Coming into the final round of the 2016 edition of the Moto2 World Championship, there were three of them who could claim the title of Rookie of the Year: Luca Marini and Miguel Oliveira on their Kalex, and Xavi Virginie on his Mistral M610 Tech3, the brother of Valentino Rossi then having a one point lead over his two opponents.
In qualifying, Miguel Oliveira, back after injury, was the fastest, placing 15th, while Marini et Virgin, a tenth slower, were placed 18th and 19th respectively.
But the first lap of the race proved to be crucial, in the sense that Xavi Virginie closed it ahead of Miguel Oliveira, while Luca Marini missed his start by sailing six places behind his opponents.
From then on, everything came down to Virgo and Oliveira, separated by only half a second during the 27 laps of the race. Despite this tiny gap and the length of the event, neither man made a mistake and, in the end, it was the Tech3 driver who wins the coveted title by taking the 4 points for 12th place, just ahead of Miguel Oliveira.
Asked about this title, the men of Tech3 recognized that Xavi Virginie had made significant progress at the end of the season aboard his Mistral, after realizing that he was not faster on a Kalex. This title erases the little discontent after theincident with Luca Marini at Sepang.
For its second year in Grand Prix, Xavi Virginie will continue to defend the colors of the French team in 2017 and will be joined by Remy Gardner.
1 VIRGIN Xavi SPA 37
2 OLIVEIRA Miguel POR 36
3 MARINI Luca ITA 34
4 VIÑALES Isaac SPA 19
5 GARDNER Rem y AUS 8
6 PONS Edgar SPA 4
