Lorenzo strikes first blow in 2012

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) claimed his first premier class victory at the Losail circuit in Qatar on April 8 to open the 2012 MotoGP season in the best possible manner, after battling reigning world champion Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa for the duration of the 22-lap race.

Starting from pole for the first time since the US Grand Prix last July, Lorenzo held the lead until the third lap before Stoner (Repsol Honda) assumed first position with a pass on the start/finish straight. Lorenzo then followed Stoner for the majority of the race before passing his rival with three laps to go, and he eventually crossed the line 0.852 seconds ahead of Pedrosa, who also slipped past the Aussie in the late stages.

“What an amazing race! I put everything I have, all my energy into the track, this victory is because I never gave up, kept pushing and trying," said Lorenzo. "Casey was very strong at the beginning and opened a gap. Fortunately for us he struggled at the end and dropped his pace where I could keep mine so I managed to pass him. I am very grateful to Yamaha because they have made a big step this winter on the YZR-M1.”

After a difficult weekend which had seen Pedrosa qualify in seventh the Spaniard shot from row three of the grid into third position on the opening lap, and on lap 20 passed Stoner with a superb move on the brakes going into turn one. Stoner, who had won in Qatar for four of the past five seasons, took his 16th successive podium finish as he got his title defence underway.

"It wasn't really the way we wanted to finish the race weekend here, after FP3 and qualifying it was always going to be a tough race for us but in the end it came in the wrong areas," said Stoner. "The bike was working well for us; I definitely had the package and the pace to lead the field which was really positive.

"However, I suffered from really bad arm pump. After three or four laps I felt it but it gradually got worse, I tried to pull a little gap from Jorge and Dani and put in the minimal effort possible to retain the gap and try and win, but as the race continued it got worse and worse and eventually the muscles had nothing more to give.

"I couldn't hold onto the handle bars properly and it made things really difficult so it was a disappointing race for this reason, but for many other technical reasons it was very promising."

With the leading trio involved in an eye-catching contest for the podium positions at the front, an excellent duel between Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammates Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso played out in their wake. The Italian, in his first race on the M1, was in front with his British teammate all over his exhaust until lap 17, when Crutchlow got past Dovizioso and held out for fourth to equal his best-ever MotoGP result.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was the highest placing Desmosedici, beating Álvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini) to sixth by just 0.033 seconds on the Spaniard's debut with the team, and 2011 Moto2 world champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) capped an impressive debut MotoGP ride with eighth place.

Héctor Barberá (Pramac Racing Ducati) had been in the hunt for sixth but ran off when he pushed too hard in the closing stages and the Spaniard finished ninth, and the final spot in the top 10 went to Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team), who had appeared to be struggling with his Desmosedici GP12 in the early stages of the race.

Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies ended the race in 11th, while the honour of the highest placing CRT machine went to Colin Edwards (NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team). The American held off the challenge of Randy de Puniet (Power Electronics Aspar) to place his BMW-Suter 12th, with Yonny Hernández (Avintia Racing MotoGP) and Aleix Espargaró (Power Electronics Aspar) taking the last points on offer.

Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing), Danilo Petrucci (Came Iodaracing Project) and Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini) all suffered the disappointment of not finishing the race.

In Moto2, Queenslander Anthony West was 25th after a late call up to replace countryman Damian Cudlin in the QMMF Moriwaki team, and in the start of the four-stroke Moto3 era South Aussie Arthur Sissis was an impressive seventh on the factory KTM, and even threatened for a third place finish before a few mistakes set him back. Sissis’ fellow Aussie Jack Miller (Honda) was 25th.

The world championship returns to action at Jerez in Spain from April 27-29.