Wednesday 15 April: Jorge Lorenzo triumphed at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner after an excellent ride saw the Spaniard claim victory from pole position, as the 2012 MotoGP™ World Championship got off to a marvellous start.
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) took his
first premier class victory at the Losail International Circuit to open
the 2012 MotoGP™ season in the best possible manner, after battling
reigning World Champion Casey Stoner and the Australian's Repsol Honda
team-mate Dani Pedrosa for the duration of the 22-lap race. It was also a
superb start to the new 1000cc era in MotoGP, as the CRT machines also
made their debut in an action-packed race.
Starting from pole for the first time since the US Grand Prix last
July, Lorenzo held the lead until the third lap before Stoner assumed
first position with a pass on the start/finish straight. Lorenzo then
followed Stoner for the majority of the race before passing his rival
with three laps to go, and he eventually crossed the line 0.852s ahead
of Pedrosa who placed second as Stoner ended the race third.
After a difficult weekend which had seen Pedrosa qualify in seventh
the Spaniard shot from row three of the grid into third position on the
opening lap, and on lap 20 passed his team-mate Stoner with a superb
move on the brakes going into Turn 1 to take second. Stoner, who had won
in Qatar for four of the past five seasons, took his 16th successive
podium finish as he got his title defence underway.
With the leading trio involved in an eye-catching contest for the
podium positions at the front, an excellent duel between Monster Yamaha
Tech 3 team-mates Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso played out in their
wake. The Italian, in his first race on the M1, was in front with his
British team-mate all over his exhaust until lap 17, when Crutchlow got
past Dovizioso and held out for fourth to equal his best-ever MotoGP
result.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was the highest placing Desmosedici,
beating Álvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini) to sixth by just
0.033s on the Spaniard's debut with the team, and 2011 Moto2 World
Champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) capped an impressive debut MotoGP ride
with eighth place.
Héctor Barberá (Pramac Racing) had been in the hunt for sixth but ran
off when he pushed too hard in the closing stages and the Spaniard
finished ninth, and the final spot in the top 10 went to Valentino Rossi
(Ducati Team) who had appeared to be struggling with his Desmosedici
GP12 in the early stages of the race.
Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies ended the race in 11th, whilst the
honour of the highest placing CRT went to Colin Edwards (NGM Mobile
Forward Racing Team). The American held off the challenge of Randy de
Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar) to place his BMW-Suter 12th, with Yonny
Hernández (Avintia Racing MotoGP) and Aleix Espargaró (Power
Electronics Aspar) taking the last points on offer.
Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing), Danilo Petrucci (Came
Iodaracing Project) and Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini) all
suffered the disappointment of not finishing the race.
The MotoGP class returns to action in just under three weeks, for the
Gran Premio bwin de España at Jerez, which takes place from April
27-29.
Moto2
The Moto2™ Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar produced a
nailbiting finish in which Marc Márquez beat Andrea Iannone to victory
by six-hundredths of a second. Pol Espargaró took third in the opening
race of the 2012 World Championship at Losail.
Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) beat
Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) to victory in the first race of the 2012
Moto2™ World Championship by just 0.061s, as the intermediate class put
on an absorbing 20-lap encounter at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of
Qatar.
Following a race-long battle for the lead which involved up to seven
riders at one point, Márquez and Iannone came out of the last corner on
the final lap neck-and-neck, with the Spaniard winning out in the sprint
for the chequered flag by the slimmest of margins. After being
enveloped in a tight group of riders scrapping for first position, the
two eventually finished over a second clear of the remainder of the
chasing pack.
Completing the podium after being involved in the fight for victory
for the most part Pol Espargaró (Pons 40 HP Tuenti), who at one stage
had led, crossed in third after spending the closing stages of the race
locked in combat with his team-mate Esteve Rabat who finished fourth.
Crossing the finish line in fifth position was Thomas Lüthi
(Interwetten Paddock), who had started from pole position and who spent
the entire race in the leading group. The Swiss rider's challenge for
victory ended going into the final lap however, when he ran wide at Turn
1 as he and Márquez went head-to-head.
Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) rode a strong final few laps to
take sixth position from 13th on the starting grid, and he finished just
0.026s ahead Frenchman Mike di Meglio (S/Master Speed Up). Simone Corsi
(Came Iodaracing Project) had played his part in the show at the front
during the race and eventually ended eighth, with Bradley Smith (Tech 3
Racing) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team) completing the top 10.
Riders also leaving Round 1 with points on the board included Randy
Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland), Moto2 rookie Johann Zarco (JiR
Moto2), returning 2010 Champion Toni Elías (Mapfre Aspar Team), Takaaki
Nakagami (Italtrans Racing Team) and Julián Simón (Blusens Avintia), who
all finished inside the top 15.
Alex de Angelis (NGM Mobile Forward Racing) had been involved in the
battle for points but crashed out with two laps remaining, and British
rookie Gino Rea (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) ended his debut GP in 26th
position.
Moto3
Maverick Viñales won as Moto3 made its World Championship
debut at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar, with rookie Romano
Fenati finishing second in a magnificent debut ride and Sandro Cortese
taking the final podium spot.
The debut of the new Moto3 category in the
World Championship delivered an excellent spectacle at the Losail
International Circuit, as Maverick Viñales (Blusens Avintia) took
victory at the season-opening Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar.
The Spaniard, who won the last two 125cc races of the two-stroke
machine era and was the Rookie of the Year in 2011, was followed across
the line by debutant Romano Fenati (Team Italia FMI) who scored a podium
in his first ever Grand Prix start. The young Italian led the race for
the opening six laps before Viñales overtook him, and the pair traded
places again before the more experienced Viñales – still only 17 and now
the second-youngest rider in history to have won three successive
Grands Prix – pulled away to win by a margin of 4.3 seconds.
The displays of Viñales and 16 year-old Fenati were hugely
impressive, and as the pair rode out front for the majority of the
18-lap race a thrilling battle for the third and final podium position
raged behind.
In the end it was pole position starter Sandro Cortese (Red Bull KTM
Ajo) who prevailed after an intense five-way fight with, in order of
their final race positions, Luis Salom (RW Racing GP), Miguel Oliveira
(Estrella Galicia 0'0), Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Airasia-SIC-Ajo) and rookie
Arthur Sissis (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Each of the four and Cortese had
looked like taking third in an open race, before the German managed his
drive out of the last corner on the final lap perfectly to beat Salom.
Completing the top 10 were British rider Danny Kent (Red Bull KTM
Ajo), Frenchman Louis Rossi (Racing Team Germany) and another rookie,
Spanish prospect Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0'0).
It was a special evening for new talent on the World Championship
stage as Alan Techer (Technomag-CIP-TSR) registered points on his GP
debut by taking 11th, with Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar Team), Niklas Ajo
(TT Motion Events Racing), Alberto Moncayo (Bankia Aspar Team) and
Jakub Kornfeil (Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta) also scoring as they
completed the top 15 riders across the finish line.
British rider Danny Webb on the Mahindra Racing machine ended the race in 18th place after starting from 25th on the grid.
Copy and photos courtesy of motogp.com