2016 Moto2 World Championship

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.^[1]

Johann Zarco started the season as the defending World Champion, having secured his first championship title at the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix.^[2] With victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix – his sixth of the 2016 season – Zarco was able to retain his title,^[3] 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,^[4] 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.^[5] Zarco completed the season with victory in Valencia,^[6] 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,^[6] 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.^[6] 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,^[7][8] Jonas Folger won at Brno,^[9] while first Grand Prix victories went to Takaaki Nakagami at Assen,^[10] and Lorenzo Baldassarri in Misano.^[11] 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.

Changes for 2016

• French oil and gas giants company Total was selected to become official fuel supplier of Moto2 and Moto3 beginning from 2016 onwards, replacing Eni after five seasons as a fuel supplier of Moto2 and Moto3.^[12]

Calendar

The following Grands Prix took place in 2016.^[13]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit
1	20 March ‡	Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar	Losail International Circuit, Lusail
2	3 April	Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina	Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo, Termas de Río Hondo
3	10 April	Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas	Circuit of the Americas, Austin
4	24 April	Gran Premio Red Bull de España	Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera
5	8 May	Monster Energy Grand Prix de France	Bugatti Circuit, Le Mans
6	22 May	Gran Premio d'Italia TIM	Mugello Circuit, Scarperia e San Piero
7	5 June	Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló
8	26 June	Motul TT Assen	TT Circuit Assen, Assen
9	17 July	GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland	Sachsenring, Hohenstein-Ernstthal
10	14 August	NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg
11	21 August	HJC Helmets Grand Prix České republiky	Brno Circuit, Brno
12	4 September	Octo British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone
13	11 September	Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Misano Adriatico
14	25 September	Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón	MotorLand Aragón, Alcañiz
15	16 October	Motul Grand Prix of Japan	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi
16	23 October	Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Phillip Island
17	30 October	Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Sepang
18	13 November	Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana	Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia

‡ = Night race

Calendar changes

• The Grand Prix of the Americas and the Argentine Grand Prix have swapped places, with Argentina hosting the second round, while the Grand Prix of the Americas hosts the third round.
• For the first time in the history of the Dutch TT, the races were held on a Sunday.^[13]
• The 2016 season had seen the return of the Austrian Grand Prix to the series' schedule after 19 years of absence. The last race, which had been the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix, was held at the A1-Ring, now called the Red Bull Ring.^[13]
• Having been on the calendar since 2008, the Indianapolis Grand Prix was taken off the calendar.^[14]

Teams and riders

A provisional entry list was announced on 7 November 2015.^[15] All Moto2 competitors raced with an identical CBR600RR inline-four engine developed by Honda. Teams competed with tyres supplied by Dunlop.

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds Sports-Millions-Emwe-SAG SAG Team Kalex Kalex Moto2 2 Jesko Raffin[16] All 39 Luis Salom[17] 1–7 AGR Team Kalex Kalex Moto2 4 Steven Odendaal[18] 14 23 Marcel Schrötter[19] All 49 Axel Pons[15] All Ajo Motorsport Ajo Motorsport Academy Kalex Kalex Moto2 5 Johann Zarco[2][20] All 45 Tetsuta Nagashima[21] 14–15 Forward Team Kalex Kalex Moto2 7 Lorenzo Baldassarri[22] All 10 Luca Marini[15] All JPMoto Malaysia Suter Suter MMX2 8 Efrén Vázquez[15] 1–3 69 Danny Eslick[23] 5 88 Ricard Cardús[24] 6 Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex Kalex Moto2 11 Sandro Cortese[25] All 94 Jonas Folger[25] All Garage Plus Interwetten CarXpert Interwetten Kalex Kalex Moto2 12 Thomas Lüthi[15] All 27 Iker Lecuona[26] 12–13, 15–18 70 Robin Mulhauser[15] All 77 Dominique Aegerter[15] 1–11, 14 Idemitsu Honda Team Asia Kalex Kalex Moto2 14 Ratthapark Wilairot[15] 1–7, 9–18 30 Takaaki Nakagami[15] All Promoto Sport TransFIORmers ??? 16 Hugo Clere[27] 18 QMMF Racing Team Speed Up Speed Up SF16 19 Xavier Siméon[28] All 60 Julián Simón[15] All Leopard Racing Kalex[29] Kalex Moto2 20 Alessandro Nocco[30] 16–17 44 Miguel Oliveira[31] 1–15, 18 52 Danny Kent[32] All Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex Kalex Moto2 21 Franco Morbidelli[33] All 73 Álex Márquez[33] All Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Kalex Kalex Moto2 22 Sam Lowes[34] All Speed Up Racing Speed Up Speed Up SF16 24 Simone Corsi[15] All Tech 3 Racing Tech 3 Tech 3 Mistral 610 32 Isaac Viñales[19] All 97 Xavi Vierge[35] All Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 Kalex Kalex Moto2 33 Alessandro Tonucci[15] 1–6 87 Remy Gardner[36] 7–18 Páginas Amarillas HP 40 Kalex Kalex Moto2 40 Álex Rins[37] All 57 Edgar Pons[38] 1–2, 4, 6–18 Team Ciatti Kalex Kalex Moto2 42 Federico Fuligni[39] 4, 6, 13, 18 Italtrans Racing Team Kalex Kalex Moto2 54 Mattia Pasini[15] All Petronas Raceline Malaysia Petronas AHM Malaysia Kalex Kalex Moto2 55 Hafizh Syahrin[15] All 93 Ramdan Rosli[40] 7, 16–17 Japan-GP2 Kalex Kalex Moto2 63 Naomichi Uramoto[41] 15 Team Taro Plus One TSR ??? 84 Taro Sekiguchi[41] 15 NTS T.Pro Project NTS ??? 89 Alan Techer[21] 14 Montáže Brož Racing Team Suter Suter MMX2 95 Anthony West[42] 11

