By ThIt was a beautiful weekend in Qatar, perfect for some epic racing.
Lusail did not disappoint.
By: The Karr Report.
Moto3:
The MLav team must’ve angered some ancient deity because every attempt at finding a substitute rider for their second bike was snuffed by injuries, to the point that they basically gave up, letting O’Shea run all on his ownsome.
Quiles arrived in Qatar, only to figure out that his thumb was actually broken from an earlier training accident. This meant Esteban had to be flown in post haste to compete in his place.
Another rider absent was Bertelle, and he will most likely be absent for a few races more after breaking both his legs racing flat track.
Dettwiler has returned, finally. Welcome back, Noah!
Fernández started the race with a Long Lap Penalty to his name, for punting Foggia off the track during practice.
Carpe, on the other hand, had two Long Laps to complete, after looking over his shoulder at the most inopportune time, causing Ogden’s crash.
He’d argue that ‘Rubbing is racing’ – and possibly the odd push, too.
While taking his Long Lap Penalty on Lap Four, Fernández nearly wiped out as he spotted a motorcycle coming at him horizontally. While Fernández was calmly making his way into the Long Lap Loop, Foggia had run into Muñoz’s rear wheel, sending the former skittling off the track, his bike coming to a standstill in the Loop exit.
Luckily Fernández saw it in time, and both managed to avoid the downed ride and still complete his penalty without going outside of any lines.
Very good, Adrian.
During Lap Nine, Buchanan went off the track at Turn Five like a firework that’d been set off horizontally. There were sufficient sparks for this analogy. Sparky Award shall be awarded.
A few moments later, Almansa very casually slid off at Turn Sixteen, passing the bottom of the camera frame. He did manage to remount.
Fernández ended up pitting at the end of Lap Nine, allegedly complaining of ‘no grip’.
Late-entry substitute, Esteban, gave himself a right hook after crashing at Turn Two with just four laps remaining…
Catastrophe hit Rueda at the end of the penultimate lap. Approaching the pit straight, Rueda’s motorcycle began spitting out big, vapeworthy puffs of greasy smoke, and very soon his hand shot up, indicating his devastation-filled coast out of the race.
We were treated to a splendid four-way battle for the win on the final lap, a battle that was ultimately won by Piqueras in a triple-photo-finish across the finish line.
In second was Furusato, having missed out on the victory by a whole nine-thousandths of a second. Yamanaka snatched an equally close third.
Furusato looked so sad in Parc Fermé for losing out on the win, we wanted to run over and give him a hug.
Our own young Ruche Moodley put in a solid ride, reaching thirteenth overall.
Moto 2:
Thanks to punting Sasaki wide earlier over the weekend, López was handed a Long Lap Penalty. This looked immensely similar to Fernández’s situation in Moto3…
We rarely hear a rider as happy to be interviewed on the grid as Van den Goorbergh this Sunday.
Agius was very much too eager to get off the line, which earned him a Double Long Lap Penalty. One of these he fluffed, and was told to do it over again – INSIDE the lines this time.
Canet, on the other hand, found himself launching upward instead of forward when the lights went out, dropping all the way to fourteenth in the process. He swiftly set about his recovery mission.
During the third lap, we lost Sasaki to a mystery crash.
Binder was doing a decent job, considering his broken hand, until his motorcycle very abruptly stopped giving him velocity while going full-tilt down the pit straight at the start of Lap Five. It was a scary thing to witness as the rider behind him managed to scrape past on his right, bashing into his shoulder but managing to avoid a full-on crash.
It was ant’s antennae away from a blood bath.
At the end of Lap Nine, Navarro pitted. There was an issue with his front tyre. What issue, you ask? We don’t know.
He did return to the circuit as the other riders were taking on Lap Twelve, purely to collect some data it seems.
Dixon sparked his way off the track on Lap Twelve as he was going around Turn Thirteen.
