Lorenzo takes title with (maybe) a little help from his friends…
It was the end of an extraordinary season which saw Valentino Rossi, the fan’s favourite go from series leader to first loser by the slimmest margin of only 5 points. Having to start from the back of the grid due to a penalty imposed at the previous round from his collision with Marc Marquez, Rossi needed to finish within touching distance of Lorenzo to take the title. It would take an amazing feat to fight through the racing pack to get anywhere near the front, something which seemed almost impossible even for the alien-like skills of Rossi.
The opening five laps of the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valencia were some of the best of Valentino Rossi’s (Movistar Yamaha) career, the legendary Italian cutting through the field. He would eventually end in an amazing fourth place, unfortunately with teammate Jorge Lorenzo taking the victory Rossi was unable to claim his tenth World Title. The 2015 MotoGP™ will always been remembered as one of Rossi’s best, coming back from several tough years and proving that even at 36 years old he’s still a threat.
But Rossi was bitter afterwards, with his comments accusing Marc Marquez of defending Lorenzo’s lead and only making a pass when his teammate, Dani Pedrosa managed to slip into second spot.
Valentino Rossi: “We build this season from the first race, and at the end it was anyway a great season. I was always competitive and never make any mistakes. I think that after Motegi I have the potential to win the championship but unfortunately from the race in Phillip Island something changed and in these last three races we saw something that we never saw before in our sport.
“I think that the situation was already bad, but today was embarrassing for everybody because it was unbelievable, the behaviour of Marquez is something very bad for everything, especially for the sport. It is something that nobody expects, because a Honda rider that made a Yamaha rider win and give the maximum just to push out his teammate is something that nobody expect and I think it is very, very bad news. Anyway, it is like this, we have to accept.
“I am happy because now everybody see what I said in Australia and I don’t understand the behaviour of Marquez but sincerely for me it is very difficult to say something to him because I hope that he will understand what he did in these last three races in the future of his career.
“For sure the Hondas were faster. We know that in the second part of the race Honda have a better potential but Marquez just protect Lorenzo like he did in Phillip Island and also Sepang. At the end I think that also Lorenzo have to not be very happy, as it is not a Championship that was won on track. But anyway is memories.”
Marc Marquez: “We lost a lot under acceleration and braking and it was too far. The only place where we could close on Lorenzo was in turn five or six. With four laps to go I tried to pass, but I was cautious. Then Dani came like a rocket! With two laps to go on the back straight I knew it would be tough, we lost time and Jorge was able to open up a half second gap. I tried to recover it in the last lap, but it wasn’t enough.
“Finally Jorge was the champion who deserves it. He and Valentino both deserved it; one had great speed and the other the consistency. In the end of the year Lorenzo gained speed, but I think Valentino made a great season and would have also been a worthy winner.
“On the podium I felt strange, what can I say, there were some boos. It’s complicated for a rider, of course, but I have a clear conscience and so do my team too. We tried the maximum; we have given one hundred percent in every race. We have struggled to get the maximum points possible and wanted to end the year with a victory. It was not to be, but hey, in the end I didn’t want to see a World Champion booed.
“It is clear there was already tension, you can’t deny that. This last week has been full of tension and we came here not quite ready. It was very hard to concentrate and this didn’t help. In this race there was pressure to finish for me because I’ve already had six DNFs this year. Besides, there was the pressure of having to make our own race; I think Dani also felt this.
“It is clear that the words of Valentino to his fans will weigh a lot. Valentino has won with charisma throughout his career and he is the benchmark for any rider. For me, for a rider with a winning mentality, telling people I did not want to win a race is an insult because whenever I go out I go to win and do the best job possible.”
All that can be said is that the rider who is often regarded as the most competitive and hardest passer in the paddock made literally no attempt to get past the rider in first position, something that is surely to be construed as pre-meditated. Whether it was or not, only Marquez will know for sure.
But the final word needs to go to the winner and 2015 MotoGP champion, Jorge Lorenzo. An incredible season sees him with his fifth World Championship title, his third in the MotoGP™ class.
Even with Valentino Rossi starting from the back of the grid, the Italian’s seven point advantage meant Lorenzo couldn’t rest and the Spaniard pushed as hard as he could as soon as the flag dropped. Push and push is all Lorenzo could do, the Spartan able to secure his seventh win of the 2015 season.
Jorge Lorenzo: “Yeah this was one of the toughest races, if not the toughest of my life. The tension and the pressure was very high from the first corner but I tried to push to the limit like I usually do. In the first laps with the new tyre I did all I could. Then with the rear tyre we had some problems as it dropped a lot, especially on the right side and the bike started to move a lot under acceleration and spinning a lot. On corner entry I had to be so careful as I didn’t want to crash. It was very difficult to still keep the 31.5, even the 31 high. I started going 32’0 in the last laps. It was very difficult to keep even this pace. It was very difficult to see the board, half the laps I couldn’t see the board. I just push at the maximum and I gave everything I had on the track from the start, from the first corner to the last one. I didn’t think about anything just pushing and racing and giving the maximum. I could see Marc and Dani recovering, so I said to myself to keep pushing. The effort was worth it as now we can say we are five-time world champions, three times in MotoGP. It’s amazing and we have to enjoy it this afternoon, tonight, this week, there moments are difficult to reach and it will be hard to reach again.”
