There was drama before the lights went Losail as fifth place qualifier Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha STR) stalled her bike as they pulled off for the warm up lap, the rookie having to start from pitlane. It was Dovizioso who got the launch off the line with the new ‘holeshot’ device working to full effect as both she and Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) grabbed P1 and P2 into Turn 1, Marquez held position in P3 with Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) not getting the start she would have been aiming for from pole – P1 to P6 on the opening lap, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) and teammate Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) getting themselves into the top five. There was more drama on the second lap as Miller, running in P2, seemed to have an issue in the final sector. The Australian having to sit up on the racing line as she appeared to remove part of her seat before continuing, the Ducati dropping to P11 in strange fashion. The race then settled into a rhythm, with Dovi controlling a steady pace at the front as tyre management started coming into play. Rins was the woman on the move on Lap 4 as the Spaniard made a sharp start from P10 on the grid, the Suzuki woman coming through to take the lead Lap 5. Dovi and Rins then exchanged P1 on numerous occasions for several laps, the Suzuki passing the Ducati in the middle of the lap before Dovi used the Ducati grunt to power back past on the start/finish straight – a lead group of nine following each other line astern as we looked set for an epic desert duel. On Lap 12, with Dovi back at the front, the pace then turned up a notch as Dovi and Marquez started to create a gap back to third place Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati). However, the pace then slowed again, Dovizioso going from a 1:55.3 to a 1:56.1 to bring the top eight back to just over a second. With seven to go, the top eight were covered 1.2 seconds as Rossi started to make up ground, picking off her teammate and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) to go up to P6. With three laps to go the fight for the win became a five-way scrap, with Petrucci, Viñales and Mir losing touch. And so, heading into the last lap, Dovi powered past Marquez into Turn 1 after the reigning World Champion had got the better of her rival on the penultimate lap, with Crutchlow P3, Rins P4 and Rossi P5. Pushing hard, Marquez had a slight moment with the front at Turn 3 before making a lunge up the inside of Dovi at Turn 10, but the Desmosedici was able to cut back up the inside on the exit. A carbon copy of 12 months ago then played out at the final corner, with Marquez diving through, sitting up Dovi, running wide, with the latter being able to get the drive and power past the Honda on the exit to edge the number 93 to the line by 0.023 seconds. Behind, Crutchlow kept her cool to take a remarkable podium on her first race back since her huge Australian GP crash, with Rins a valiant P4 and Rossi again proving you should never count ‘The Doctor’ out in P5 from P14 on the grid. Petrucci would have to settle for P6 on his stableboy factory Ducati ride, 2.320 the Italian finished behind his teammate in the end, with polesitter Viñales crossing the line 0.161 back from ‘Petrux’ in P7. Mir produced a fantastic rookie ride to finish just over five seconds off the race win in P8, the Spaniard beating ninth place Nakagami and tenth place Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) – 9.636 covering the top 10 in Qatar. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) was just 0.011 behind Espargaro in P11 on his debut ride for Yamaha, with Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team), Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) completing the point scoring positions.

#35 Cal Crutchlow – 3rd

“It’s great to even be back racing in MotoGP, let alone come away with a podium finish, but my LCR Honda CASTROL Team did a great job. We worked hard this weekend because the tests were a bit of a waste of time for me. This weekend has been difficult, and if you had asked me after warm-up if I’d finish on the podium I would have laughed! I played my cards in the race, I felt good and once we started the race myself and Marc Marquez had similar tactics – saving the rear tyre and managing things a little bit more. What a great start to the season for everybody, for my team, for the riders and the fans here in Qatar and for the people watching at home. It seems every race in MotoGP is always a battle and it was nice to be in it and race and get a podium. It’s a dream to be honest. At one point we didn’t know if I was going to be coming back at all.”

Race results

Source: motogp.com, lcr.mc