Honda rider Dani Pedrosa won his first race of the season at the San Marino Grand Prix beating home hero Valentino Rossi. Pedrossa overtook Rossi with 7 laps to go.
Pedrosa gambled on a soft-compound front tyre, but it paid back in style as its performance allowed him to charge from start to finish, despite starting back on the third row of the grid. Rossi – who ran the medium front like the majority of the field – passed pole-sitting Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo for the lead early on, and they looked comfortable up front until Pedrosa’s remarkable charge came into play in the second half of the race. Pedrosa picked off Honda teammate Marc Marquez, Lorenzo and then Rossi as if he was in a different league for his first victory of the season – the eighth different winner of 2016.
Amid a sea of yellow flags and partisan Rossi fans, Lorenzo led from pole position ahead of the Italian, who had to battle past Maverick Vinales’ Suzuki to keep second at the first corner. Behind Vinales and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Marquez led a fast-starting Pedrosa (using the soft front tyre and up to sixth), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki). Michele Pirro, riding Andrea Iannone’s works Ducati after he was forced to pull out due to a back injury, and Pol Espargaro rounded out the top 10 on the opening lap. Marquez pounced past Dovizioso for fourth into Turn 2 on lap two, while Rossi grabbed the lead at Turn 13 with an ultra-aggressive move that sent the crowd wild. Lorenzo was forced to stand-up his bike such was the nature of Rossi’s lunge to the inside.
Marquez set his sights on Vinales, almost touching through Turn 13 on the third lap, as Rossi and Lorenzo pulled clear at the front. A lap later, Marquez pulled a great move on Vinales at the same place, and a touch between them allowed Dovizioso to take advantage to drag past Vinales too. Marquez and Vinales had both opted for the hard front tyre, hoping it would pay dividends in the latter stages. Now in clear air, Marquez made no immediate impression on Rossi’s lead, which was up to 1s over Lorenzo, but he did start to close on the reigning champion.
Pedrosa moved up to fifth at Vinales’ expense, then passed Dovizioso for fourth. Vinales outbraked Dovizioso for fifth after 11 laps. In the middle stages of the race, Rossi managed the gap to Lorenzo, but Marquez and Pedrosa were on the move. Pedrosa passed Marquez with a tidy move at Turn 14 with 15 laps to go, his soft front tyre showing no signs of degradation.
He quickly caught Lorenzo, and sliced past him with 12 to go. Rossi had a 1.2s lead at this point, but Pedrosa’s exceptional pace – which he simply didn’t show in qualifying – reeled him in. It set up a thrilling duel for victory with eight laps to go, and Pedrosa grabbed the lead – much to the crowd’s chagrin – with a forceful move with seven laps remaining.
Pedrosa eked out a 1s gap over Rossi, which he increased by the finish to 2.8s. Lorenzo had nothing for Rossi in third, with Marquez dropping well away in fourth – his hard front tyre choice not paying off. Vinales was given a position penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits, and had to give up fifth place to Dovizioso, but he soon regained the place. Pirro was seventh, ahead of Crutchlow, Pol Espargaro and Aprilia’s Alvaro Bautista. After the race, Crutchlow was penalised 1.5s for exceeding track limits which handed eighth place to Pol Espargaro. With Jack Miller not starting due to injury, his teammate Tito Rabat crashed at Turn 4 early on, while Tech 3’s sub Alex Lowes went out at Turn 2 at one third distance. Aleix Espargaro spun out of 10th at Turn 10 while chasing his brother.
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