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MotoGP round 1 Losail 03/26/2017 *SPOILERS*

993 views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  DarR 
#1 ·
Grand Prix of Qatar
Losail International Circuit
Qatar


Circuit Record:
1'54.927
Jorge LORENZO (SPA)
2016



I feel weird making this thread but in case anyone is still around here I thought I'd do it.

All of Saturday was cancelled, including QP, due to the highly unusual downpour in the middle of the damn desert they got throughout the day. Apparently the race track has no drainage whatsoever causing runoff areas to turn into mini pools.

The starting grid is as follows (based on times from FP1-FP3):

1. Maverick Vinales ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1)
2. Andrea Iannone ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
3. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V)
4. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)*
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17)
6. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP16)
7. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V)
8. Jonas Folger GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)*
9. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V)
10. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1)
11. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP17)
12. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17)
13. Alvaro Bautista ESP Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP16)
14. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15)
15. Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)
16. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)
17. Karel Abraham CZE Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP15)
18. Alex Rins ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)*
19. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)
20. Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP16)
21. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)*
22. Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16)
23. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16)
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Also, after Gavin Emmet left MotoGP/Dorna to join BT Sport a couple of years ago, it appears people's favorite old-time announcer, Nick Harris, is no longer commentating either (he hasn't left cos he's still leading the press conferences). Watching the WUPs, I feel kind sad listening to those new guys - it's like watching some stupid cable broadcast. God damn it MotoGP!

:edit

Apparently Nick Harris is only announcing MotoGP now. My bad!
 
#6 · (Edited)
I expected him to be a lot closer to the front.

Rossi was struggling the whole weekend and I expected him to do a lot worse considering how lost he was lapping 0.6-0.7s after Venales so it was a pleasant surprise to see Rossi on the podium even though Iannone is the one who made it possible.

As for Iannone - as usual, guy has great pace, he fights well, has a lot of potential .. and then he crashes. I swear that's the story of half of his races. Well, him and his British brother from another mother - Cal.

Venales showed an outstanding level of maturity IMO. His passes were clean, he knew how to handle Dovi's space ship, he knew when to push, he knew how to handle his tires and the tricky track conditions. And he's a rookie. I know it's just one race and things may change but so far so good nonetheless.

Similarly to Rossi, MM never managed to setup the bike to his liking even though he was a lot more competitive than Rossi. Finishing that far from the podium (as in I expected him to fight with Dovi and Venales) was definitely a surprise.

All in all I thought this was a great race. I think we are in for an exciting season!
 
#7 ·
Oh and for the record, at the end of last year I really thought this season could be Rossi's 10th CS but after watching the pre-season testing and then seeing Venales converting his fast laps to consistent race distance performance with that level of maturity really makes it seem almost impossibly hard now.
 
#8 ·
The season is still young. Rossi showed that, as always he is a scrapper and to discount him is to put yourself in peril. Vinales isn't truly a rookie, he did have his time at factory Suzuki and even won a GP race there. Nonetheless, his victory is impressive for his first combat outing on the Yammi. He will be a force to be reckoned with.
 
#9 ·
What the hell did Tech3 find in that bike? If Zarco hadn't crashed, I'm not sure anyone could have touched him.

Great to see Aprilia in 6th.

Was mildly surprised at Rossi's improvement. Still, how many times have we seen him struggle with setup all weekend only to pull it out of his ass when the lights go out?
 
#11 · (Edited)
You have to feel a bit for Zarco. It was a valiant effort but the lack of experience trying to push those soft tires beyond their useful traction life will have to be chalked--up to "I'll know better next time". Something he can learn from Dovizioso as his smooth throttle and braking skills demonstrated how to conserve tire life.

About Aprilia:
There's a happy team. Aleix Espargaro staged a stunning comeback from a poor starting position, fighting up through the field to take 6th.

About Rossi: Amazing! Never discount the old man.
 
#10 ·
^^ Yeah at this point that's Rossi's thing - I don't think anybody expects him to qualify well (generally speaking - not talking about this clusterfuck of a Saturday) but as Max said he's almost always there in the fight running a better pace than what he showed in FPs. And true about Zarco - I think he was running a softer option rear tho so maybe toward the end the others could have caught up with him. It' a pity he crashed for sure.
 
#13 ·
It's not just this race - look at what happened in preseason testing. The guy was on top of the timesheets every single test. And he only just arrived at Yamaha. This race was the logical continuation of what he started back in Valencia 2016. Let's see how long he manages to keep that momentum going. I think the next race I really wanna see is Austin :)
 
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