Who won the 2015 MotoGP World Championship?

Jorge Lorenzo won the 2015 MotoGP World Championship. The Spanish Yamaha rider secured his third premier-class title and fifth world championship overall.

The season-long fight was primarily between Lorenzo and his teammate Valentino Rossi. Rossi led the standings for much of the year, while defending champion Marc Márquez fell out of contention after several crashes and retirements. Dani Pedrosa won two late-season races but was never in the title fight.

The championship went down to the final round at Valencia. Lorenzo took victory from pole position, while Rossi—starting at the back after a grid penalty—finished fourth. That result gave Lorenzo the championship by five points, 330 to Rossi’s 325.

A common mix-up is to remember Rossi as champion because he led for most of the season and collected five wins. Lorenzo, however, had seven victories, the most in the 2015 campaign, and converted that late-season advantage into the title.