2016 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix

  2016 Qatar Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 18 races in the 2016 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	20 March 2016
Official name	Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar[1][2][3]
Location	Losail International Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.380 km (3.343 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position Rider Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Time 1:54.543 Fastest lap Rider Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Time 1:54.927 on lap 20 Podium First Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Second Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Third Marc Márquez Honda
Moto2
Pole position Rider Jonas Folger Kalex Time 1:59.052 Fastest lap Rider Sam Lowes Kalex Time 1:59.421 on lap 20 Podium First Thomas Lüthi Kalex Second Luis Salom Kalex Third Simone Corsi Speed Up
Moto3
Pole position Rider Romano Fenati KTM Time 2:06.131 Fastest lap Rider Livio Loi Honda Time 2:06.171 on lap 8 Podium First Niccolò Antonelli Honda Second Brad Binder KTM Third Francesco Bagnaia Mahindra

The 2016 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix was the first of eighteen motorcycle races of the 2016 MotoGP season and the thirteenth running of the event. It was held before a crowd of 11,737 spectators at the Losail International Circuit near the Qatari capital city of Doha on 20 March 2016. Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo won the 22-lap race after starting from pole position. Andrea Dovizioso came second for Ducati, and Honda's Marc Márquez was third. In the junior classes, Kalex's Thomas Lüthi won the Moto2 race and Niccolò Antonelli on a Honda took the victory in the Moto3 round.

Lorenzo won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying and held the lead into the first corner. However, he was only able to hold on to first place until the end of the first lap. Andrea Iannone used the superior straight line speed advantage of his Ducati to move into the lead on the main straight. He led for the next five laps until teammate Dovizioso passed him for the lead at the start of lap six. Iannone retook the lead by forcing Dovizioso off the racing line at turn one, but Dovizioso regained the position four turns later. Lorenzo fell to third but returned to second when Iannone crashed lowside at turn thirteen on lap six. Lorenzo then regained the lead from Dovizioso at turn four on lap nine. Over the remaining thirteen laps, he opened up a healthy advantage at the front of the pack to claim his 41st MotoGP victory, and his 62nd in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

In the junior classes, Jonas Folger started from pole position in Moto2. He held the lead for the first two laps before he crashed and handed the position to Morbidelli. He was then passed by Lüthi. Morbidelli retook first place from Lüthi on the tenth lap and the two battled for the rest of the race. It ended in Lüthi's favour when Morbidelli was penalised twenty seconds for jumping the start. Moto3 had Romano Fenati of KTM begin from pole position and kept first place until teammate Brad Binder duelled him for the lead and Nicolò Bulega joined soon after. The race was decided by a last lap overtaking manoeuvre by Antonelli. He slipstreamed Binder on the main straight and pulled out of it to win by a photo finish with a gap of seven-thousands of a second.

The result of the first race of the season meant Lorenzo led the Riders' Championship with twenty-five points. Dovizioso was second on twenty points and Márquez placed third with sixteen points. Valentino Rossi on the other Yamaha and Dani Pedrosa on the second factory Honda completed the top five. In the Teams' Championship, Yamaha MotoGP lead with 38 points, followed by Honda with twenty-seven points and Ducati with twenty points. Tech 3 and Suzuki were fourth and fifth. Yamaha became the early leaders of the Constructors' Championship with twenty-five points; Ducati and Honda followed in second and third positions with twenty and sixteen points respectively with seventeen rounds left in the season.