MOTOGP

There was plenty of emotion at the Circuit de Catalunya and the Monster Energy Grand Prix of Catalunya for round seven of MotoGP. Among the reflection and sadness surrounding the tragic accident of Luis Salom in Friday’s Moto2 practice there was also elation, relief and assurance with Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi blasting back into title contention two weeks after his mechanical ‘explosion’ at Mugello with a second triumph of 2016 and his seventh in MotoGP at the venue a short distance outside the spellbinding metropolis of Barcelona.

The table is set for the 2016 MotoGP season with the culmination of the third and final pre-season test at Losail, Qatar and at which reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo and iconic teammate Valentino Rossi – recently turned 37 – gave every indication they are ready to start gobbling up more spoils and trophies in the eighteen rounds ahead.

Jorge Lorenzo won the 2015 MotoGP FIM World Championship with a faultless and impeccable display at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia last November. Fast forward five months and the twenty-eight year old Majorcan displayed the same intensity and flawless style to own the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez with fellow Movistar Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi rounding out the top four.

Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi; in the same second, in the same league. Picking a winner from the trio for the Grand Prix of Spain and the fourth round of MotoGP would have been like finding a route around the Jerez circuit through the heavy fog that smothered the historic venue Sunday morning.