Quartararo stakes his claim for Yamaha
MOTOGP LOSAIL (QAT) 4 APRIL ROUND 2/19
After being confined to the Doha desert for the best part of a month, much of the Motogp paddock is sick of the sight of the Losail International Circuit. The small contingent of the pitlane who’d probably be quite happy to stick around a little longer will be Yamaha, which completed a Qatar double in the Doha Grand Prix.
Maverick Vinales’s Qatar GP win of the previous weekend proved that the Vinales of old is very much alive and well, and in doing so he put pressure on new team-mate Fabio Quartararo, who was fifth after riding “like a rookie” during the season opener. But in the Doha GP, the hotshot youngster who’d been deemed worthy of ousting nine-time grand prix world champion Valentino Rossi from his factory Yamaha seat, despite his 2020 title charge coming to a wretched end over the final rounds, arrived back from the wilderness.
The first 17 tours of the 22-lap Doha GP belonged to Pramac Ducati rookie Jorge Martin, who had seized a sensational maiden Motogp pole position on Saturday. Quartararo and Vinales were once again swallowed up by the fast-starting Ducatis around them, while the KTMS of Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder shot up from
12th and 18th to move the Yamaha pair back to the outer reaches of the top 10.
Quartararo faded to as low as ninth in the early stages, but was not cast adrift. The pace being set by Martin wasn’t slow, but the abundance of track time the field had enjoyed in Qatar over the past month meant the top 10 remained bunched. Once both Yamahas had settled into the searing rhythm that had sketched them out as race threats in FP4, they began their charge forward.
Quartararo proved to be the quicker of the pair, working his way into the podium places on lap 17 after Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia ran wide at Turn 1. Quartararo then mugged fellow Frenchman Johann Zarco’s Pramac Ducati at Turn 10 a lap later, before scything past Martin at Turn 15.
The power of the Ducati proved too much for Quartararo to defend against as the lead group thundered across the line to start lap 19. Then his decisive move came at Turn 4, from which point he began a march that allowed him to stretch his lead to 1.457 seconds come the chequered flag to win as the top 15 riders were covered by just 8.9s!
A mistake late on denied Vinales the opportunity to double Yamaha’s delight, but fifth after what he dubbed a ‘bad race’ puts him level on points with his teammate, and sets up up an intriguing dynamic heading to the next round in Portugal.
Zarco got the better of rookie team-mate Martin on the last lap to seal second and take a four-point lead in the championship, as well as completing the first ever 1-2 for French riders in premier-class Motogp competition. The Pramac pair’s form is asking some serious questions about Ducati’s factory team line-up. Bagnaia faded to sixth due to his “unacceptable” errors, while Jack Miller was once again ninth after escaping punishment for a near-200km/h collision with world champion Joan Mir on the pit straight on lap 13. Mir is under no illusions that this was an “intentional” clash – the Suzuki rider had touched
Miller earlier at Turn 10 with an on-the-limit move for which he immediately
apologised. Miller was also hit with arm-pump in the closing stages.
Mir’s dramas meant seventh was all he could manage, with Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins fourth after losing touch with the podium fight late on following a strong start.
All KTM riders were forced into running the medium front tyre. Binder secured eighth, despite being “scared” of using a tyre he crashed on three times in the test. A dashboard blackout for Oliveira dropped him to 15th by the flag.
Pol Espargaro was a podium threat, although “two big mistakes” late on dropped him to 13th. The Honda rider is convinced he has the form to fight for the 2021 title, but is unhappy with his “disgusting” Qatar race results.
We can only imagine what Petronas SRT Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi truly thinks of his non-score in 16th following his career-worst 21st in qualifying. After his factory replacement romped to victory on the same bike, how long can he continue to justify elongating his racing career?