Maverick Vinales claimed victory on his Yamaha debut in thrilling opening race of the 2017 MotoGP campaign in Qatar. He had an incredible battle with Andrea Dovizioso in Ducati. Pole-sitter Vinales dropped to fifth on the first lap. But he carved his way back to the front via a brilliant scrap with Dovizioso, who finished runner-up at Losail. Valentino Rossi rounded out the podium places in a race. The race featured a delayed start and a shock spell at the front for Tech 3 rookie Johann Zarco.
The delay, which extended to 45 minutes, was due to a pre-race rain shower, riders remonstrating with officials due to a damp patch at Turn 14, which sent several wide en-route to the grid. When the race eventually got underway, Moto2 champion Zarco stunned the field by surging into second spot, from fourth on the grid, before picking off initial leader Iannone further around the lap.
Rather than face pressure from the chasing pack, Zarco pulled away from his rivals. He extend his advantage to almost two seconds, with his opponents unable to respond.
Zarco’s prospects of a shock victory on his MotoGP debut ended on lap six, when he crashed out at the Turn 2. He slides into the gravel and into retirement. Zarco’s exit handed the lead to Dovizioso, who worked his way past a ferocious battle involving Marc Marquez and Andrea Iannone, with the pair joined by a recovering Vinales.
Vinales caught up to Iannone just as the Suzuki rider crashed out at Turn 3. The Yamaha youngster fortunate to avoid his predecessor, before quickly passing an ailing Marquez for second. Dovizioso had opened up a lead of over a second but, running the softer rear tyre, his pace soon faded, and he slipped into the clutches of Viñales, who sliced into the lead.
Dovizioso utilised the straight-line speed of the Ducati to breeze ahead, before Viñales pulled off another move further around the lap, as the pair traded the lead several times.
A ferocious scrap was eventually settled in Viñales’ favour on the penultimate lap.
He pulled sufficiently clear along the pit straight to prevent Dovizioso from re-passing.
Viñales eventually crossed the line 0.461s clear of Dovizioso to record his second MotoGP win. While Rossi, who survived contact with Cal Crutchlow at Turn 1, collected third place, having made steady progress.
Márquez eventually slipped to a distant fourth, with Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa a low-key fifth. Aleix Espargaró took a standout sixth on his first appearance with the Gresini-run Aprilia squad. Espargaró finished within a second of fourth-placed Márquez. He recorded Aprilia’s best result since its return to MotoGP two years ago.
Scott Redding finished seventh for Pramac. While Marc VDS’ Jack Miller held off rookies Álex Rins (Suzuki) and Jonas Folger (Tech 3) on the final lap. The trio rounded out the top 10. Jorge Lorenzo took only 11th on his Ducati debut, having run wide on the opening lap, dropping to 16th in the process.
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