MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 1 / MARCH 18, 2018
LOSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / DOHA, QATAR
P88
Rossi (46) was
pleased with his
riding and his bike
en route to a strong,
third-place finish.
have been asking for for a long time,"
that transformed the feel and balance
of his hitherto recalcitrant M-1.
Zarco was two seconds adrift in
eighth, and happy to finish. He'd been
comfortable in the lead, he said, but
was already feeling unexpected grip
problems from the front. "When the
other guys overtook me five laps to
the end, I really understood I wasn't
able to use the front tire on the right
side correctly. I couldn't fight. A few
times I almost crashed, so to finish
eighth was better than nothing."
Another five seconds away, Iannone
was ninth, having got back ahead of
Miller. The Australian, battling a sliding
front tire, was left to defend tenth from
former teammate Tito Rabat, also a
Ducati first-timer, who was barely half-
a-second adrift over the line.
A second behind, Moto2 Champion
Franco Morbidelli (VDS Honda) had
an impressive MotoGP debut, top
