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The MotoGP battle between Yamaha, Ducati, and Honda has taken off to a flying start in yesterday’s qualifying session in Qatar.
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Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) secured the season’s first pole position on board the new and improved 2019 Yamaha M1.
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Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) are not far behind and will start tomorrow’s race in P2 and P3.
The 2019 MotoGP season could not have started with a more exciting qualifying session as the battle between Yamaha, Ducati, and Honda took place in the qualifying session earlier today. Under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took the first pole position of the season on board the new 2019 Yamaha YZR-M1.
Having set a blistering lap time, Ducati’s very own hero Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) wasn’t going to give Vinales a good head start for tomorrow’s race as he secured the second position on the grid. Riding the next-generation Ducati Desmosedici GP19, Dovizioso has his eyes set on winning the crown this year but it won’t be any easier by the looks of things.
This is because right behind him on third position is the 2018 MotoGP World Champion, Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda. The combination of a more matured and experienced rider plus what seems to be a more powerful Honda RC213V package this year, the Spaniard aims to be world champion again, but things are just heating up and other riders are eager to step up.
Our hometown hero, Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), sadly has been struggling with the new KTM RC16 machinery having qualified in second last place. He’s not the only KTM rider who’s suffering in Qatar as all the others are finding it hard to managed the powerful Austrian beast. We hope that things can turn around as soon as possible for the young Malaysian MotoGP rider.
Today’s race schedule (local time) will start at 10pm for Moto3, 11.20pm for Moto2, and 1am (Monday morning) for MotoGP. Who’s your money on? We’re not sure because it’s so close to tell! Even the satellite riders are up in the timesheets and they too have the chance to stir things up in the 2019 VisitQatar Grand Prix. Stay tuned for more MotoGP news!
Image credit: MotoGP
