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The MotoGP season kicks off in Qatar this weekend and if the closing stages of last season are any barometer of what’s to come in 2016 we should be in for a thrill-a-minute battle for the world championship.
Valentino Rossi was narrowly beat out for the title by Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo but the controversial manner in which the fiery Italian lost out will surely spur on the seven-time MotoGP champion in this year’s edition.
Rossi lead the championship from the very first race up until the last, in Valencia, where victory for Lorenzo handed the Spaniard his third world championship title. Rossi started the race at the back of the grid after he was found guilty of kicking Marc Marquez off his bike at the previous race in Sepang. Rossi appealed the penalty but the CAS found against him and the penalty stood. Although Rossi fought his way through the field to finish fourth it was not enough to prevent Lorenzo from clinching the title.
In the weeks building up to the race and subsequent incident in Sepang, Rossi and Marquez had been embroiled in a battle of words where the Italian accused the Spaniard of plotting against him to help compatriot Lorenzo win the title. Rossi called Marquez “the bodyguard of Lorenzo” and said that the Honda rider was “playing with us” after he seemingly aided Lorenzo’s cause at the Australian MotoGP. Marquez did well not to get drawn in and responded by calmly denying the allegations, simply saying “I always give everything”.
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