QUARTARARO STORMS THROUGH TO WIN IN QATAR

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo has charged his way through the field to win the second round of MotoGP in Qatar.

Recovering from a poor start, that saw the Frenchman drop down to ninth, he made way back up the order to battle for the lead of the race with just 5 laps left to run.

Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin took full advantage of his pole position to launch comfortably into the lead of the race at the start.

The rookie initially held off challenges from both his teammate Johann Zarco and Suzuki’s Alex Rins during the early stages. Using the Ducati’s straight-line speed advantage and some extremely late braking to maintain his position at the front of the field.

Rins made a quick start from eighth on the grid to challenge both the Pramac Ducatis, but the Spaniard would drop out of podium contention midway through the race, falling back to battle with Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha) over fourth.

Down the order, Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Jack Miller (Ducati) made headlines when they came to blows while arguing over fifth place with 10 laps left to go.

The Australian had made a poor start relative to the other Ducati riders, leaving him to work his way back up the order.

Mir also pushing his way up the order pulled an ambitious block pass on Miller at Turn 10, making contact but the pair were able to stay upright.

Miller returned serve on the run out of the final corner, neither rider giving an inch during the fierce battle, with the contact later deemed a racing incident.

Out in front, Quartararo took the lead from Martin for the first time with five laps left to run. The two duelling until the Yamaha rider could make the move stick with three laps from the flag to take the win.

Martin would then fall victim to Zarco, his teammate, with second place coming down to a Ducati drag race the chequered flag. The rookie’s solid race rewarded with his first MotoGP premier class career podium in third place.

Rins held on to fourth ahead of Vinales, while Francesco Bagnaia was the best of the factory Ducati’s in 6th. Mir, Brad Binder (KTM), Miller and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) rounded out the top ten.

The race ended with the closest top 15 in MotoGP history, with the lead riders covered by just 8.9 seconds.

Courtesy of his two second-place results in Qatar, Johann Zarco holds the MotoGP championship lead ahead of the return to Europe.

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