Sunday 28.03.2021
It is racing day!
We start with Moto3 followed by Moto2 and end with MotoGP.
The track conditions on Losail International Circuit in Quatar were a little more difficult today.
It was more windy than it was yesterday in the qualifying. There is more sand on the track that was blown from the sea that is nearby.
On the long straight there was no tailwind today and the track temperature was cooler.
That means the lap times will be slower.
In the Warm up, lap times were 1 - 2 seconds slower than yesterday in the MotoGP qualifying.
Here you see Valentino Rossi after Warm up doing his Bike Swap test.
Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP remembered FAUSTO GRESINI who died due to COVID-19 in February.
RIP 23.01.1961 - 23.02.2021
"It is the news that we never wanted to announce," said the message from the Gresini team. "After almost two months of fighting COVID-19, Fausto Gresini passed away a few days after his 60th birthday." Gresini leaves behind his wife Nadia and four children.
Jorge Martin with Gresini in Season 2018 after winning Moto3 championship
The Moto3 race was dynamic as usual. There are 6 rookies in the field this year and 4 Manufacturers.
6 crashes within the first 3 laps.
That's the dynamics of this sport. In every class it is high energy from start to finish and the places change every driven lap.
There were 13 drivers in the leadership group in the last 2 laps. That's how tight the races are.
That leads to crashes in the last lap.
Winner Jaume Masia on a KTM , 2nd Acosta on a KTM, a rookie, and 3rd after a windy, tight 12th lap Binder with Honda.
What an exciting race start into season 2021, as always Moto3 is the appetizer for Moto2 and MotoGP.
Next Moto2.
2 crashes in the Warm up already. Sam Lowes and Marcel Schroetter both crashed in curve 2, which left Lowes a little confused going into the race.
First start in the Moto2 class 2021.
20 laps and 107,6 km to go for Moto2.
A good start and tight first rounds.
Marco Bezzechi (72), Sam Lowes (22) and Raul Fernandez (25) taking the lead after lap 1.
After his warm up lap Lowes was not in a good spirit but managed to win the race in the end. He is a former MotoGP rider.
But as always it didn't take long for the first crashes.
Lorenzo Baldassari (4) and Hector Garzo (40) out.
The racetrack was rather dusty due to the strong winds so the drivers needed to hold the ideal line tightly.
In the meantime between lap 8 and 11 where the two above mentioned crashed, Remy Gardner (87), an Australien rider managed to drive 2nd place and was able to hold this position over the finish line. Lap 9 was his fastest after he had a bad start and was more or less swallowed by the other drivers at the beginning.
Gardners father, Wayne Gardner, was driving on the podium exactly 35 years ago to the date.
That gives both a place in the father-son rankings of motorsports.
Next crash lap 15.
Here the situation involving Xavi Vierge(97) and Albert Arenas (44).
Vierge was just pushed out by Arenas.
As so often in the Moto2 the last laps are the most exciting.
That's when the real battle starts.
Position 1 and 2 were brought home safely by Lowes and Gardner.
But the battle for place 3 was on.
Marco Bezzecchi (72) and Fabio di Giannantonio (21) were fighting hard in the last lap until Giannantonio managed to overtake Bezzecchi who was in front of him the longest time.
He beat him by ten thousandths of a second
In the end you have great pictures of sportsmen celebrating their victory in a fair and exciting race.
A burnout is a must of course.
Here the winners on the podium. No champaign or else in Qatar but happy Moto2 faces and a nice start into season 2021.
MOTO GP
The Kings Class everyone was waiting for was about to take off.
After 126 days of waiting the big start was finally there.
A new light system on Losail with thousands of LEDs had the circuit shine in daylight.
Before the actual race they did a little light show for the drivers.
The most anticipated starting grid of todays race day.
1 63 F. Bagnaia Ducati
2 20 F. Quartararo Yamaha
3 12 M. Vinales Yamaha
4 46 V. Rossi Yamaha
5 43 J. Miller Ducati
6 5 J. Zarco Ducati
7 21 F. Morbidelli Yamaha
8 41 A. Espargaro Aprilia
9 42 A. Rins Suzuki
10 36 J. Mir Suzuki
11 30 T. Nakagami Honda
12 44 P. Espargaro Honda
13 23 E. Bastianini Ducati
14 89 J. Martin Ducati
15 88 M. Oliveira KTM
16 73 A. Marquez Honda
17 6 S. Bradl Honda
18 10 L. Marini Ducati
19 33 B. Binder KTM
20 9 D. Petrucci KTM
21 27 I. Lecuona KTM
22 32 L. Savadori Aprilia
Everyone was curious how the Ducatis with their Ride Height and Holeshot devices would perform at the start.
And how the Yamahas could hold their grounds.
The entire track was split in 4 sectors where 2 belonged to the fast Ducatis and 2 for the Yamahas which perform better in the corners.
And what do I tell you, DAMN was that a start.
Never ever has anyone seen a start like that before. In the entire MotoGP history that was the fastest and most spectacular race start.
No one, me included believed what we were seeing.
All 4 Ducatis were flying of like a jet fighter
The day before Johann Zarco (5) was breaking the speed record with his Pramac Racing Ducati when he was doing a top speed of 362,4 km/h.
The Ducatis were reaching 0 - 100 Km/h in 1.9 seconds.
That left every other driver with no chance at the start.
So Ducati managed to get all 4 bikes, Factory and Private Ducatis on the first 4 places, followed by the rest.
After long laps of Ducati lead Yamaha managed to make meters in lap 18.
They, just as Suzuki, are often better in the second half of the race, due to tire management and the fact that the Ducatis are rather hungry with gas.
Their fuel management is more difficult. They only have 22 liters for the entire race and a more fuel efficient Yamaha or Suzuki is having an advantage then.
Lap 14 it got tighter and tighter for the leading Ducatis and in Lap 12 and 11 Viñales caught Zarco and was on Bagnaia, the pole position holder at the start.
Lap 15 Viñales managed to take the lead, the Yamaha beat the fast Ducati.
By that time Joan Mir, the former Champion of 2020 on a Suzuki, was place 7, behind Yamaha and Ducati.
It was 8 laps to go by that time.
2 laps later and close to the end of the race things changed as Bagnaia (63) Ducati, Rins (42) Suzuki and Mir (36) Suzuki were fighting for podium.
By that time you have to watch the race on your own, everything changes quick as the second half of a race is always a game changer.
3 laps to go Mir overtakes Bagnaia, the excitement is immense as no one really was expecting Suzuki to drive on the podioum but Mir and Rins were competitive on their Suzukis.
Last lap, boiling.
Mir on the way to the podium.
Losail, not typical Suzuki land.
Zarco and Bagnaia on his tail.
Gotta mention that the Suzukis, unlike the Ducatis don't have the Ride Height device, they also have the engine from the last year built in this season and yet Mir and Rins were in the lead.
And baam, it happened in the last corner, again, like so many times in MotoGP.
Mir made a slight mistake, going wide a little bit, not holding the ideal line and Zarco and Bagnaia overtook him on the last meters to the finish line.
What an exciting finish.
Congrats Yamaha and Maverick Viñales, his nickname " Mr. Top Gun" well deserved.
So it was Viñales 1st, Zarco 2nd and Bagnaia 3rd today. One Yamaha and two Ducatis on the podium.
What a fantastic race day it has been. I'm still excited and full of adrenalin.
I wonder how I managed to write that here now. Tomorrow I will probably be like " Damn forgot this, should have said that" lol.
But if you want to get the professional facts and videos of todays race day visit MotoGP or watch that vid I found on YouTube.
