2018 qatar grand prix Archives

2018 Grand Prix of Qatar: Dovizioso Wins Thrilling MotoGP Battle

Andrea Dovizioso beat Marc Marquez at the last corner to win the first 2018 MotoGP race.
Pole sitter Johann Zarco had to contend with 8th place.
Valentino Rossi fought hard and finished 3rd.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso made it count when it matters by winning 2018’s opening MotoGP race at the very last corner.

It had looked like France will have her first premier class winner since Regis Laconi in 1999 but the other riders had other plans. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider and pole sitter Johann Zarco had taken the holeshot from the start and held on tenaciously, fighting off the intentions of first Marc Marquez on the Repsol Honda, then Valentino Rossi on the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP.

Rossi then followed Zarco around for a great number of laps until 10 laps to go when he decided to pass Zarco into Turn 1. Unbeknownst to him, however, was Marc Marquez slipstreaming up the inside. When both Zarco and Rossi overbraked into Turn 1, Marquez capitalized and overtook Rossi.

Rossi then either lost his rhythm or made further mistakes and got kicked back to as far as 5th, where he had to battle hard against Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Alex Rins (ECSTAR Suzuki), Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Ducati) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda).

Dovizioso had fought all the way to the front soon, passing Marquez but couldn’t find a way past Zarco for a few laps, until 5 laps to go when got into the perfect slipstream position. Dovizioso outbraked Zarco into Turn 1. Marquez was smart to tag behind Dovizioso, counting on the Ducati’s speed to also blast past Zarco.

Dovizioso held an small gap going into the last lap, but Marquez pushed hard to get back onto the back of the Ducati within three corners. As the pair braked for the final turn, Marquez went wide at the exit and Doviziso had a better drive to the finish line.

By now it was visible that Zarco’s tyres were cooked as he started fading backwards. Rossi retook third and finished in that position.

Cal Crutchlow had been fast, fought with everyone in the group and held on to fourth at the flag.

Danilo Petrucci, who had been equally as impressive as the top guys all weekend couldn’t find a way up higher than 3rd and ended in 5th.

Dani Pedrosa looked promising at the start but fell behind in quick succession by midpoint to come home in 7th.

Poor Johann Zarco who had worked so hard was packed all the way back in 8th.

The biggest comeback, however, belonged to Maverick Vinalez (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) on the factory Yamaha. He had a difficult weekend, only managing to qualify in 12th, where he pushed all the way back into 6th.

Hafizh Syahrin had a great start to the season as he finished 14th in his first MotoGP race to earn Malaysia’s first two points in the class.

Pos.	Points	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	25	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	42’34.654
2	20	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+0.027
3	16	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+0.797
4	13	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	+2.881
5	11	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	+3.821
6	10	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	+3.888
7	9	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+4.621
8	8	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+7.112
9	7	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	+12.957
10	6	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	+14.594

2018 Grand Prix of Qatar: Jorge Martin Betters Aaron Canet to Win Moto3

Jorge Martin wins the first Moto3 race of the 2018 MotoGP season.
Unlike last year’s race where as many as 17 riders fought for victory, the leading duo broke away from the chasing pack.
The Malaysian Petronas Sprinta Racing riders finished 8^th and 11^th.

Jorge Martin held on to edge out compatriot Aaron Canet to the line, to win the first Moto3 race of the year.

The pair had broken away from the pursuing group from early on to establish a two-horse race. The Losail International Circuit has the longest front straight of any circuit on the GP calendar and Canet had trailed Martin out of the last corner to set up a slipstream pass. But Canet could only show his front wheel alongside Martin just as the latter crossed the line first.

The real spectacle, however was the manic battle for third among those in a group of ten riders, including eventual third-placed finisher Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Niccolo Antonelli, Ayumu Sasaki, John McPhee, among others. Gentlemanly racing soon gave way to argy-bargy and paint-swapping hard moves with two laps to go, John McPhee was among the casualties. It was heartbreak for the Scotsman having fought up through the field into the fight for the final podium position.

