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He was already the favourite after dominating in the tests, proving to be uncatchable in terms of pace and the flying lap. In the end, the predictions were right: Maverick Viñales took his first win with Yamaha in Qatar. What an effort, however, for the Spaniard. That’s right, because the road to success proved to be anything but downhill. At the start, number 25 had no small struggle, even dropping back as far as sixth place. He then came out like a freight train over the long distance, moving in behind the lead, occupied by Dovizioso.
That was when a heated head to head battle began between the two with one pass after another, where Viñales flexed his muscles. He came out on top, passing under the chequered flag first: “At the beginning I preferred to be cautious – Mac commented – Then later I began to push. The bike proved to truly be competitive, despite the conditions.”
Dovizioso, who had the taste of victory in his mouth down to the end, instead had to settle for second place: “It was a difficult race – the Ducati standard bearer explained – In any case, we managed to make the intelligent tyre choice. I did not push as much as I should have because of tyre wear – he added – I am satisfied with the GP17’s power in the straight.”
Another Italian flag also flew over the Qatar podium. Holding it high was Valentino Rossi. After starting from the tenth spot on the grid, the Doctor once again showed that he has that extra gear, enough to be a protagonist in a race where he had to come back from behind. Few would have bet on it, not even him: “I would never have bet that I’d have finished on the podium – number 46 commented – during the day I tried a lot of settings, working without giving up.” This is a result that makes the rider from Tavullia even more aware: “This performance makes me very happy and it makes me realize which way I need to go.”
It was a bitter Sunday in the Honda camp, with Marc Marquez suffering the consequences of his tyre choice in the second part of the race. The Spaniard filed away the Losail round in fourth place ahead of Daniel Pedrosa. Aleix Espargaró and his Aprilia were sixth. It was a race to write home about for the Manufacturer from Noale, just a half a second behind the Honda. In the last year, they have taken giant steps forward. The top ten included Redding, Miller, Rins and Folger.
Of course, there was no lack of disappointments, like the one for Jorge Lorenzo, only managing to finish eleventh. Things went worse, on the other hand, for Andrea Iannone, who ended up hitting the dirt just as he was battling for the podium. Zarco also fell after seven laps while leading the race with more than a second and a half ahead of Dovizioso..
