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Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo started the 2013 season with an emphatic win in the Commercial Bank MotoGP Grand Prix of Qatar at the floodlit Losail International Circuit yesterday.
The Spanish rider finished a little under six seconds ahead of teammate and seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who made it to the podium in his first race since his return to Yamaha Factory Racing.
Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez clinched third place on his MotoGP debut with compatriot and teammate Dani Pedrosa in fourth.
Lorenzo repeated his exploits from the last year’s race at Qatar, leading from pole position to victory while the rest of the field provided some overtaking excitement to the audience.
Half an hour before the race, I was trying to concentrate and focus. I just started the race and gave my more than 100 percent and increased the gap. This is just what I do,” Lorenzo said after his 24th MotoGP victory.
Asked about having erstwhile rival Rossi on the podium with him, he told BBC Television,“I knew it was going to complicated. I’m happy that Valentino came back in second place, it’s good for Yamaha.”
While Lorenzo had a lonely race ahead, Rossi was in the thick of things in the pack behind. After an ordinary start in which his replacement at Ducati, Andrea Dovizioso, went by him in the first lap, the veteran came into his own in the final stages of the race going past a host of riders, including LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow.
With four laps to go, Rossi put Pedrosa under pressure and overtook him going into the first turn before he lined up to go past Marquez.
The 20-year-old Spaniard, however, did not give in easily after being overtaken by his “hero”, trading places a couple of times before Rossi held on to give Yamaha a one-two in the season-opener.
“In the warm-up today, I figured that I had a good pace and that if I had a great start, I was in with a chance,” Rossi said with an ear-to-ear grin after the race. “I made a mistake at the start with Pedrosa and fell back. But once I had a free track, I had a great race and got close and closer to the top.
“I am happy for the team, for Yamaha... to be ahead one-two in the first race of the season.”
Marquez, who had won the Moto2 race at Losail in 2012, was happy with his performance despite a few close calls in corners. “For my first MotoGP, that wasn’t too bad,” he said.
Crutchlow, who started second behind Lorenzo, could not build up on his impressive performances this weekend and finished fifth behind Pedrosa.
Dovizioso, who had finished fourth at this venue last year, finished seventh behind GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvarao Bautista, while his Ducati teammate and 2006 champion Nicky Hayden was eighth.
Andrea Iannone of Energy TI Pramac Racing and Ben Spies of Ignite Pramac Racing rounded up the top ten.