MotoGP Round 4 Qatar GP: Marc takes his third win of the season. Two Japanese riders take the podium in Moto3

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KTM’s Vinales loses second place after penalty

The Qatar Grand Prix is ​​the only Grand Prix of the season to be held as a night race. In the 11-lap sprint race that started at 8:00 pm on Saturday, Marc Marquez (Ducati) won, followed by his younger brother Alex Marquez (Ducati) in second place and Franco Morbidelli (Ducati) in third place.

Rookie Ai Ogura (Aprilia) started from 10th place and worked her way up to finish in 7th place.

The 22-lap final race started at 8pm the following Sunday. Marc took pole position (first in qualifying), Alex in second, and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) in third, with all three starting from the front row. Quartararo’s third place finish was a remarkable achievement for both Yamaha and Quartararo, as it was the first time they had started on the front row in three years, since the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix.

Marc’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), who is also considered a contender for the championship this season, will start from the back in 11th place after crashing in Q2 (qualifying 2). Ogura will start from 10th place.

Marc took the holeshot, but made contact with Alex in second place, allowing Morbidelli to take the lead. The contact caused Marc’s machine to lose part of the aerodynamic device on the left side of the tail cowling. However, according to Marc in the post-race press conference, this did not affect his riding.

On the third lap, Alex and Fabio Di Gianantonio (Ducati) made contact while battling for third place. This was investigated, and as a result Alex was given a long lap penalty (a penalty that requires the rider to pass through a designated area on the outside of some corners during the race). This forced Alex to drop back significantly. Di Gianantonio also lost a significant position after being overrun by the contact.

On lap 5, Bagnaia, who had started from 11th place, caught up with Marc and made a move to challenge him. Behind Bagnaia, Maverick Viñales (KTM) was closing in, and Viñales passed Bagnaia and closed in on Marc, who was in second place.

On lap 10, Viñales overtook Marc under braking for the first corner and moved up to second place. When Marc saw the orange KTM trying to overtake him, he said, “I thought it was Pedro Acosta.” It’s not surprising that he thought so, as Acosta was the KTM rider who competed with Marc in the 2024 season. In addition, Viñales had been struggling for a while since moving from Aprilia to KTM this season.

Viñales then overtook Morbidelli to take the lead, as the KTM riders had been struggling with vibrations in the rear tyre, but Viñales’ bike had less vibration during the race.

However, Marc, in second place, was closely following Vinales and waiting for the right moment to pass him. With seven laps remaining, Vinales made a mistake in a corner and ran wide, but Marc was able to pass him and take the lead. From then on, he ran smoothly in the lead and took the checkered flag in first place.

With this victory, Marc has now won three races in the four races since the opening race in Qatar, and it was his 114th podium finish, putting him in second place on the all-time list of podium finishes in the premier class.

Third place went to Bagnaia, who made a big move up from 11th place. Viñales finished second, but was penalized 16 seconds after the race for having his tire pressure lower than the range recommended by tire supplier Michelin. Viñales ultimately finished 14th.

 Due to Vinales’ penalty, they moved up in the rankings, with Bagnaia in second place and Morbidelli in third.

Honda’s Johann Zarco also finished in fifth place, giving him fourth place overall. For Honda, which has struggled, this is its first top-five finish since the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.

Ogura struggled with front tire grip from the middle of the race onwards and finished in 15th place.


Marc Marquez (No. 93) takes his third win ©MotoGP.com

Two Japanese riders take the podium in the Moto3 class

In the Moto3 class, Ryusei Yamanaka (KTM) took his first pole position in Q2 (Qualifying 2). In the final race, he and Taiyo Furusato (Honda) fought for victory in the leading pack until the final lap, with Furusato finishing in second place and Yamanaka in third. Furusato finished in second place, just 0.009 seconds behind the winning rider.

This was the first podium finish of the season for the two Japanese riders, Furusato and Yamanaka.

The fifth round of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix, will be held at the Jerez Circuit-Ángel Nieto in Spain from April 25th to 27th.


Taiyo Furusato (left) and Ryusei Yamanaka (right) took the podium ©MotoGP.com

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