On Sunday night the 2016 Italian Grand Prix saw Jorge Lorenzo score one of the closest victories in MotoGP history in a scintillating finish with Marc Marquez.
Never did Lorenzo look like the speed machine of the race, but his lap times show he was the all-the-way winner after fighting past fellow Spaniard Marquez not once but twice in the final lap to hit the line first by less than a bike length.
Only 0.019 seconds separated Lorenzo’s Yamaha and Marquez’s Honda in the end in a nail-biting finish reminiscent of the previous year’s Spanish MotoGP showdown between the two at Valencia.
It was a crazy close result in the world of Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, one the near record crowd of onlookers will remember for a very long time and one that was also overshadowed by the retirement of ‘The Doctor’ – Valentino Rossi.
So while we bask in what is being dubbed a “last lap of the ages”, let’s look back at some of the other closest MotoGP results in history.
10. Doohan v Crivillé – Jerez 1996 (Spain)
Drama hit its peak in this Spanish classic at Jerez from two decades ago. It featured a crowd invasion on track and saw things go badly amiss for local hero Àlex Crivillé who crashed in the final corner allowing Australia’s Mick Doohan to get the job done after trailing his Honda teammate throughout. Under a second separated the two at the start of the last lap and after Crivillé slowed down to avoid hitting the fans on the course, he tried to make up for lost time but throttled too early and it all unravelled faster than the Sydney Roosters’ NRL Premiership hopes in 2016!
9. Marquez v Lorenzo v Pedrosa – Valencia 2015 (Spain)
Last year it was a three-way battle at Valencia that resulted in the great Rossi calling Lorenzo’s title win a “stitch-up”. Spanish pride got the better of Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa according to ‘The Doctor’ who accused the eventual second and third placegetters of helping out fellow Spaniard Lorenzo by throwing the race. Does Márquez play bodyguard to Lorenzo? Was this one of the great love stories to rival that of Houston and Costner? If this year’s Italian GP was anything to go by, most definitely not!
8. Rossi vs Gibernau – Le Mans 2003 (France)
Back in 2003 Sete Gibernau won his second race of the season at Le Mans after a gutsy battle with the defending champion Rossi. The rain came down harder than the press and public on Lance Armstrong when his doping scandal was revealed, and it was the wet track that decided this result. The French fans were given plenty to cheer for after a wet-weather re-start that saw the decisions made by Gibernau’s team on his bike gear help win him the race. In the final lap it came down to Rossi and Gibernau, the latter a better judge of conditions proving himself a mudlark!
7. Lorenzo vs Marquez – Mugello 2016 (Italy)
Here it is, the last-lap thriller won by Lorenzo in a race also famous for retirement of Valentino Rossi. MotoGP fans the world over had to quickly focus their attention to this thrilling down-to-the-wire dual between Lorenzo and Marquez witnessed by over 100,000 spectators in the stands of Mugello. It’s an incredible photo-finish result we’re happy to watch and watch again, reminiscent of the one between French raiders Dunaden and Red Cadeaux in the 2011 Melbourne Cup in the world of horse racing!
6. Rossi vs Marquez – Assen 2015 (Netherlands)
Just last year we had our hearts in our throats watching Rossi on the No. 46 in the Dutch MotoGP that he won after a final turn showdown with the young Marquez. Rossi and Marquez belong to the exclusive club that has just four members having been the first and the most recent respectively to take out world championship titles in a trio of different categories. In the Netherlands though they were bitter rivals in a chicane showdown that will be debated for years to come! Did Marquez bump Rossi, or did the young gun have the inside line before Rossi cut him off when he cut the corner onto the gravel? Whoever you believe, it’s a beauty to watch.
5. Lorenzo v Pedrosa – Brno 2012 (Czech Republic)
Spain’s Dani Pedrosa enjoyed one the most memorable moments of his career at Brno in 2012 with a remarkable last turn pass on Jorge Lorenzo to win the battle. In the final lap, Lorenzo took the dive under Pedrosa with the latter doing all the work in the uphill run to the last chicane in the Czech Republic Grand Prix. It could have gone either way with the duo both breaking late in a game of chicken, but Pedrosa had the winning line and scored in just 0.178 seconds, much to the joy to the locals as you can see in this video!
4. Lorenzo v Marquez – Phillip Island 2015 (Australia)
The best Australian Grand Prix finish came last year at Phillip Island and again features the great Lorenzo v Marquez rivalry that is proving to be the MotoGP equivalent of Formula One’s Lauda and Hunt. Dubbed shortly after ‘The Island Battle’, In October of 2015 Marquez made his move passing Lorenzo halfway through the last lap to clinch a gripping Australian grand prix win. It was an epic final lap and a stunning win for Marquez, his first down under, who posted the fastest lap of the day on the way to taking the chequered flag.
3. Lorenzo vs Marquez – Mugello 2014 (Italy)
Before last year’s Phillip Island thriller and this year’s now-famous finish at Mugello, the same two characters popped up in the 2014 Italian MotoGP. In what we have ranked the third best MotoGP finish to date, the duel saw Marquez win in an action-packed clash for his first top-level Italian GP triumph. Lorenzo made him work for it, Marquez narrowly clinging on after a game of cat-and-mouse over the final laps, with the beaten rider crossing just 0.121 seconds slower.
2. Rossi v Stoner – Laguna Seca 2008 (USA)
The now retired Aussie Casey Stoner went out as a two-time MotoGP champion who was named the 2008 Young Australian of the Year. Also that year the subsequent inductee into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame was caught up in a bitter rivalry with Rossi. It was a long and heated battle between the two that boiled over in California at the Laguna Seca Raceway which infamously features ‘The Corkscrew’ turn. Rossi was overtaking the Green-and-Gold champ and went out onto the dirt before going on to win in a result that had Stoner declare he’d “lost respect” for one of the greats. No love lost!
1. Rossi vs Lorenzo – Catalunya 2009 (Spain)
Seven years before the Lorenzo v Marquez thriller that marked the retiring race of Rossi, ‘The Doctor’ was embattled in his own do-or-die MotoGP thriller with spaniard Jorge Lorenzo. It was a rousing battle that would go down in MotoGP folklore between the local star and his Yamaha rival. It all looked to belong to Lorenzo until the Italian pulled out something special and snared victory under breaking on the last corner in what we’re rating the No. 1 close call in MotoGP history!