Defending champ Casey Stoner (Honda) led most of the race this evening in Qatar before being overtaken by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and teammate Dani Pedrosa (Honda). At the flag, Lorenzo took the first win of the year with Pedrosa in second and Stoner in third. Teammates Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso fought hard aboard their Yamaha’s nearly the entire race, with Crutchlow taking fourth just ahead of Dovizioso in fifth.
Factory riders Valentino Rossi (Ducati) and Ben Spies (Yamaha) struggled while finishing in tenth and eleventh place.
For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site.
| Pos. | Points | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time/Gap |
| 1 | 25 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 166.2 | 42’44.214 |
| 2 | 20 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 166.1 | +0.852 |
| 3 | 16 | 1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 166.0 | +2.908 |
| 4 | 13 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 165.1 | +17.114 |
| 5 | 11 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 165.0 | +17.420 |
| 6 | 10 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 164.3 | +28.413 |
| 7 | 9 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 164.3 | +28.446 |
| 8 | 8 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 164.3 | +29.464 |
| 9 | 7 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 164.2 | +31.384 |
| 10 | 6 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 164.0 | +33.665 |
| 11 | 5 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 162.6 | +56.907 |
| 12 | 4 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 162.5 | +58.088 |
| 13 | 3 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 161.7 | +1’10.650 |
| 14 | 2 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Avintia Blusens | BQR-FTR | 161.4 | +1’15.943 |
| 15 | 1 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 160.7 | +1’26.733 |
Is Rossi racing or doing trackday lapping? If he continues to be outpaced by other Ducati
riders he needs to be fired.
Did you guys miss the fact that Rossi was forced off-track by Barbera in lap 5 and lost around 5 seconds that lap?
Looking at finish times Rossi would have been fighting with that group for sixth and MIGHT have been first Ducati before Hayden even …
Awesome race. We just need Rossi upfront and we will see epic battles for first place again…
Really curious to hear what happened to Spies?
He couldn’t have dropped like that without an issue of some sort.
Spies claimed brake chatter was the issue
Great race. 3 distinct groups of races actually…4 if you count the CRT’s.
Edwards is king of the new slow bike crowd.
Wish Suzuki, and Kawasaki had entries.
What kind of bike is an ART or a BQRFTR? LOL
Stoner was pulling away until he suffered from arm pump (he claimed). Which raises the question: Why? Was it the track, the bike or a fitness issue? It will be interesting to see if it is a recurring problem. Clearly he has the speed to repeat. Should be an interesting season.
It may be his fitness because in all prior practices he hasn’t ridden as much as his peers.
Arm pump isn’t caused by fitness it’s caused by hanging on too tight.
I’ve gotten arm pump and it wasn’t from hanging on too tight.
That’s the problem you don’t think your hanging on too tight but you are…
I’m pretty certain that Stoner has some knowledge of how tight he needs to grip.
I’m absolutely certain that Stoner knows precisely how to grip, lean, brake, shift etc his machine to go as fast as humanly possible. The problem is executing all those activities perfectly every time over the course of a race.
Spies didn’t melt, his engineers blew it again like they did so many times last year. Chattering means he couldnt push
Like he wanted to. Is there someone in Yamaha assuring he loses his factory ride already?
There is no way he shouldnt have at least finished 4th, if not fighting for podium.
He was consistent all weekend despite front end issues.
Finally a competitive race. I’m really glad they brought back the 1000’s. It looked to me like Stoner probably lost some grip from his tires, despite the official Honda rhetoric. Nobody is better than Lorenzo when it comes to riding smooth and conserving his tires. This track had a lot of tight sections. Look for the Hondas top end speed to factor in on many of the other tracks.
This track also has the longest straight on the calender, fyi
I agree! Great Race! Heard on Speed TV that Stoner had some late race arm pump that slowed him to 3rd.
Regardless…. Lorenzo, Pedrosa & Stoner are fast.
Hoping Ducati can improve a lot! It would at least be nice if they were competitive with the front runners. Carl Fogarty tweeted that he doesn’t see Rossi sataying with Ducati if things don’t change…
As much as I’d like to see Rossi bring Ducati to the front, it’s not gonna happen. Unless he’s on a clearly superior bike he’s only gonna see the back of Stoner. He’s getting a little old to develop a new superior bike, though he and Burgess are very capable. I don’t think Ducati(or anyone) has the budget to develop a bike quickly enough for Rossi. We’ll see, 2 bike series, YAWN!
I have been a Rossi fan for years, but I am starting to wonder if there is more going on than we’ve all been lead to believe. While I know that the Ducati has its problems, Rossi finished far behind his Ducati teammate Hayden. Rossi is the guy who went to Yamaha, where they were completely non-competitive, and took them to their first championship in years. This is the same Rossi who, due to a penalty, started
Rossi has fought injuries and, though he has proclaimed himself 100%, I have to wonder if he really is or ever can be. Being involved in the accident that claimed the life of Simoncelli, one of Rossi’s dearest friends, probably had an emotional, psychological impact that many of us can’t fathom.
Rossi needs to get out on the track on one of his old GP500 2-stroke motorcycles and either prove to himself that he hasn’t lost his skills or decide whether it is time to consider hanging up his helmet. Of course, that’s not likely to happen.
re: “Rossi needs to get out on the track on one of his old GP500 2-stroke motorcycles and either prove to himself that he hasn’t lost his skills or decide whether it is time to consider hanging up his helmet.”
hey, why no 3rd option to ride in stable franchise of WSBK…? 🙂
A better question is “why the heck did that Fred guy not finish his sentence at the end of paragraph one?” Oops.
With regards to WSBK, I go back and forth on that one, and I kind of like the idea of Rossi moving on to F1 from MotoGP, rather than moving down through the racing classes, eventually retiring after a mediocre performance in some third-rate race series. I don’t even know if Rossi is riding well enough to compete in WSBK — I hope it’s the Ducati holding him back, but I fear that it might not be.
re: “I don’t think Ducati(or anyone) has the budget to develop a bike quickly enough for Rossi.”
what no one seems to have the budget for adapting to is the “moving goal post” of the softer tyres. you don’t need softer or faster warming tyres when you’ve ALSO given the bikes an extra 200cc’s to LOAD said tyres (WTF?). pick 1 variable to change… not 2. 250hp bikes need the older spec tyre. give the new tyres to the far less powerful CRT’s.
Great race! The battle between Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa was fantastic as was the battle between Dovi and Crutchlow! The battle between Hayden, Barbera, Bautista and Bradl wasn’t bad either. Spies fell apart (understatement) and what is happening with Rossi??
Great start to the season!
+1
Only way to make it better was to have more camera coverage and then a 2 hour replay of all the highlights!
I think it would be much better if there were more entries. The field is embarrassingly thin. Has been for a number of years.
re: “and what is happening with Rossi??”
the same as afflicting 2 other riders (spies and stoner) on top kit… THE TYRES. everybody complained so bridgestone capitulated and changed them effectively substituting the complaint of “slow warm-up” for the complaint of “chatter”. morale: beware what you wish for ’cause “free lunch” doesn’t exist.