MotoGP 2015, Qatar: Valentino Rossi fights off Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso for 83rd win of career

VALENTINO Rossi has fought off the stunning speed of the new Ducatis to win the opening race of the MotoGP season in Qatar.

Vintage Rossi wins Qatar MotoGP thriller

VALENTINO Rossi has fought off the stunning speed of the new Ducatis to win the opening race of the MotoGP season in Qatar, in one of the greatest rides of his now 20-year career.

From tenth place on the opening lap, the 36-year-old steadily moved forward until he was on the tail of the leading trio, comprised of Ducati teammates Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, and Rossi’s own Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

The latter had made the bulk of the running in the early laps, though Dovizioso would regularly exploit his bike’s top speed advantage, in the order of 20 km/h over the Yamaha, to surge to the front.

SHOCK: PEDROSA SET TO STEP DOWN ‘INDEFINITELY’

Rossi waited patiently at the tail of the trio, first picking off Iannone at mid-race distance, before following Dovizioso through on Lorenzo to move up into second place with four laps to go.

Dovizioso and Lorenzo traded the lead as Rossi closed in.

The race was between the Italian pair from that moment on, with neither Lorenzo nor Iannone able to hang onto the leaders as they charged into the final laps.

Lorenzo later admitted that he spent the second half of the race struggling to see, after one of the foam inserts in his helmet slipped down below his visor and obscured his vision.

Rossi snuck past the Ducati on a couple of occasions, only for Dovizioso to fight back. The Yamaha was no match for the Ducati in a straight line, with Rossi finding that Dovizioso was able to pass him by the finish line on the long drag out of the final corner.

Using every bit of experience and guile earnt throughout his legendary career, Rossi put his head down and built up a gap throughout the final lap, ensuring Dovizioso was unable to bridge the margin.

At the flag, Rossi took the 83rd MotoGP win of his career by a scant 0.174 of a second from Dovizioso, with Iannone beating Lorenzo on the line for third place.

“This was one of the best victories for me,” Rossi said, grinning like a teenager.

“The bike was fantastic, I never gave up but it was a real fight with the Ducatis and the Hondas who were really strong.

“I’m so happy for me, for the team and for Yamaha. The second part of the race was really good and I’m very happy because we had difficulties in testing and practice but my experience helped today.

“This is a great, great victory but I had a good feeling this morning.”

But among all the action at the front, there was one name missing.

Where was Marc Marquez?

Marquez was in sixth by mid-race distance.

The reigning world champion made an average start from the front row of the grid, then ran off the track at the first corner to be stone, motherless last.

From there Marquez launched into a sublime charge, making up seven places on the first lap before carving his way through to fifth place, but once there he was barely to make a dent in the deficit to the top four.

His Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was next, with Cal Crutchlow, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro next, and Yonny Hernandez rounding out the top 10 after holding down an impressive seventh place for much of the race aboard Pramac’s year-old satellite Ducati.

Aleix Espargaro brought home 11th place in his first race aboard a Suzuki ahead of Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding, while Espargaro’s Suzuki teammate Maverick Vinales scored points in his MotoGP debut with 14th.

Hector Barbera was the final points scorer in 15th, the Avintia Ducati rider also the first of the Open class machines home.

Jack Miller made an explosive start to his MotoGP career — literally.

The Australian Moto3 graduate made 10 places on the start to be in 12th place at the end of the opening laps, nipping at the heels of his teammate Crutchlow and eventual winner Rossi. However, a couple of mistakes on the following laps saw him slip down to 23rd.

A fighting ride brought him past Eugene Laverty and onto the tail of fellow Honda runner Karel Abraham as the chequered flag loomed, but the pair crashed while battling for 18th on the final lap.

Rossi topped the first all-Italian MotoGP podium since 2006.

Rossi leaves Doha with the MotoGP points standings for the first time since the same race in 2010, as the world championship heads to the second round at the Circuit of The Americas on March 29.

RESULTS — MotoGP Round 1, Grand Prix of Qatar, Doha (22 laps)
1. (46) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 42m35.717s
2. (4) Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) +0.174s
3. (29) Andrea Iannone (Ducati) +2.250s
4. (99) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +2.707s
5. (93) Marc Marquez (Honda) +7.036s
6. (26) Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +10.755s
7. (35) Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +12.384s
8. (38) Bradley Smith (Yamaha) +12.914s
9. (44) Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) +13.031s
10. (68) Yonny Hernandez (Ducati) +17.435s
11. (41) Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) +19.901s
12. (9) Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) +24.432s
13. (45) Scott Redding (Honda) +32.032s
14. (25) Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) +33.463s
15. (8) Hector Barbera (Ducati) +33.625s
16. (6) Stefan Bradl (Forward Yamaha) +33.944s
17. (69) Nicky Hayden (Honda) +38.970s
18. (50) Eugene Laverty (Honda) +46.570s
19. (63) Mike Di Meglio (Ducati) +59.211s
20. (15) Alex de Angelis (ART) +1m14.981s
21. (33) Marco Melandri (Aprilia) +1m48.143s
22. (76) Loris Baz (Forward Yamaha) 3 laps
DNF (17) Karel Abraham (Honda) 21 laps, crash
DNF (43) Jack Miller (Honda) 21 laps, crash
DNF (19) Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) 0 laps, mechanical

Originally published as MotoGP 2015, Qatar: Valentino Rossi fights off Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso for 83rd win of career