Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia led the race from start to finish and won the first grand prix of the season at Qatar. KTM’s Brad Binder and the Sprint Race winner Jorge Martin from Pramac Racing came second and third respectively. There was some unexpected drama even before the race began. Raul Fernandez from Trackhouse Racing faced a mechanical glitch when all the riders were lining up for the race after the warm-up lap. The Spaniard ran back to the garage to get his space Aprilia. A second warm lap took and Fernandez had to start from the back of the grid.
Qatar MotoGP: Blistering start of Bagnaia
Bagnaia’s launch start was impeccable as he blazed past Binder, teammate Enea Bastianini and the pole-sitter Martin. Till Lap 1 Turn 4 both Bagnaia and Martin were neck-to-neck, but after that it was the Ducati rider all the way. This allowed Binder to pounce on the second position and set his eyes on the defending champion.
Both the KTM rider and Martin had a flurry of rounds where they swapped places but ultimately, it was the South African who managed to hold on first runners-up position when the Pramac rider went wide on Lap 11.Â
Qatar MotoGP: Battle for fourth
Things were heating up for the fourth position between eight-time world champion Marc Marquez and the rookie Pedro Acosta from Tech 3. It might have been a David versus Goliath battle but Acosta was not holding back as he overtook the Gresini racer and held the fourth position for a couple of laps. Marquez was right back at the Tech 3 rider’s tail and forced him to make a mistake as he went wide which was an open invitation for the Spaniard.
After that, Marquez held on to the position while Acosta began to lose pace drastically and ended up finishing ninth. Bastianini, Gresini’s Alex Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro took advantage of Acosta’s situation and finished fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth ahead of the Tech 3 rider. Maverick Vinales took the tenth spot scoring six points.
| MotoGP Qatar Qualifying | ||
| Position | Rider | Team |
| 1 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati |
| 2 | Brad Binder | KTM |
| 3 | Jorge Martin | Pramac |
| 4 | Marc Marquez | Gresini |
| 5 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati |
| 6 | Alex Marquez | Gresini |
| 7 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | VR46 |
| 8 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia |
| 9 | Pedro Acosta | Tech 3 |
| 10 | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia |
