VOL. 52 ISSUE 13 MARCH 31, 2015 P59
is the important thing." And he derives
his motivation from enjoyment.
"I put this battle at the top of my
career," he said. "At the same level
as with [Marc] Marquez or Lorenzo,
because Dovi [Dovizioso] rides in a
very clever way.
"Racing with [Casey] Stoner and
sometimes with Jorge [Lorenzo], the
races were finished after three laps.
Now MotoGP is changing. With Mar-
quez we are often fighting to the end.
I prefer it like this."
By the finish, the next pair were a
couple of seconds adrift, and this time
Ducati power did prevail, with Iannone
gaining his first MotoGP podium half-
a-second clear of Lorenzo.
Joy was unconfined in the Ducati
pit. All expectations of new chief Gigi
Dall'Igna's redesign had been met.
In its first race, the GP15 had swept
away all the old problems of under-
steer, and of handling that wore out
the tires and the riders by the middle
of every race.
But behind the smile there was a
tinge of disappointment for Dovizioso.
"If you told me before the race I
would be a close second to Valentino
[Rossi], I would have been happy,"
Briefly...
in-house. "We have more power
than last year, and the power is lower
in the rev range," he said.
Rain in the final tests and more after
the start of the meeting helped settle
the dust and keep the track clean,
with lap times soon at record pace.
But the notorious first left-hander of
the lap—turn two, reached after a
pair of rights with the long straight
intervening—claimed a number of
victims, with four MotoGP riders
crashing there on the second day
alone. One was rookie Loris Baz,
the only to be injured, with an ugly
wound on his left hand. Another was
new factory Ducati rider Andrea Ian-
none, who had a simple solution. "To
avoid crashes at Losail, they should
remove Turn 2," Iannone said.
Snappy answers to a witty ques-
tion at the pre-race press confer-
ence. Riders were asked to sum
up their bikes in just one word.
Cal Crutchlow's CWM LCR Honda:
"White." Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati:
"Fast." Valentino Rossi's Movistar
Yamaha: "Precise." Marc Marquez'
Repsol Honda: "A Bull." Jorge Lo-
pretty much the whole winter test too.
"For my riding style, I come in too
hard, I push the front tire too hard,
squash it too much. As soon as I'm in
a group I have to start braking earlier,
and I think: Gee, that was easier. I
think I always go better in the race
anyway."
And although the Losail Circuit
could bite you, the rookie hadn't had
any big moments at that point.
"I haven't really had any scares
so far," he said. "This track is pretty
scary: you've got turns two and 10, the
two lefts after a long time on
the right. It's always a bit scary
coming in there. We're running
the harder option and not many
of the factory guys are doing
that, but it seems to be working
well for us. We seem to be able
to keep the temperature in and
it's doesn't squash down too
much. I'm liking it."
Jack Miller's MotoGP race debut
in Qatar unfortunately ended up
in a crash on the last lap.
continued on next page
