After an exciting 2015 season, the 2016 Grand Prix motorcycle racing kick started on March 20, 2016 under the floodlights in Qatar. Starting from the pole position, the current World Champion Jorge Lorenzo finished the first race of the season on the top of the podium. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso finished the race on the second spot while Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez finished third ahead of Movistar Yamaha rider and seven time World MotoGP premier class champion Valentino Rossi.
The Qatar race also marked the debut of Aprilia’s new RS-GP motorcycle. Astride the 2016 Aprilia RS-GP motorcycles were Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl. The Spaniard managed to finish the race on the 13th position, scoring three crucial point for Aprilia Racing Team Gresini. Bradl crashed out of the race with 11 laps remaining. The 2016 RS-GP demonstrated that it is a project with great potential, on which Aprilia’s MotoGP adventure can be built.
Aprilia Racing Manager Romano Albesiano said that the team has achieved a goal that seemed, at times, to be truly difficult. Aprilia Racing Team Gresini got through the entire weekend without any technical problems. Aprilia Racing Team took Alvaro’s bike into battle on the track against extremely developed bikes, even lapping at a very good pace.
At the end of the first race of the 2016 Championship, Jorge Lorenzo is leading the table with 25 points while Dovizioso and Marquez stand on second and third spot with 20 and 16 points respectively. Valentino Rossi is fourth in the race with 13 points to his name. Here is the complete summary of the Qatar GP.
| Position | Points Scored | Bike Number | Rider | Nation | Team | Motorcycle | Total Time | Km/h | Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | YAMAHA | 42’28.452 | 167.1 | |
| 2 | 20 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Ducati Team | DUCATI | 42’30.471 | 167.0 | 2.019 |
| 3 | 16 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | HONDA | 42’30.739 | 167.0 | 2.287 |
| 4 | 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | YAMAHA | 42’30.839 | 167.0 | 2.387 |
| 5 | 11 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | HONDA | 42’42.535 | 166.2 | 14.083 |
| 6 | 10 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | SUZUKI | 42’43.875 | 166.1 | 15.423 |
| 7 | 9 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | YAMAHA | 42’47.081 | 165.9 | 18.629 |
| 8 | 8 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | YAMAHA | 42’47.104 | 165.9 | 18.652 |
| 9 | 7 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Avintia Racing | DUCATI | 42’49.612 | 165.8 | 21.160 |
| 10 | 6 | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | OCTO Pramac Yakhnich | DUCATI | 42’52.887 | 165.6 | 24.435 |
| 11 | 5 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | SUZUKI | 43’04.299 | 164.8 | 35.847 |
| 12 | 4 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | IRL | Aspar Team MotoGP | DUCATI | 43’10.208 | 164.5 | 41.756 |
| 13 | 3 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | APRILIA | 43’10.384 | 164.4 | 41.932 |
| 14 | 2 | 43 | Jack MILLER | AUS | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | HONDA | 43’10.434 | 164.4 | 41.982 |
| 15 | 1 | 53 | Tito RABAT | SPA | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | HONDA | 43’23.405 | 163.6 | 54.953 |
| Not classified | |||||||||
| 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | APRILIA | 21’42.599 | 163.5 | 11 laps | ||
| 76 | Loris BAZ | FRA | Avintia Racing | DUCATI | 15’44.516 | 164.0 | 14 laps | ||
| 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | LCR Honda | HONDA | 11’44.221 | 165.0 | 16 laps | ||
| 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Ducati Team | DUCATI | 9’44.391 | 165.7 | 17 laps | ||
| 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Aspar Team MotoGP | DUCATI | 2’03.498 | 156.8 | 21 laps | ||
Data Table Courtesy: MotoGP.com
Images for representation purpose only