Marquez overcomes Rossi

World champion Marc Marquez – back in action after a six-week break with a broken leg --- started his MotoGP title defence with a gritty victory in Qatar, the 21-year-old defeating Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) and his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa. Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha) crashed out of the race lead on lap one after he had struggled with grip issues throughout the weekend.

Marquez’s victory came a few hours after Aussie Jack Miller won his first ever Moto3 race for his new KTM team (here).

After Lorenzo fell, German Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) led the contest for several circuits, but he too slid off track – as would fellow fast guns Alvaro Bautista (GO&Fun Honda Gresini) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) during the 22-lapper.

Marquez and Rossi went onto have a great fight which went down to the last lap and saw the Spaniard outpace the Italian by 0.25 seconds – with Pedrosa three seconds back to complete the podium.

“I'm very happy with the result today,” Marquez said.

“The 25 points are important but it’s also been an important race, because I was coming back from an injury that caused me to miss most of the pre-season. Also, this weekend there were a lot of riders up at the front, all with a great pace, and seeing how the race went, this win is a big one.

“The battle with Valentino was the best part of the race besides the win, I really enjoyed it!”

Rossi said: “It was a great battle, but I enjoyed it a little bit less than him (Marquez) because I finished behind

“It was great and my race was fun, starting from the fourth row was very risky but I did all the right overtakes and it was great when I got to the front. I was very happy and the bike was good. I had the potential to fight with Marc, but he was stronger than me.”it!”

An excellent ride for Aleix Espargaro saw him take fourth on his debut for NGM Forward Racing on their ‘Open’ Yamaha. Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow did well in fifth and sixth respectively for Ducati Team, though Crutchlow finished 16 seconds behind his teammate after almost running out of fuel on his debut for the Italian factory.

A good first premier class race for Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) saw him beat fellow ‘Open’ Honda equipped rider Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) to seventh by a 0.035-second margin. The top 10 was rounded out by Hayden’s compatriot Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing), riding his first race as a 40-year-old, and Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) who recovered well from a fall on the last corner of lap two.

A mistake from rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) with five laps to go saw him drop down to 15th and then pull into pits shortly after.

Australia’s Broc Parkes, making his MotoGP debut with Paul Bird Motorsport, was 15th, scoring himself one championship point in the process.

In Moto2, Esteve Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team) produced an excellent ride to overcome Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) on the last corner, with Rabat’s teammate Mika Kallio third.

Australia’s Anthon West (QMMF Speed Up) was 10th, picking his way through the pack from 26th on the grid.

For full results and standings from Qatar, visit www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics.

Next event: Circuit of the Americas, Austin, April 11-13.