2016 Moto2 World Championship

rdf:langString 2016 Moto2 World Championship

rdf:langString Grand Prix motorcycle racing

rdf:langString F.I.M. Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

rdf:langString The 2016 FIM Moto2 World Championship was a part of the 68th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. The season was marred by the death of Luis Salom during a free practice session, at the Catalan Grand Prix. Johann Zarco started the season as the defending World Champion, having secured his first championship title at the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix. With victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix – his sixth of the 2016 season – Zarco was able to retain his title, amassing an unassailable points lead ahead of the final round in Valencia. As a result, Zarco became the first French rider to win multiple world motorcycle racing titles, as well as becoming the first rider in the Moto2 era to defend the world championship, and the first to do so in the intermediate class since Jorge Lorenzo in 2006 and 2007. Zarco completed the season with victory in Valencia, as he won the championship by an eventual margin of 42 points. The runner-up position remained up for grabs in Valencia, as four-time winner Thomas Lüthi, double winner Álex Rins and Franco Morbidelli all had a mathematical chance of finishing there. Ultimately with a second-place finish, Lüthi finished clear of Rins by 20 points; Lüthi's last-lap pass on Morbidelli also cost the latter third place in the championship by a point, as Rins had finished the race in fifth place. Morbidelli took a total of eight podium finishes, including each of the last five races, but was unable to take a victory. Four other riders won races; Sam Lowes took two race victories at Jerez and Aragon, Jonas Folger won at Brno, while first Grand Prix victories went to Takaaki Nakagami at Assen, and Lorenzo Baldassarri in Misano. The constructors' championship went to Kalex with a maximum score of 450 points, with a 34-race winning streak at the conclusion of the season – a run stretching back to a Speed Up victory for Lowes at the 2015 Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas.

rdf:langString F.I.M.Grand Prix motorcycle racingseason