Regardless if you are jazzed over the Formula 1 battle between Lewis Hamilton and his teammate and closest rival, Nico Rosberg, you can’t blame MotoGP for not trying to provide you with a more interesting championship in which three riders across two different teams are vying to for the title.
Veteran Valentino Rossi headed into this week’s Spanish Grand Prix with two wins under his belt and new lease on an already epic MotoGP career. While he didn’t win on Sunday, he did manage to score his 200th podium finish and still leads the championship in points.
His teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, did claim victory and opened his bank account on this year’s championship closing the points gap and controlling the race from pole position to checkered flag.
Unable to answer was Honda’s Marc Marquez who finished second with an injured finger. The Spaniard did manage to claw some points back after a DNF in the last race and closed the gap to second place as Ducati rider, Andrea Dovizioso, ran wide on the first lap putting him in the back of the grid struggling to recover to ninth. It was a tough weekend for the Ducati team.
Honorable mentions to Cal Crutchlow for a nice finish in 4th on his LCR Honda and to Andrea Iannone for at least giving Ducati a 6th place finish just behind Pol Espargaro.
Results
| Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | Yamaha | 44m57.246s |
| 2 | Marc Marquez | Honda | Honda | 5.576s |
| 3 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | Yamaha | 11.586s |
| 4 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR | Honda | 22.727s |
| 5 | Pol Espargaro | Tech 3 | Yamaha | 26.620s |
| 6 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | Ducati | 27.021s |
| 7 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | Suzuki | 35.445s |
| 8 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 | Yamaha | 36.296s |
| 9 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati | 41.933s |
| 10 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 51.072s |
| 11 | Maverick Vinales | Suzuki | Suzuki | 51.674s |
| 12 | Danilo Petrucci | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 52.421s |
| 13 | Scott Redding | Marc VDS | Honda | 53.052s |
| 14 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 53.200s |
| 15 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia Gresini | Aprilia | 57.344s |
| 16 | Stefan Bradl | Forward Racing | Yamaha Forward | 59.018s |
| 17 | Nicky Hayden | Aspar | Honda | 1m01.506s |
| 18 | Eugene Laverty | Aspar | Honda | 1m03.163s |
| 19 | Marco Melandri | Aprilia Gresini | Aprilia | 1m06.895s |
| 20 | Jack Miller | LCR | Honda | 1m14.182s |
| 21 | Alex de Angelis | IodaRacing Project | ART/Aprilia | 1m26.832s |
| 22 | Mike Di Meglio | Avintia Racing | Ducati | 1 Lap |
| – | Hiroshi Aoyama | Honda | Honda | Retirement |
| – | Loris Baz | Forward Racing | Yamaha Forward | Retirement |
| – | Karel Abraham | AB Motoracing | Honda | Retirement |
POINTS
| Pos | Rider | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valentino Rossi | 82 |
| 2 | Andrea Dovizioso | 67 |
| 3 | Jorge Lorenzo | 62 |
| 4 | Marc Marquez | 56 |
| 5 | Andrea Iannone | 50 |
| 6 | Cal Crutchlow | 47 |
| 7 | Bradley Smith | 36 |
| 8 | Aleix Espargaro | 31 |
| 9 | Pol Espargaro | 26 |
| 10 | Maverick Vinales | 20 |
| 11 | Danilo Petrucci | 19 |
| 12 | Scott Redding | 13 |
| 13 | Yonny Hernandez | 12 |
| 14 | Daniel Pedrosa | 10 |
| 15 | Hector Barbera | 10 |
| 16 | Jack Miller | 6 |
| 17 | Hiroshi Aoyama | 5 |
| 18 | Nicky Hayden | 3 |
| 19 | Loris Baz | 2 |
| 20 | Alvaro Bautista | 2 |
| 21 | Stefan Bradl | 1 |
