It wasn’t surprising that Ducati dominated qualifying for the second half of the Qatar double-header tomorrow. What was surprising was the name of the Ducati rider who took pole position. He is Jorge Martín, a rookie on the Pramac Racing satellite team who won the Moto3 championship in 2018. In fact, Pramac took the second spot on the grid, as well, with Johann Zarco. Last week’s race winner Maverick Viñales qualified third.
Stay tuned to MD for race coverage tomorrow, and take a look here for full qualifying results.
Rossi admitted that he just felt tired during his qualifying effort. Sounds like he got a case of “too old for this today” going on.
Let’s be honest, the Honda is a POS that only one living human being can ride fast, and he’s out for now. Honda gets what they deserve for developing a bike like that. Personally, I’m reveling in it; anyone but Honda.
As long as Suzuki qualify in the top ten and manage a decent start, they should be able to contend. Their late race speed ( at least with Mir ) is quite staggering, compared to everyone else.
If Rossi is on last yr’s Yamaha, he’s in trouble. He didn’t gel with it then, and isn’t likely to now. He should have retired and given a younger rider a seat. He needs to let go, his glory days are long gone.
Martin may be a force to recon with in yrs to come. His outright speed is clearly there, now he just needs to develop his race craft at this level.
What has happened to KTM? It was so exciting to see their rise last year… I hope they can turn it around.
Won’t be long now and Honda will get all pouty. Then will come the next exciting retrograde revolution. SteamGP! Oil fired in the premier class, coal fired in Steam2 and wood fired in Steam3.
Honda of course will have been developing their power systems in secret, with the help of some considerable corporate espionage, for a decade to come to the table with a huge advantage.
But don’t worry. Ducati will eventually come up with some funky Italian way to kick butt. Then the gleaming future will be WindGP with all the glorious beautiful sails and their rigging. Acres of sponcership logo opportunities. Boy! I can’t wait to sit all that out too.
Jack Miller was sure suprised, going to be another Ducati roadblock going into the first turn
Suzuki has to learn to qualify better
So apparently do the Honda riders
Rossi’s 21st in qualifying is probably his worst starting position ever
Definitely his worst qualifying result. He may have had a last place or pit road start for the famous “kick” incident.