After the wash-out of qualifying yesterday left the grid selection to practice results, rain threatened the MotoGP race this evening in Qatar. After a 40 minute delay resulted in a sufficiently dry track, the riders started a race that had been shortened by two laps (20 total). Rookie Johann Zarco (Yamaha) quickly took the lead — and even stretched it a bit — before crashing out unhurt roughly one-third of the way through the race. A battle at the front then ensued between Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) and Marc Marquez (Honda).
After Iannone crashed out, the Factory Yamahas of Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi closed on the lead group. Evetually, Viñales and Rossi both disposed of Marquez, who would finish a distant fourth.
The race came down to a battle in the final laps between Viñales and Dovizioso with Viñales finally taking the win ahead of Dovizioso and Rossi. Here are the full race results from Qatar:
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 165.5 | 38’59.999 |
| 2 | 20 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | Ducati | 165.5 | +0.461 |
| 3 | 16 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 165.4 | +1.928 |
| 4 | 13 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 165.0 | +6.745 |
| 5 | 11 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 165.0 | +7.128 |
| 6 | 10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 164.9 | +7.661 |
| 7 | 9 | 45 | Scott REDDING | OCTO Pramac Racing | Ducati | 164.8 | +9.782 |
| 8 | 8 | 43 | Jack MILLER | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 164.5 | +14.486 |
| 9 | 7 | 42 | Alex RINS | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 164.4 | +14.788 |
| 10 | 6 | 94 | Jonas FOLGER | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 164.4 | +15.069 |
| 11 | 5 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Ducati Team | Ducati | 164.0 | +20.516 |
| 12 | 4 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 164.0 | +21.255 |
| 13 | 3 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Reale Avintia Racing | Ducati | 163.5 | +28.828 |
| 14 | 2 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Pull&Bear Aspar Team | Ducati | 163.5 | +29.123 |
| 15 | 1 | 53 | Tito RABAT | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | Honda | 163.4 | +29.470 |
| 16 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 163.1 | +33.601 | |
| 17 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 162.7 | +39.704 | |
| 18 | 22 | Sam LOWES | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | 162.2 | +47.131 |
xxx
That was a good race to watch, and, was actually more exciting than all of the AMA Supercross races so far this year.
As good as it was to watch, it was fairly predictable in the results:
MV: Has been on a roll since winter testing and through the FP sessions for this race.
AD: Good record at this track for battling for the win.
VR: Seen him do exactly this over the years – claim a tough time in testing and FP and QP for the first race, only to somehow shake all of the doubts off and battle for a win or podium, at least.
I’m glad these guys didn’t disappoint after what looked to be a cluster-f of a weekend due to weather.
So glad MotoGP is back. The race did not dissapoint. Vinales showed he has the mettle. Excellent ride. Rossi did what Rossi does… Works his way thru the crowd to the podium. If he loses another Championship it will because of his inability to qualify or start well. Imagine what he could do with a few holeshots lol. Two pleasant surprises…Zarco and Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia. Make that three…IAnnone on the Suzuki up until he crashed. He might be a dominate player in the championship this year. Speaking of crashes Crutchlow is getting to be an expert at wadding up bikes. One “it figures” was Lorenzo, since conditions were not perfect. That guy needs to see a shrink to help him get over this fear of less than perfect weather.
VR/holeshots – no doubt! I’m afraid he fumbled the championship ball a couple seasons ago and that was probably that. I’m in the “one more would be great” camp but he’s got his work cut out for him now. MV on fire on same bike = uh oh
Rossi actually had an excellent start yesterday. Beginning from the fourth row, once the flag dropped he shot straight up to sixth, and relatively clear track.
Qualifying? Not so much.
He has seemed to have learned his lesson, though. A few years ago he was consistently hurting himself with his mid-pack starting positions. The last two seasons, however, he started taking practice and qualifying much more seriously and became a regular on the front row, including the occasional pole position.
The one maddening aspect of MotoGP is this desire of the factories to reinvent their bikes every season, forcing the riders and teams to learn a seemingly all-new package each time out. Rossi was fine on the 2016 bike, which Zarco rode to great effect yesterday. Instead, he has to ride a new version, the finer points of its handling secrets having clearly eluded him…well, until Sunday, anyway.