Ayumu Sasaki of the Petronas Sprinta Racing team fought tooth and nail to come away eighth at the checkered flag, having gone as high as fifth. He had lost the slipstream to the group midway through the race but had managed to fight back into the group. Adam Norrodin languished in the 15^th to 16^th positions all days, but crashes up ahead promoted him up to 11^th at the finish.

Adam Norrodin (#7) – Pic from MotoGP.com

Pos.	Points	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	25	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Del Conca Gresini Moto3	Honda	38’18.207
2	20	Aron CANET	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda	+0.023
3	16	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	Leopard Racing	Honda	+6.746
4	13	Niccolò ANTONELLI	ITA	SIC58 Squadra Corse	Honda	+6.791
5	11	Gabriel RODRIGO	ARG	RBA BOE Skull Rider	KTM	+6.850
6	10	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Del Conca Gresini Moto3	Honda	+6.916
7	9	Kaito TOBA	JPN	Honda Team Asia	Honda	+6.946
8	8	Ayumu SASAKI	JPN	Petronas Sprinta Racing	Honda	+6.998
9	7	Jakub KORNFEIL	CZE	Redox PruestelGP	KTM	+7.156
10	6	Andrea MIGNO	ITA	Angel Nieto Team Moto3	KTM	+7.699

2018 Qatar Grand Prix: Zarco Smashes Decade-Old Record to Take Pole

Johann Zarco captures Pole Position for the 2018 Qatar Grand Prix.
Him, Marc Marquez and Danilo Petrucci all broke the old record to qualify in the Top 3.
The previous record had stood for ten years.

We had been expecting a thrilling 2018 Qatar Grand Prix Q2 final qualifying session, but we had no idea it was THIS exciting that we forgot to breathe! And this was only the first MotoGP round of the season.

It all came down to the last 2 minutes when Jorge Lorenzo went out onto the track. He had posted the fastest times through the first three sectors but somehow lost time to qualify 4^th fastest, up from 9^th. He had a troubled weekend and was seen stomping into the Ducati pit on many an occasion.

But the real action was behind him as Zarco, Marquez, Rins, Petrucci, Rossi ran in a tight group to gain some advantage by slipstreaming their rivals. Zarco managed to break away and posted 0.382 second faster than his previous best as he passed Sector 3. Meanwhile, Marquez, stuck behind Alex Rins and Danilo Petrucci who was some ways behind the group had also went some 0.300 second under their earlier times.

The TV commenters went rabid like the speakers at a political ceramah as Zarco crossed the line with a time of 1’53.680”, smashing the outright fastest qualifying lap of 1’53.927” held by Jorge Lorenzo since 2008 when he was on a Yamaha, during the time when Michelin supplied supersoft qualifying tyres that sacrificed their lives in two laps.

Marquez slingshot past Rins to end up second fastest, 0.202s behind at 1’59.882” while Petrucci recorded his fastest time of 1’59.887”, a mere 0.005s behind.

Yes, the Top 3 went under Lorenzo’s record.

Cal Cructhlow rode clear of traffic to finish fourth, 0.392s adrift of Zarco at 1’54.072”.

What about Andrea Dovizioso who had led the way into Q2? He had actually bested his FP2 time, recording 1’54.074” but the extremely hot pace set by the front four meant he will start from fifth.

It was a similar scenario for the impressive Alex Rins, who had been posting the third fastest times through most of the practice sessions up to FP4. He found himself blocked by slower traffic in the early part of the session and was then hounded by Marc Marquez in the closing moments, pushing him to ride defensively and ending Q2 in sixth.

Dani Pedrosa had a quiet weekend so far, qualifying seventh fastest.

Valentino Rossi had consistently posted the eighth and ninth fastest times and there’s where he finished, in eighth. It’s evident that Yamaha couldn’t solve the issue with lack of rear end grip on their factory bikes.

Lorenzo may have thought that he had fourth in the bag but was kicked all the way down back to ninth in the very next lap.

