Marquez edges Rossi for Qatar win

World Champion Marc Marquez started his MotoGP™ title defence with a victory in Qatar on Sunday, beating Valentino Rossi in a close battle, with Dani Pedrosa coming home third.

Repsol Honda’s 21-year-old rider produced a gritty performance to take maximum points despite breaking his leg in preseason and missing the last two MotoGP tests.

In further drama Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo crashed out of the race lead at turn 15 on the first lap, meaning his season starts with a DNF after he had struggled with grip issues throughout the weekend.

It was a dramatic race with pole sitter Marquez – the only rider to use the hard rear option tire – slipping back to fourth by the first turn. However, Marquez started to settle in and made up a position before Lorenzo made an uncharacteristic mistake and crashed out. Marquez battled with Gresini Honda rider Alvaro Bautista for a few laps before passing him but then lost a position to Rossi. The two riders then began to chase down race leader, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl.

Coming from seventh on the grid and taking advantage of Lorenzo’s crash and some errors ahead of him, Bradl was writing headlines for LCR Honda but perhaps the pressure of Marquez and Rossi on his shoulder was too much as the German slid off track.

Indeed, Marquez and Rossi then went on to have a great fight which went down to the last lap and saw the Spaniard outpace the Italian by 0.25s.

“I’m very happy with the result today,” Marquez said. “The 25 points are important but it’s also been an important race, because I was coming back from an injury that caused me to miss most of the pre-season. Also, this weekend there were a lot of riders up at the front, all with a great pace, and seeing how the race went, this win is a big one. The battle with Valentino was the best part of the race besides the win, I really enjoyed it.”

Grip issues and the Qatar testing advantage of many of his rivals saw Rossi no higher than sixth going into Qualifying on Saturday evening. The Italian’s fortunes did not improve, as he was only able to qualify on the fourth row.

However, Rossi was able to show his experience and race craft come business time, as he fought hard with World Champion Marquez – after slicing his way through the field.

“It was a great battle, but I enjoyed it a little bit less than him [Marquez] because I finished behind,” joked Rossi. “It was great and my race was fun, starting from the fourth row was very risky but I did all the right overtakes and it was great when I got to the front. I was very happy and the bike was good. I had the potential to fight with Marc, but he was stronger than me.”

On his new crew chief, Rossi said, “I took a gamble on asking Silvano Galbusera to come and work with me this year. I had a good feeling when I tested the R1 Superbike with him after I broke my leg, but it was a gamble because he had no experience in MotoGP. We are able to communicate well and that has helped with the setting of the bike and to be more competitive.”

When Bradl crashed out Pedrosa was promoted into fourth and the following lap he passed Bradley Smith to take third. Pedrosa was still in a battle for third with Bautista, with the two of them trading positions. With Bautista crashing out, the battle was over for Pedrosa.

“Third place is a positive result,” he said. “We’ve finished on the podium this weekend at a circuit that’s difficult for me, because it isn’t well suited to my style. So it’s a good way to start. We were close, but with the way the race went – with so many crashes – it was important to finish. So from here on in we will try to keep improving and try to fight for the win at the next race.”

An excellent ride for Aleix Espargaro saw him take fourth on his debut for NGM Forward Racing on their ‘Open’ Yamaha. Espargaro cashed in on crashes for Baustista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) as they fell out of the podium hunt.

Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow did well in fifth and sixth respectively for Ducati Team, though Crutchlow finished 16 seconds behind his teammate after almost running out of fuel on his debut for the Italian factory.

A good first premier class race for Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) saw him beat fellow ‘Open’ Honda equipped rider Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) to seventh by a 0.035s margin.

The top 10 was rounded out by Hayden’s compatriot Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing), riding his first race as a 40-year-old, and Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) who recovered well from a fall on the last corner of lap two.

A mistake from rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) with five laps to go saw him drop down to 15th and then pull into pits shortly after.

Despite a difficult first lap for pole man Esteve Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) he produced an otherwise excellent ride to overcome Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) on the last corner of the Moto2 race, with Rabat’s teammate Mika Kallio third.

Rabat aims to win the title this year after emerging as a Moto2™ race winner last season and he looked threatening throughout the Qatar weekend, ultimately beating Nakagami to the line by 0.04s after they had battled for the lead for several laps. Rabat ran wide on the first lap and dropped to fifth but just had too much for his closest rival over the 20-lap contest.

Three seconds back of Kallio in fourth place was Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2), the Swiss rider crossing the line three tenths ahead of Moto3 World Champion Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) who made an excellent Moto2™ debut.

Simone Corsi (NGM Forward Racing) ran well in sixth, from 10th on the grid, beating debutant Sam Lowes (Speed Up), who also performed solidly in his first Grand Prix.

Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took a brilliant first win of his career in the first Moto3 race of the year at the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar, with Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) second and Efren Vazquez (SAXOPRINT RTG) third.

Miller rode superbly with his new team, starting third on the grid and running at the front with Marquez from the start as pole man Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) made a poor start and dropped to 12th.

Miller and Marquez then battled for the lead but a late mistake from Marquez let the Australian in on the last lap for his first victory and first podium in Grand Prix. Behind the leading pair Vazquez crossed the finishing line just 0.047s off second place to complete the podium and step onto the rostrum for the first time since 2011.

The riders will reconvene for the next race at the Circuit Of The Americas in three weeks’ time.

–From motogp.com and Repsol Honda

MotoGP Race Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

MotoGP Point Standings (courtesy Repsol Honda)

{fcomment}