MotoGP 2018: Dovizioso outsmarts Marquez to take first win in Qatar

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso beats Repsol Honda's Marq Marquez in a last-lap-last-corner thriller at the season opener in Qatar. 

It may sound like a broken record now, but we’re again going to say that MotoGP never disappoints! And if you were able to watch the first race of the 2018 season, which just got over at Qatar, it’s very likely that you will echo our opinion on that. The season opener was everything that we expected it to be – a total nail-biter that is. The race was closely fought at the front and there were too many contenders. However, in the end, it was Andrea Dovizioso who came out on top as he yet again beat reigning world champion Marc Marquez in a last-lap-last-corner battle. Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi finished in third, which was rather impressive as well.

Qatar has always been a great spectacle, but the differing track conditions at the circuit have always resulted in strange outcomes. Yesterday it was Johann Zarco who put a flier to claim pole position, but his race pace didn’t look as impressive as other top riders. So once the lights went out, everyone was expecting Zarco to drop back quickly. That didn’t happen though. The Tech 3 Yamaha rider led the race for half the race distance and was unruffled by the incoming challenges from the riders behind – Marquez, Rossi, Dovizioso, Crutchlow, Petrucci and Pedrosa. Even Suzuki’s Alex Rins was in the mix before crashing out unceremoniously. At one point it looked like Zarco had it in the bag...

However, in the second half of the race, it all changed. Dovizioso smoothly picked up all the riders in front to lead the race. Marquez being Marquez wasn’t going to let Dovizioso walk with that and so he upped his game and followed suit. Rossi tried to hang on with the leading duo, but couldn’t quite do that. What happened after this was somewhat of a repeat of usual Marquez and Dovizioso battles from 2017. And just like in Austria and Japan last year, Marquez dived in front of Dovizioso in the very last corner of the final lap and was beaten on the drive out to the finish line by Ducati’s sheer horsepower. The gap between the two riders was 0.027s at the finish line!

Rossi wasn’t too far behind and was only 0.8s behind the race winner. Cal Crutchlow of LCR Honda managed to take the best of the rest in fourth ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci. Maverick Vinales of Movistar Yamaha rode a superb race to finish sixth – the factory Yamaha rider was running a similar pace as the race leaders in the closing laps and if it weren’t for his dismal qualifying (12^th), it was very likely that he could’ve fought for the top spot at Qatar.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa finished in seventh as pole-sitter Zarco struggled in the last few laps – the Frenchman came eight. Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone and Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller completed the top ten.

The next round of the MotoGP will be held in Argentina in three weeks’ time. Given how closely the top contenders were matched in Qatar, we’re sure the next race won’t be disappointing either…