The first round of the 2018 MotoGP season ended up extremely well for Alma Pramac Racing who got a double top 10 finish thanks to the amazing race of Danilo Petrucci and the solid performance of Jack Miller.
Petrucci started from the front row and immediately got into the leading group. On lap 6, he tried to attack Marc Marquez for third place and four laps later tried to overtake Valentino Rossi for fourth place. Halfway through the race, he was fighting with Cal Crutchlow, Dani Pedrosa and Alex Rins who crashed in front of Petrucci forcing him to lose contact with the leading group. The rider from Terni remained focused and two laps from the end passed Johann Zarco for the fifth position, then defending himself from the attack of Maverick Vinales. Petrucci finished his race in P5, 3.8 seconds behind Andrea Dovizioso, who beat Marc Marquez at the last corner.
“I am a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I am happy with the top 5 which was my goal even though I honestly had the potential to be able to finish on the podium. Pedrosa overtook me at the wrong time when the top 3 riders accelerated. The choice of the soft tyre at the front perhaps was not the right one but I am still satisfied: we are much closer than last year”, Petrucci said.
Almost…
Quasi… pic.twitter.com/NR6TX6U2oJ— Danilo Petrucci (@Petrux9) March 18, 2018
Alma Pramac Racing got a double top 10 finish in Qatar thanks to the amazing race of Danilo Petrucci and the solid performance of Jack Miller
Jack Miller started from P10 and in the first laps fought with Andrea Iannone and Dani Pedrosa. The Australian rider’s pace was extremely incisive and allowed him to maintain for a long time the ninth position. But three laps from the end he could not avoid Andrea Iannone’s attack. Jack finished his first race with Alma Pramac Racing with a solid top 10.
“It was a good race but in the end, I couldn’t push as I wanted because I started to have lack of feeling with the front tyre especially in the right turns. I am still happy to have taken this Top 10 and with what we have done this weekend. I feel that we are doing a great job with the team and this gives me a lot of confidence for the next race in Argentina”, Miller commented.
Ladies and Gentlemen… @petrux9 @jackmilleraus and the Alma @pramacracing @DucatiMotor Desmosedici GP@MotoGP #ForzaDucati pic.twitter.com/W3j88xfeYW
— Alma Pramac Racing MotoGP (@pramacracing) March 22, 2018
