Damage limitation was going to be crucial for the nine-time World Champion come Sunday.

In the race itself, Lorenzo was able to break clear after Marquez hit trouble at his home round. The Spaniard cruised to victory and pulled out his now-famous shark celebration in Parc Ferme, directed at Rossi’s special Misano helmet a fortnight earlier that pictured The Doctor as a little fish being chased by a Great White. With one Repsol Honda rider out of the question, Rossi had his eyes firmly on a second-place finish and holding an 18-point advantage going into the final four rounds of the year. But Dani Pedrosa had something to say on the matter.

The two MotoGP™ greats went toe-to-toe in the final laps with the Championship picture changing time and time again. Would Rossi head to the flyaway rounds 14 points ahead and have his teammate firmly breathing down his neck or could he steal second place away from Pedrosa to make sure his title advantage was 18 points? As MotoGP™ commentator Matt Birt brilliantly put it: 'Pedrosa was riding as aggressive as I've seen him in a very long time'. The Little Samurai and The Doctor simply threw everything they had at each other in an enthralling battle well worthy of its place inside our top ten 'Greatest Grand Prix Battles'.

Sit back, relax and take a trip down memory lane with the first of our selection. And if this doesn’t totally satisfy your need for MotoGP™, then either tune in tomorrow where we’ll detail the story behind the 2006 Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril or you can enjoy the 'Jorge Lorenzo: Guerrero' documentary, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the full 2015 World Championship fight.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE 2015 ARAGON GP AND MANY MORE GREAT BATTLES

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