Enter Drama Queen Dixon:
Jake grabbed dramatically at his helmeted head more than once, while sliding on his back and again as he sat up on the tar run-off.
Remember Canet’s botched start? Well, a few laps from the end he managed to catch up with the leaders, and eventually passed Öncü to take the lead. A lead that he defended and stretched out to over a second before crossing the Finish Line.
A victory well-deserved, Canet. Öncü was left in second, with González in third.
MotoGP:
Welcome back, Martín!
Saturday Sprint Race:
Mir withdrew from the Sprint Race late Saturday afternoon, due to an ailment of the stomach.
A Martín fangirl got her moment of fame as the camera spotted her and her dad holding her hand-drawn Spanish flag a-la-crayon that she had made in support of her hero. The moment she realised she was on camera, she went ballistic with joy! That’s Moto GP!
The Sprint Race wasn’t boring by any measure, what with all those incredible overtaking manoeuvres throughout the race and the pack, though it oddly lacked in the crash department.
For the first part of the race, Bagnaia looked as though someone had snuck some lead weights into his leathers. In the second half, it looked like the KTM riders all developed a similar illness.
It was painful to watch.
Zarco slunk into the pits at the end of Lap Eight.
This might start to sound like a scratched record skipping back to the same bit over and over again: Márquez (Marc) ran away with the victory, making it four-for-four in terms of Sprint wins this season, while little brother Álex took second. Again.
Third went to Morbidelli this time around.
Binder finished in the same position he’d started in: Fifteenth.
Be strong, Brad; Kak them out.
Main Race:
If anyone had accurately predicted the Qatar race’s outcome, they’re a true fortune-teller.
We kicked off proceedings with some Márquez-on-Márquez physical assault. Álex’s Ducati nosedived Marc’s tail hard enough to bite off the smaller stegosaurus plate on its right.
Everyone was convinced it would upset the balance of Marc’s Ducati but, in the post-race interview, Marc noted that he hadn’t even noticed its absence.
KTM’s Vinales took the opportunity to get in front. he stayed there for a long time…
During the third lap, Márquez Junior continued his escapades by running into DiGi and ripping one of his own front winglets off.
Álex did lift a hand in apology after the contact, but we suspect DiGi wasn’t extremely pleased.
Miller had a minor offing on Lap Nine, rejoined, and then decided to retire a short while later.
More contact for DiGi on Lap Ten, when he rammed into the back of Mir. Mir eventually called it a day and popped into the pits two laps later.
Augusto Fernández crashed during Lap Fourteen; he managed to walk off by himself, insisting on walking like a robot from a budget nineties sci-fi series.
Still on Lap Fourteen, we were shown something none of those watching wanted to see: World champ Jorge Martín crashed. On his approach into Turn Twelve, he ran onto the curb when his Aprilia vanished from beneath him, and he went tumbling across the curbs getting grated and/or tenderised as he went. the camera’s turned back to see him struggling on all fours on the side of the track.
**Post-race update on Martín: Jorge has suffered chest trauma (a hefty whack to the chest area). According to the reports, his arms and legs are fine, though he has Rib contusion and
Pneumothorax, the alien word for a condition where air gets in the wrong side of the lung, i.e. on the outside, or also a collapsed lung.
A CT scan was ordered to check the true extent of the damage.
Drama aside, Marc Márquez won back the lead and claimed yet another victory, with Viñales snapping up a very respectable second (at one point we were cheering for him to hold on to the lead. It was uncanny). Bagnaia settled for third.
Binder managed to finish the race in fourteenth.
Moments after the race ended, it was announced that Viñales’ tyre pressure was under investigation. Sadly for KTM, he was penalised and dropped down to fourteenth place.
Nevertheless – what a ride and maybe just what KTM needed to get the juices flowing.
With all that mayhem behind us, we say good-bye to the floodlights of Qatar, and head off towards our next destination: Spain.
~ Karr
