Enea Bastianini bettered his second position grid start with victory in the Qatar Grand Prix as Gresini Racing celebrated an emotional MotoGP debut.
Suzuki secured sixth and seventh as Zarco outpaced Quartararo by 0.007s for the top eight, Nakagami taking tenth from Morbidelli, Viñales and Luca Marini with Dovizioso and Gardner collecting the final points positions. A twitch from Bastianini with five laps left to play proved how hard the Italian was pushing, 0.088s away from the leader and determination etched on his face. Drama ensued at the start of the next lap as Bagnaia wiped out Martin at turn one and Ducati’s night continued to implode. The elder brother began to reel in the front runners as he too upped the anti, shaving tenths off Marquez with 12 laps to go as Oliveira’s race ended early at turn one. Espargaro ensured it was a Repsol lockout out front with Binder storming through to third, from seventh, at the opening corner. Repsol Honda’s radical revolution continued to prove its mettle in qualifying as Espargaro joined his teammate for fourth with elder brother Aleix and Ducati’s Jack Miller completing row two.
Jack Miller says his Ducati got “lost” in the Qatar Grand Prix after he retired from the first race of the MotoGP season with an electronics problem.
We know the issue, we know what happened. “I had to go to fourth gear pretty much directly out of the last corner. “The bike was quite lost, let’s say. “Of course, my throttle is open, but I’m not expecting that. It had come to light that the factory team had reverted to a specification which was a ‘hybrid’ of the 2021 and 2022 versions, due to the harshness of the latter’s power delivery. Tried my best, but nothing.
After being the best rider of the official Ducati Lenovo Team on Saturday, Jack Miller had a rather unlucky day today on the Losail International Circuit.
"I realized there was something missing in the electronics. I kept slipping to the back. There was nothing the Australian rider could do.
MotoGP was at its unpredictable best in its first weekend back for 2022, with Enea Bastianini opening the season with an emotional maiden victory with the ...
The race was blighted by a well-understood tyre pressure problem that’s a side-effect of the Yamaha being stuck in traffic. “But overall I think we, Honda and myself, sent a message tonight that not just Marc Marquez is able to win with Honda. “Our bike is working incredibly well, and more than anything I’m very confident with the front end. Pipped for automatic Q2 qualification on Saturday was a sign of the times. The race was no better, the pair finishing ninth and 11th after retirements from further up the field. “We are not on the same level as our opponents. At the end of a particularly tough 2020 Fausto moved to return the team to independence from this season, but he tragically died before he could realise the transition. “It’s difficult for me to speak,” he said after the race. Jack Miller retired with an engine map problem that manifested itself almost immediately, leaving him dangerously underpowered on the straights and bitterly disappointed on what had been shaping up as a strong season opener. A strong weekend in Indonesia will do much to calm nerves. But it was a powerful result for Bastianini too. He first entered bikes into the premier class in 1997, since when he’s collected 14 wins and 42 podiums.
It was a dream start to 2022 for Gresini Racing as Bastianini claims an emotional win; KTM & Honda on podium.
4 weeks ago 4 weeks ago 4 weeks ago 4 weeks ago 4 weeks ago 4 weeks ago 4 weeks ago Brad Binder’s second is something no one was expecting during pre-season testing but the South African, as he so often does, pulls a rabbit out the hat when it matters most. Bastianini lost a tenth to Binder on the penultimate lap, the gap was 1.1s. It was down to 0.6s heading into the final sector, but Bastianini held on. Four laps in and it was as you were. The moment we’d all been waiting for burst into life as polesitter Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) got a poor start, as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) grabbed the holeshot from the outside of the front row. Just over a year on from the tragic passing of much-adored Fausto Gresini, Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) delivered a Grand Prix of Qatar masterclass to claim an emotional victory under the lights.
Gresini's Enea Bastianini says his emotional maiden victory in MotoGP in Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix was “unexpected”.
The best choice for me was the medium rear because this morning I tried in the warm-up and I saw a good potential. “To do a victory was so unexpected, but I saw in [team boss] Nadia [Padovani’s] eyes the motivation of Fausto [Gresini] to advance with this team. “I’m very excited today,” the Italian said.
Enea Bastianini has secured an emotional maiden MotoGP victory with the Gresini Ducati team in a dramatic 2022 opener in Qatar. Here's the full race ...
Aleix Espargaro Brad Binder Pol Espargaro Alex Rins Marc Marquez Francesco Bagnaia Johann Zarco Joan Mir Jorge Martin Miguel Oliveira Franco Morbidelli Fabio Quartararo Takaaki Nakagami Alex Marquez Maverick Viñales Andrea Dovizioso Marco Bezzecchi Luca Marini Jack Miller Darryn Binder Raúl Fernández Remy Gardner Fabio Di Giannantonio Brad Binder Pol Espargaro Aleix Espargaro Marc Marquez Joan Mir Alex Rins Johann Zarco Fabio Quartararo Takaaki Nakagami Franco Morbidelli Maverick Viñales Luca Marini Andrea Dovizioso Remy Gardner Darryn Binder Fabio Di Giannantonio Raúl Fernández Jorge Martin Francesco Bagnaia Miguel Oliveira Alex Marquez Marco Bezzecchi Jack Miller Takaaki Nakagami completed the top 10 on the LCR Honda ahead of Franco Morbidelli on the factory Yamaha, with Maverick Vinales recovering from 19th to 12th for Aprilia ahead of VR46’s Luca Marini, RNF Racing’s Andrea Dovizioso and Tech3 KTM rookie Remy Gardner who rounded out the points places.
Nine-time MotoGP race winner Maverick Vinales admits he “honestly expected to be at the front” in Qatar Grand Prix qualifying and not 19th.
“It’s not often with a competitive bike you feel you were very close to the limit of the bike. “I’m happy, I’m confident in myself,” he said. “We need to try, and in a race weekend you cannot try every run, you only have 40 minutes. With used tyres it becomes much better, but with new tyres I have a lot of problems. “Honestly I didn’t expect it,” he said. “But it is what we have right now, so we cannot do nothing.
Vinales won the Qatar GP in 2021 when he rode for Yamaha and is twice a winner at the event. After a strong pre-season on the 2022 Aprilia, Vinales has been ...
“It’s not often with a competitive bike you feel you were very close to the limit of the bike. “I’m happy, I’m confident in myself,” he said. “We need to try, and in a race weekend you cannot try every run, you only have 40 minutes. With used tyres it becomes much better, but with new tyres I have a lot of problems. “Honestly I didn’t expect it,” he said. “But it is what we have right now, so we cannot do nothing.