Point being, why not simply let him stay on the sweet-handling 2016, and perhaps just add a few ponies to the engine’s stable? He was used to that bike. He qualified and raced well on it. Sure, address its one shortcoming, its relative lack of top-end power; otherwise, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel every season.
yea Rossi moved up from 10th to 6th aided by some jostling for position and bumping in the first corner… but imagine what he could have done with a front or second row start yesterday …think Zarco
If you are not in the first 4 or 5 you end up in the second group. It takes so much more effort and tire wear to catch up to the first group that always squirts away by lap 2. Rossi is the best at it there has ever been, but he makes his job so much harder having to work thru traffic.
Re: “otherwise, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel every season.”
Interesting thought. Time and development have done wonders for the Ducatis. There are now 3 years worth of them out on the track and outside of the factory bikes usually being fastest (sorry Jorge…), they generally don’t finish by order of model year.
Still, given that Zarco’s bike was developed by Rossi’s guys, you’d think they could work their way through the changes to the new one more predictably. Ditto the Honda guys…
I think there is probably more risk in not changing. Vinales has been demonstrating the potential of the new bike to great effect. While the engine may be off the table, I don’t think there is anything in the rules preventing Rossi from using the old chassis, is there? I personally though he looked really good Sunday. I would think he’d be inclined to stick it out and develop the current bike.
You’re right, as long as a rule change didn’t make an older chassis illegal, they can go back. Honda has in the past.
I’m disappointed. Lorenzo just eleventh.
I’m loving it!!!! He is such a spoiled baby……
I suppose he is not a Ducati guy.
Strict motorcycle.
Dovi and Vinales were the true aliens today. What incredible skill!
I am so glad the season is back!
I actually picked Zarco to win the race and was feeling pretty smug for a while. Oh well.
Congrats to Vinales on the first of what is bound to be many wins on the Yamaha. Great ride by Dovi. I wish he could have stayed close enough and sniped Vinales on the straight for the win.
And way to go Espargaro and Aprilia. It will be interesting to see if this was an anomaly or if the Aprilia and Aleix are truly good together.
Which of these outcomes from this weekend seemed like the obvious outlier, given what we know of each rider…
-Maverick led every winter test and was fastest the entire weekend before winning from pole position
-Dovi was steady, smart, and fast, qualifying well before once again ending up as the bride’s maid in the race
-Rossi struggled mightily all winter as well as in the days leading up to the race, only to curbstomp just about everyone once the flag dropped on Sunday
-Marquez semi-struggled all winter and again this weekend yet still found himself near the front, where he rode a smart race and took what he could get on a track that doesn’t favor his Honda
-Dani was competent and basically invisible, beating the guys he should and losing by a wide margin to every other fast guy
-Aleix Espargaro rode an underdog bike fast enough to beat a bunch of of more highly regarded bikes and riders
-Andrea Iannoni was crazy fast and a threat to win the race before throwing it down the road
-Helmet Hair began his season with multiple crashes followed by countless expletive deleteds
-Johan Zarco qualified well, got a lightning start, led the the first third of the race and was pulling away before he too threw it down the road
-Jorge Lorenzo struggled in practice, poor weather set it, and come race day he remained mired among the also-rans, unable to improve his position at all
See, the only thing that sticks out there as being out of character for that particular rider is Zarco’s performance, in that he threw it down the road after offering up a dominating performance. And there’s the rub. Zarco is unusually bright, patient, and calculating. He will learn from this. He will remain fast, and limit his mistakes. He will not become another Ianonni.
Beware, MotoGP, #5 is not your normal rookie riding a normal satellite bike. Riding Rossi’s 2016 mount, JZ is going to be consistently fast, and a force to be reckoned with.
Excellent review VLJ ( had to laugh at helmet hair)
All the Honda riders commented they needed the hard front and were convinced by Michelin rep to run the medium. Make your own choices gentlemen and then accept the outcomes.
Lorenzo and helmet hair just complained lol
Aprilia in 6th, first time out? Fantastic. Also nice to see fresh blood on the podium.
Not being a wise guy, just in case readers did not know: Vinales won a MotoGP last year, and IIRC was prior Moto2 and Moto3 Champion.
They need to go back to racing in Qatar in the daytime. The high was like 78f today. Of course the track is going to be more slick at night as opposed to sunny daytime..
“The high was like 78f today.”
Why not “the high was 78f today”?
Like, dunno man
Another great motoGP race to watch!