MotoGP, Qatar J3, Álex Rins in the final four

It was from the start of the official tests in Doha that Alex Rins stood out by achieving the third absolute time of the three days behind the two Yamahas of Maverick Vinales and the surprising rookie Fabio Quartararo. Rins preceded in order Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.

Friday was less favorable with eighth place for Rins, 0.940 behind the leader Marc Márquez. A double fall on Saturday of course did not help the situation, but Alex Rins nonetheless qualified in tenth position, 0.7 behind Maverick Vinales in pole position.

During the warm-up, which took place at 15:40 p.m. (local time), the air temperature was 25° and that of 33°. Rins showed good form by setting the third time in 1'54.943, 0.136 behind the leader Danilo Petrucci and 0.057 from second Marc Márquez (Honda).

At the start of the race, Álex Rins quickly found himself in fifth position after the second lap, behind Dovizioso, Márquez, Crutchlow and his teammate Joan Mir. A peloton of five men broke away 18 laps from the checkered flag with Dovizioso, Rins, Márquez, Mir and Crutchlow. Then Alex Rins took first position ahead of Dovizioso, Márquez, Mir and Crutchlow.

At 16 laps from the checkered flag, Dovizioso preceded Rins, Márquez and Mir, by far the best of the rookies. Rins then clearly took command, ahead of Dovizioso, Marquez, Mir, Petrucci and Crutchlow.

Rins and Dovizioso exchanged first position ahead of Márquez, Petrucci Crutchlow and Mir. At halfway, Dovizioso was ahead of Márquez, Petrucci, Rins, Crutchlow and Mir.

With 10 laps remaining, the fight for victory seemed to be between Dovizioso, Márquez, Rins, Petrucci, Crutchlow, Mir, Viñales and Rossi.

With 4 laps to go, Dovizioso, Márquez, Rins, Crutchlow, Petrucci and Rossi were fighting for first position.

At the very end of the race, Marquez took command ahead of Dovizioso, Crutchlow, Rins and Rossi. Dovi narrowly got back in front, with Rins third ahead of Crutchlow.

Dovizioso won magnificently in the sprint ahead of Marquez, followed by Crutchlow, Rins and Rossi. The two Suzuki GSX-RRs made a good group shot with Rins fourth and Mir (first rookie) eighth.

For Alex, “ I am so happy with the race. We showed good pace in FP4 and I was able to maintain this speed in the race. I learned a lot from the best drivers and that is one of the most important and interesting things about this race for me.

“It was a shame that my tire wore out a bit at the end and I was unable to push more, but I still hope to continue in this way: improving race after race and trying to stay at the forefront ».

According to Ken Kawauchi, Technical Director, “ It was a good race and I'm happy to see Alex continue to do so well and constantly improve. We still have room to improve the bike, but we finished this first race with good results.

“Joan made her MotoGP debut in the front group and it was very good. We therefore hope to continue with the two riders at the front in the next races ».

Grand Prix results:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

Illustrations © Dorna TV and  Suzuki Racing