Maverick Vinales draws first blood in MotoGP opener at Losail

Monster Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales is the first winner for the 2021 MotoGP World Championship, crossing the line over one second clear of Ducati duo Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) and pole man Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) at the Losail International Circuit at Qatar.

Reigning world champion Joan Mir (Ecstar Suzuki) looked poised for second after picking his way through from 10th on the grid to exit the final corner ahead of the two Ducatis, but his only mistake of the race proved very costly when both Ducati men pipped him on the run to the finish line.

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Despite Vinales’ hard work over winter to improve his race starts, Ducati’s new holeshot device was untouchable with four Ducatis steaming into the first corner; rookie Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) from as far back as 14th on grid found himself in third place in the early stages of the 22-lap race.

The factory Yamaha men of Fabio Quartararo and Vinales worked together during the first half of the race to get themselves in contention at a circuit which favours the horsepower of the Ducatis, slotting themselves into third and fourth respectively, until Vinales felt he had the superior pace and passed his teammate under brakes at the start of lap 11.

From there on, it was an utterly different Vinales than we came accustomed to during the 2020 season, as he reeled off fast lap after fast lap to eventually take the lead from Bagania with eight laps left to run which he held with peerless precision all the way to the finish line.

Jack Miller’s stunning pre-season wasn’t reflected in his eventual results despite his strong start. The Aussie struggled with rear grip and dropped down the order, eventually finishing in ninth position, seven seconds behind Vinales.

Quartararo held off a late charge by Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins to hold on to fifth place, while Aleix Espargaro finished one place shy of his best-ever MotoGP result in seventh on the new Aprilia RS-GP. He held off brother Pol by six-hundredths of a second in what was the younger brothers’ debut ride for Repsol Honda.

Enea Bastianini (Avintia Ducati) was the top rookie in 10th place, finishing just over two seconds behind Miller and on one of the oldest bikes on the grid, ahead of Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda) in 11th.

It was a humbling day for the Petronas Yamaha squad of Valentino Rossi and 2020 runner-up Franco Morbidelli. Despite the pair starting the race from fourth and seventh respectively, Rossi picked up four points in his team debut with a 12th-place finish, while Morbidelli finished 18th, second last, and nearly 24 seconds off Vinales.

Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) was the top KTM man in 13th, one place ahead of teammate Brad Binder and four places ahead of Tech3 rider Iker Lecuona. Martin eventually finished in the points in 15th ahead fellow rookie Luca Marini (Sky Racing VR46 Avintia Ducati).

Lorenzo Savadori’s race debut with the Aprilia squad saw him finish 19th and last, while Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM), Taka Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) failed to see the finish line. Eight-time world champ Marc Marquez is still sidelined with injury and is expected to make his race return at the third round.

Aussie Remy Gardner got his 2021 Moto2 World Championship campaign off to a solid start, ending his first race with the Red Bull KTM squad in second place behind pole man Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing) who led from lap three.

From the second row of the grid, Gardner slipped to seventh in the early stages, but put his head down to pick his way through the field to eventually finish three seconds clear of Fabio DiGiannantonio, who held of Marco Bezzechi (Sky Racing VR46) to give the Federal Oil Gresini racing squad an emotional podium finish.

Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM) was fifth, ahead of How Roberts (Italtrans racing) and Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta), while Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact), Bo Bendsnyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG) and Jorge Navarro rounded out the top 10.

It was a Red Bull KTM 1-2 in the opening race of the 2021 Moto3 World Championship with season favourite Jaume Masia leading home rookie Pedro Acosta in a race where the top three were covered by less than one tenth of a second.

Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta) got the hole shot from pole position and kept the pressure on all race long eventually rounding out the podium in third, just 0.094s off Masia’s race time. Half a second further back was Sergio Garcia (GasGas Gaviota Aspar), ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesia Gresini Racing) and Nicco Antonelli (Reale Avintia Moto3).

The series stays at the Losail Circuit for Round 2 which kicks off on Friday.