Jack Miller had been promoted to Q2 after posting the fastest time in Q1 but was visibly disappointed to end up in tenth with a time of 1’54.449”.

Andrea Ianone on the second Suzuki had traded fastest times with his teammate during the opening part of Q2 but was relegated all the way back to eleventh.

Rossi’s teammate and winner of the 2017 Qatar Grand Prix, Maverick Vinalez, had also complained incessantly about lack of rear grip, putting him in Q1, after FP2, prompting his team to shift his bike’s chassis balance to put more weight to the rear tyre. The adjustment saw immediate benefits as he was one of the quickest riders during the untimed FP4. He had initially gone fastest in Q1 but was upstaged by Miller at the end. Vinalez finished in a forlorn twelfth position with a time of 1’54.707”.

Zarco was emotional when interviewed after his record pole time. As if there’s no end to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 saga, rumours had started circulating that Honda is after him to replace Dani Pedrosa, who had been in the team since 2006. There were also other rumours that said he could be going to the KTM factory team. Zarco had been the strongest contender to Rossi’s factory Yamaha seat should the latter retires, but Rossi had just announced the renewal of his contract for another two years. Zarco had also crashed heavily in FP4 and was fortunate to walk away unharmed.

It is also good news for us Malaysians as Hafizh Syahrin impressed many to qualify 15th fastest in his very first MotoGP qualifying, one spot behind Franco Morbidelli as the second fastest rookie rider.

As the clock strikes 2am on this Sunday morning, all we could say is that the qualifying sessions were worth staying up for. If the qualifying had been so competitive, we hope it’ll carry on to the race tomorrow, and the whole season.

2018 MotoGP Round 1: Dovizioso Records Fastest Time in FP1 and FP2

Andrea “Desmo” Dovizioso was the fastest man in both FP1 and FP2.
Danilo “Petrux” Petrucci was second fastest after being 0.006 second behind Dovizioso.
Biggest surprise were the Suzukis in 3^rd and 5^th.
Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Cal Cruthlow and Valentino Rossi were 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 9^th separated by just 0.001 second from each other.
First to fourteenth spots were covered by less than 1 second.

The 2018 MotoGP season is underway with Round 1 at the Grand Prix of Qatar, held at the Losail International Circuit.

The Ducati Team must be elated with the Dovi’s performance as the Italian hadn’t posted many quick times in pre-season testing (although he was consistent with his lap times) except in Sepang, Malaysia. Dovi had been quickest in the earlier FP1 with 1’55.366” for an average speed of 167.8 km/h and hitting a top speed of 348.8 km/h, before improving to record 1’54.361” for an average speed of 169.3 km/h and top speed of 350.7 km/h.

Interviewed by Dorna, the soft-spoken Dovizioso said, “It’s really good, and we’ve confirmed the good feeling from the test, which I’m really happy about. The speed is there but we need to manage the tyre in the best way, it’s the key to manage it for 22 laps.”

Temperatures have been hotter than usual in Qatar, as the race had been moved forward to make way for the additional round in Buriram, Thailand later this year. The air was 31^o C, while the track was 39^o C during FP1, before cooling down to 25^o C and 27^o C respectively in FP2. Did Michelin bring tyres that are more suited to lower temperatures? Well see.

Dovizioso continued, “The tyre worked well, like in the test. I’m not too worried, but in every race, you have to work on the details as there are a lot of riders with good pace.”

Danilo Petrucci, riding for the Alma Pramac Racing team, had been a revelation in 2017, coming close to winning his first MotoGP a number of times before having to settle second in the closing stages. His performance had impressed the Ducati factory that he is riding the same GP18 bike as the factory riders Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo. “Petrux” as he’s popularly called finished 9^th in FP1 with a time of 1’56.265”, 0.079 second behind Dovizioso. He improved in FP2 to record 1’54.367”, a mere 0.006 second behind.

The time surprised even Petrux himself, “I didn’t think I could do a lap time like this, but we are here and happy.”

