Lorenzo wins 2015 World MotoGP title; Rossi wins hearts, exits with dignity

Jorge Lorenzo is the 2015 MotoGP World Champion after the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider led from start to finish and rode at record pace to secure victory ahead of the Repsol Honda Team duo of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa who finished in second and third place respectively. Valentino Rossi’s heroic effort of making it to the fourth place from last on the grid did not yield any results as he lost the world title to his teammate by five points.

Starting on pole position after setting a new outright Valencia lap record in qualifying, Lorenzo got the holeshot to lead into the first corner and led the entirety of the thirty-lap race – setting a new Circuit Record Lap of 1’31.367 along the way. However, the race was by no means an easy contest as Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez pushed Lorenzo the whole way, with his teammate Dani Pedrosa also making a late push for victory. At the chequered flag though it was Lorenzo who would take his seventh victory, 0.263 seconds ahead of Marquez who in turn was a further four-tenths of a second behind in third place. The frantic pace the three riders that finished on the podium rode at resulted in a new race time record being set at the Ricardo Tormo circuit of 45’59.364; almost eleven seconds quicker than the previous record time.

The final race of the year took place in warm and dry conditions, with slightly cooler track temperatures than those experienced yesterday with a peak of 30°C recorded at the start of the race. As there was no significant change in the conditions compared to the earlier sessions, tyre choice for the race resembled that from Free Practice 4 yesterday with the medium compound rear, soft compound front pairing being the most popular combination. Twenty-three riders selected the soft compound front slick, with the remaining three riders opting for the asymmetric front slick option. Sixteen riders selected the medium compound rear slick for the race, with ten riders instead selecting the soft compound rear slick.

Lorenzo’s Valencia victory sees him finish the 2015 MotoGP season on 330 points, five points ahead of his teammate Valentino Rossi who finished in fourth place today, and second in the championship standings after a valiant effort from the back of the grid. Marquez ends the season in third place in the championship standings on 242 points having taken five wins.

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