After a top race, the second round of the MotoGP season 2021 came to an end with a new winner in Fabio Quartararo on the Monster Yamaha. Two Pramac Ducatis occupy the next podium places.
Oliveira starts the race and moves up from 12th to 3rd place, like a certain Jorge Martin last week! Unfortunately, he then goes back to the pecking order to finish in 15th place.
It got hot between Joan Mir and Jack Miller, the two touched, and Miller walked far after making contact. Miller was angry. I realize his initial mistake and raise his leg in apology, but the two get back together later in the race! New rivalries are brewing here?
Alex Rins struggled the whole race, looking for the lead by 14 laps and sniffing clean air – he saves a low side after almost losing the front too and ends up in fourth place on the Suzuki.
Jorge Martin secures his first podium after taking the lead in his second MotoGP race. He led a large part of the race, Johann Zarco took second place on the last lap and was overtaken by a charging Fabio Quartararo a little earlier, 5 laps to go.
Speaking of which, Quartararo is doing a fantastic job working past the Ducati riders and has an overall brilliant race after qualifying in fifth. The Frenchman brings his Monster Yamaha to his first championship win in 2021, and two consecutive Yamaha victories in Qatar.
Fantastic work by Pramac Ducatis who usurped the Ducati factory team this weekend to achieve Desmo fame. Factory Ducati will no doubt be furious with Miller and Bagnaia finishing 9th and 6th respectively.
Valentino Rossi will be looking for more, qualifying as 21st and finishing as 16th. The top 15 finished in 8.9 seconds – the talent in the paddock this year seems absolutely unprecedented.
The third round will take place in Portimao from April 16-18 – perhaps a date that Marc Marquez forcibly circled on his calendar. Will he be back on the Respol Honda that Stefan Bradl keeps warm for him?
Final results of the Doha GP | MotoGP 2021
At the top is Fabio Quartararo with an end time of 42 min 23.997 seconds (Viñales won last week with an end time of 42 min 28.663). 2nd was Johann Zarco (+1,457), Jorge Martin took his first podium in 3rd (+1,500), 4th Alex Rins, 5th Maverick Viñales, 6th Francesco Bagnaia, 7th Joan Mir, 8th Brad Binder, 9th place Jack Miller.
Full results and finals here on crash.net.
Current ranking of the MotoGP Championship 2021 here on crash.net.