Even bigger surprise perhaps was Suzuki. Both riders had been showing impressive form throughout the off-season tests and it was again the returning Alex Rins who showed the way. It was the opposite in FP1 when Andrea Ianone went 4^th fastest with a time of 1’55.816”, 0.450 second off Dovizioso’s pace, while Rins was in 8^th with 1’59.557”, 0.631 second from the front.

Then Rins turned the tables on his teammate in FP2 by recording a blistering time of 1’54.458”, now just 0.097 second behind Dovi, and 0.373 second in front of the second factory Ducati of Jorge Lorenzo. That’s a massive 5 seconds improvement! Ianone still did well put himself in fifth, by also improving his fastest lap time to 1’54.841”.

Now that we know who are in the Top 5, where are the rest of the usual suspects?

The three top Hondas were locked together. Defending 2017 champion and Repsol Honda rider, Marc Marquez was third fastest in FP1 but found himself kicked down to sixth in FP2 despite having gone faster with a time of 1’54.850”.

His teammate Dani Pedrosa also suffered the same fate, recording the seventh fastest time. The “Little Samurai” went faster in FP2, finishing 0.001 second behind Marquez in 1’54.851”.

LCR Honda Castrol rider Cal Crutchlow was eighth after clocking his fastest time of 1’54.852” – again, 0.0001 second behind the man in front of him.

As with the Hondas, Yamahas were running together, too. Valentino Rossi of the factory Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team had been second quicket in FP1 but finished ninth in FP2; his fastest time was 1’52.853”.

0.059 second behind him was Johann Zarco on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike. The Frenchman still holds the fastest race lap record last year when he led the field, before crashing out.

Last year’s winner at Qatar, Maverick Vinalez seems to be struggling (purportedly due to tyres), going only eleventh quickest in both sessions. His improved time in FP2 was 1’55.195 – a massive 0.854 second off Dovi’s and 0.283 second behind Zarco’s.

To illustrate how competitive the times were in FP2, the fastest (Dovi) to fourteenth fastest (Jack “Jackass” Miller) were covered by less than 1 second.

Positions fifteenth to twenty-fourth consisted of the five MotoGP rookies, led by Takaagi Nakagami.

Our Malaysian hero, Hafizh Syahrin and new teammate to Johann Zarco rode steadily in FP1 to finish in an impressive fifteenth fastest with a time of 1’56.544” which was 1.178 seconds behind Dovi. That’s a truly commendable achievement (not because we’re being biased) as he had been consistently 2 seconds slower in the two tests first at Buriram and then at Qatar. He improved on his time slightly in FP2 to 1’56.454” and was relegated to twenty-second position. While detractors may say that wasn’t a significant improvement, Hafizh is being consistent with his times as he unlocks the secrets of his bike and equipment.

Without going into too much of the technical stuff, it could be said that FP1 was a fimiliarisation run by the riders and teams, as reflected by the lap times that were “everywhere.” The times are “combined” from FP1, FP2 and FP3; meaning the fastest lap from any one of those sessions will be used to determine the spots in final qualifying.

Thus, the riders and teams need be on their best game to qualify as the Top 10 to automatically make it into Q2, as the 11^th through to 24^th fastest need to run in Q1 much like a “last chance shootout” for final grid spots 13^th to 24^th. The fastest two riders in Q1 will be promoted to Q2 where the times will determine grids positions from Pole Position to 12^th. Needing to contest in Q1 means especially the eventual 11^th and 12^th fastest riders will burn through another set of tyres, hence there’s talk of Dorna allocating an extra set of tyres to those two riders. But it also means their bikes have to go through some extra “torture.”

The final timed Free Practice 3 (FP3) will begin at 7.35pm, while Qualifying 1 (Q1) starts at 12.20am (midnight Sunday), followed by Q2 at 12:45am. All quoted times are Malaysian times.

So, prepare your dinner and supper early. It’s time for the 2018 MotoGP season.

Bikesrepublic