MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 / MARCH 26, 2017
LOSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / DOHA, QATAR
P52
he said. "Slowly I got more
confidence, and when I caught
[Marc] Marquez I decided it was
time to push."
Only on lap 14 did Vinales take
to the front, and from then on he
had to fight to stay there.
He had teammate Valen-
tino Rossi in his wake, but
the trouble came from Andrea
Dovizioso (Ducati Team), clearly
slower around the twisty sec-
tions, but as clearly faster on the
long straight.
They changed places time
and again, until Vinales finally
seized control with one lap to
go.
many of them had run straight at
sodden turns 13 and 14. Another
delay was announced, and the
rain had taken a break.
Finally, at 9:40 p.m., they ran
two warm-up laps and found
the track dry enough for a race
shortened from 22 to 20 laps.
Maverick's first display was of
patience, after surviving a first-
corner collision with fast-starting
Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha).
He finished the first lap fourth,
and seemed content to bide his
time as new star Zarco blazed
bright then crashed to earth.
"It was quite slippery and
quite difficult in the early laps,"
The race itself only just
managed to find a big enough
window in the weather, after the
whole of the previous day had
been lost to flooding rain. The
earlier Moto2 and Moto3 races
were dry, but echoes of the
one-day postponement of 2009
came with spots of rain as Mo-
toGP lined up on the grid for the
scheduled start at 9:00 p.m.
A delay was announced, bikes
still on the grid, and by 9:15 p.m.
the small but vocal crowd was
whistling and baying in displea-
sure. The riders went out for
an exploratory lap, and came
back shaking their heads, after
Vinales had a fast-
starting Johann
Zarco (black Tech3
Yamaha) to deal
with in turn one.