Key Regular rider Wildcard rider Replacement rider

Team changes

• JiR Moto2 announced that they would withdraw from the championship at the end of the 2015 season.^[43]
• Dynavolt Intact GP expanded to enter a second bike, while Italtrans Racing downgraded to a single entry in 2016.
• Leopard Racing returned to the Moto2 class after previously competing as Kiefer Racing from 2010 to 2012. The team competed on Kalex bikes, with Danny Kent and Miguel Oliveira as their riders.
• AGP Racing, who were listed on the provisional entry list, withdrew from the championship due to financial problems, leaving Federico Fuligni and Remy Gardner without rides.^[44]
• IodaRacing Project SRL also withdrew from the championship.

Rider changes

• Luis Salom left Paginas Amarillas HP 40 at the end of the 2015 season to join Stop and Go Racing Team.
• Salom's place at Pons Racing was taken by 2015 FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship winner Edgar Pons.
• Moto3 World Champion Danny Kent returned to the Moto2 class with Leopard Racing, following a season with Tech 3 back in 2013.
• Franco Morbidelli moved to Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS, following Tito Rabat's decision to join MotoGP with Marc VDS for 2016.
• Simone Corsi left Forward Racing at the end of the 2015 season to join Speed Up Racing.
• Jonas Folger left the AGR Team to join Dynavolt Intact GP.
• Sam Lowes replaced Xavier Siméon at Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 as part of a contract-signing for a MotoGP seat with Gresini in 2017. Siméon joined the QMMF Racing Team as a result.
• Mika Kallio returned to MotoGP, after being left without a ride in Moto2. He joined KTM as a test rider for their 2017 MotoGP project.
• Miguel Oliveira moved up to the Moto2 class, joining Leopard Racing.
• Randy Krummenacher left Moto2 to join the Supersport World Championship following JiR's withdrawal from the championship.
• After competing in the second half of the 2015 season with Tech 3 as a replacement rider, Xavi Vierge moved full-time to Moto2 with the same team.
• Efrén Vázquez moved up to the Moto2 class with JPMoto Malaysia replacing Ricard Cardús. Vázquez previously competed in the intermediate class in 2007.
• Luca Marini stepped up to the Moto2 class, with the Forward Team.
• Isaac Viñales moved up to the Moto2 class with Tech 3, replacing Marcel Schrötter. Schrötter moved to the AGR Team.
• Alessandro Tonucci moved up to the Moto2 class with Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 replacing Louis Rossi.
• Ratthapark Wilairot made a full-time return to Moto2 with Idemitsu Honda Team Asia.
• Azlan Shah, who was on the provisional entry list with JPMoto Malaysia, withdrew due to financial problems.^[45]

