Jorge Lorenzo was the defending world champion, having secured his third MotoGP title and fifth overall Championship title at the
2015 Valencian Community Grand Prix. The riders' championship title was won for the third time by
Marc Márquez, after his fifth victory of the season at the
Japanese Grand Prix has given him an unassailable lead over his title rivals Lorenzo and
Valentino Rossi – who both crashed out at Motegi – with three races remaining. Márquez's title marked a return to the top step for
Honda after a difficult
2015 campaign for its factory team. Márquez ultimately won the championship by 49 points. Reigning champion Lorenzo won three of the first six races to lead the title race, but very poor wet weather form during wet races in mid-season curtailed his title bid along with no wins in the dry until the season-ending race in
Valencia. Rossi has been the most consistent title challenger, yet he has crashed out of three races up until Márquez's decisive victory in Japan. The
Yamaha team has suffered a severe win drought from June onwards, going eight races without a win before Márquez has clinched the title. The drought reached ten races before Lorenzo's Valencian triumph, in his final race for the manufacturer before his move to
Ducati in . Rossi has clinched the runner-up position by 16 points from Lorenzo, while their performances earned
Yamaha the teams' championship, although
Honda won the manufacturers' championship. The only rookie in this season was
Tito Rabat – who clinched the rookie of the year award.
LCR Honda rider,
Cal Crutchlow, achieved the top independent rider award; winning races at
Brno and
Phillip Island and finished in 7th place in the championship with 141 points. Ducati and
Suzuki both have won at least one race during the season, with Ducati's first win marking the first non Yamaha or Honda win for six years. The 2016 season saw numerous records in regards to race winners.
Cal Crutchlow,
Jack Miller,
Andrea Iannone and
Maverick Viñales each won their first races in the premier class, the first time that four new winners had emerged in a MotoGP season. Between the
Italian Grand Prix in May and the
San Marino Grand Prix in September, eight riders – Lorenzo, Rossi, Miller, Márquez, Iannone, Crutchlow, Viñales and
Dani Pedrosa – won in eight successive races, surpassing the previous record of seven, between the
1999 Imola Grand Prix and the
2000 South African Grand Prix. With a win for
Andrea Dovizioso in
Malaysia further adding to the tally, the total of nine winners was also a record for a single premier class season, surpassing the previous record of eight in the season. This season also marked the first non-factory teams to win a race since the
2006 season, with wins for
Marc VDS from Miller (at the
Dutch TT) and for LCR from Crutchlow (at the
Czech and
Australian Grands Prix). ==Calendar==