Mid-season changes

• After the Grand Prix of the Americas, Efrén Vázquez left the JPMoto Malaysia team. He was replaced by Danny Eslick in the 5th race and by Ricard Cardús in the 6th race. Before the 7th race, the JPMoto Malaysia team went bankrupt, so the team retired from the rest of the season.
• After the Italian Grand Prix, Alessandro Tonucci left the Tasca Racing Scuderia team. He was replaced by Remy Gardner for the rest of the season starting with the 7th race.^[36]
• Luis Salom was killed after an accident during Friday practice at the Catalan Grand Prix. His teammate Jesko Raffin withdrew from the weekend.^[46] Before the Dutch TT, the SAG Racing Team announced that they will complete the season with Raffin as the team's sole rider, with Salom's spot on the team left vacated for the rest of the season.^[47]
• Dominique Aegerter got injured after the Czech Republic Grand Prix, so he was replaced by Iker Lecuona for the 12th and the 13th races. Aegerter returned for the 14th race. However, upon signing a 2017 contract with Leopard Racing, he was fired from Interwetten, bringing Lecuona back for the remaining 4 races.

Results and standings

Grands Prix

Round	Grand Prix	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning rider	Winning team	Winning constructor	Report
1	Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix	Jonas Folger	Sam Lowes	Thomas Lüthi	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	Report
2	Argentine Republic motorcycle Grand Prix	Sam Lowes	Johann Zarco	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Report
3	Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas	Álex Rins	Sam Lowes	Álex Rins	Páginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex	Report
4	Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix	Sam Lowes	Álex Rins	Sam Lowes	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	Report
5	French motorcycle Grand Prix	Thomas Lüthi	Álex Rins	Álex Rins	Páginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex	Report
6	Italian motorcycle Grand Prix	Sam Lowes	Thomas Lüthi	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Report
7	Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix	Johann Zarco	Johann Zarco	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Report
8	Dutch TT	Thomas Lüthi	Takaaki Nakagami	Takaaki Nakagami	Idemitsu Honda Team Asia	Kalex	Report
9	German motorcycle Grand Prix	Takaaki Nakagami	Xavier Siméon	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Report
10	Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix	Johann Zarco	Johann Zarco	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Report
11	Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix	Johann Zarco	Jonas Folger	Jonas Folger	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	Report
12	British motorcycle Grand Prix	Sam Lowes	Thomas Lüthi	Thomas Lüthi	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	Report
13	San Marino and Rimini Riviera motorcycle Grand Prix	Johann Zarco	Álex Rins	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Forward Team	Kalex	Report
14	Aragon motorcycle Grand Prix	Sam Lowes	Franco Morbidelli	Sam Lowes	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	Report
15	Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix	Johann Zarco	Franco Morbidelli	Thomas Lüthi	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	Report
16	Australian motorcycle Grand Prix	Thomas Lüthi	Franco Morbidelli	Thomas Lüthi	Garage Plus Interwetten	Kalex	Report
17	Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix	Johann Zarco	Luca Marini	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Report
18	Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix	Johann Zarco	Johann Zarco	Johann Zarco	Ajo Motorsport	Kalex	Report

Riders' standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points.

Pos Rider Bike QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER AUT CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts 1 Johann Zarco Kalex 12 1 3 5 24 1 1 2 1 1 11 22 4 8 2 12 1 1 276 2 Thomas Lüthi Kalex 1 7 7 6 3 4 5 Ret Ret 4 DNS 1 6 4 1 1 6 2 234 3 Álex Rins Kalex 8 4 1 3 1 7 2 6 Ret 3 2 7 2 6 20 Ret 14 5 214 4 Franco Morbidelli Kalex 7 25 14 4 4 8 11 3 Ret 2 8 2 5 3 3 2 2 3 213 5 Sam Lowes Kalex 9 2 2 1 6 3 6 4 Ret Ret 3 21 Ret 1 Ret Ret Ret 4 175 6 Takaaki Nakagami Kalex 14 9 15 7 5 9 3 1 11 7 Ret 3 3 5 4 5 21 6 169 7 Jonas Folger Kalex Ret 3 5 2 Ret 15 7 10 2 26 1 5 8 10 Ret 6 3 8 167 8 Lorenzo Baldassarri Kalex DNS 13 23 17 17 2 14 5 5 8 16 6 1 7 Ret 4 4 14 127 9 Hafizh Syahrin Kalex 4 6 16 11 8 5 4 Ret 7 21 6 4 7 14 13 Ret 5 15 118 10 Simone Corsi Speed Up 3 20 6 Ret 2 12 Ret 7 Ret Ret 19 8 Ret 9 6 7 11 11 103 11 Mattia Pasini Kalex 16 10 17 12 16 Ret 12 19 4 13 4 9 16 12 7 Ret 23 7 72 12 Dominique Aegerter Kalex 5 5 4 8 13 10 Ret 9 10 10 17 22 71 13 Álex Márquez Kalex Ret Ret 11 Ret Ret 16 18 8 Ret 6 5 25 10 2 Ret DNS 7 Ret 69 14 Marcel Schrötter Kalex 17 11 10 Ret 14 18 10 13 Ret 5 18 11 11 15 9 9 20 10 64 15 Sandro Cortese Kalex 15 Ret 12 Ret DNS 11 Ret 12 15 11 23 12 9 13 5 3 17 Ret 61 16 Axel Pons Kalex Ret 8 22 Ret 7 6 9 Ret Ret 9 Ret 10 Ret 16 Ret 8 Ret Ret 55 17 Xavier Siméon Speed Up Ret 12 8 10 11 DNS Ret 11 Ret 23 15 16 Ret 11 10 11 15 16 46 18 Julián Simón Speed Up Ret 19 9 DNS Ret 17 13 16 3 15 13 14 Ret 21 8 Ret DNS 23 40 19 Luis Salom† Kalex 2 15 13 9 10 Ret DNS† 37 20 Xavi Vierge Tech 3 Ret 14 20 Ret 15 Ret 20 17 Ret 16 12 13 12 17 11 10 8 12 37 21 Miguel Oliveira Kalex 11 21 Ret Ret 9 13 8 15 Ret 14 9 Ret 17 DNS DNS 13 36 22 Danny Kent Kalex 6 16 Ret Ret 19 14 Ret 14 DNS 12 7 15 Ret 29 Ret Ret 18 9 35 23 Luca Marini Kalex 10 18 Ret 16 12 Ret Ret Ret 6 17 Ret Ret 13 25 12 16 9 22 34 24 Isaac Viñales Tech 3 19 24 18 13 20 24 16 21 9 18 14 Ret Ret 28 15 DNS 10 Ret 19 25 Jesko Raffin Kalex 18 23 21 14 23 26 DNS 18 8 24 24 17 15 20 17 13 16 17 14 26 Remy Gardner Kalex 15 20 12 19 21 20 19 19 19 Ret 13 18 8 27 Anthony West Suter 10 6 28 Ratthapark Wilairot Kalex 13 17 19 Ret 21 22 Ret Ret 22 25 18 14 26 18 15 24 20 6 29 Ramdan Rosli Kalex 19 18 12 4 30 Robin Mulhauser Kalex 20 22 Ret 15 18 21 21 22 13 25 22 24 20 27 Ret 17 Ret 21 4 31 Edgar Pons Kalex Ret DNS DNS 23 17 23 14 20 20 23 Ret 24 16 14 19 19 4 32 Tetsuta Nagashima Kalex 23 14 2 33 Federico Fuligni Kalex 18 20 18 Ret 0 34 Steven Odendaal Kalex 18 0 35 Alessandro Tonucci Kalex 21 27 24 19 22 25 0 36 Iker Lecuona Kalex 19 21 Ret Ret 22 24 0 37 Ricard Cardús Suter 19 0 38 Naomichi Uramoto Kalex 21 0 39 Efrén Vázquez Suter 22 26 DNS 0 40 Taro Sekiguchi TSR 22 0 41 Danny Eslick Suter 25 0 Alessandro Nocco Kalex Ret Ret 0 Hugo Clere TransFIORmers Ret 0 Alan Techer NTS Ret 0 Pos Rider Bike QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER AUT CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap Light blue – Rookie † – Rider deceased

Constructors' standings

Each constructor received the same number of points as their best placed rider in each race.

Pos	Constructor	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	AUT	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	Pts
1	Kalex	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	450
2	Speed Up	3	12	6	10	2	12	13	7	3	15	13	8	Ret	9	6	7	11	11	136
3	Tech 3	19	14	18	13	15	24	16	17	9	16	12	13	12	17	11	10	8	12	47
4	Suter	22	26	DNS		25	19					10								6
	TSR															22				0
	TransFIORmers																		Ret	0
	NTS														Ret					0
Pos	Constructor	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	AUT	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	Pts

References

External links

• The official website of Grand Prix motorcycle racing