BY RIZWAN REHMAT
DOHA: Italian rider Andrea Dovizioso upstaged reigning world champion Marc Marquez of Spain last night to grab the season’s first pole ahead of today’s MotoGP curtain-raiser, set to take place at the Losail International Circuit here.
The Ducati star showed glimpses of the top speeds the world famous manufacturer produced in pre-season testing by clocking the fastest time in the second and decisive qualifying session that featured 12 riders.
The 29-year-old veteran, riding the Desmosedici GP15, clocked a time of 1’54.113 to secure the top spot in today’s grid.
Dani Pedrosa of Repsol Honda finished a notch below Dovizioso with a time of 1’54.330 for the season’s opening race tonight.
Pedrosa’s team-mate and world champion Marquez had no response to Dovizioso’s pace on the softer tyres and had to settle for the third spot with a time of 1’54.437. Ducati’s Italian rider Andrea Iannone finished fourth while team-mate Yonny Hernandez completed the top five.
Dovizioso said starting from the top spot in row one would be hugely beneficial in the race tonight.
“Yes, it is important to start from the front. We had a question mark because we have never raced with this new bike,” Dovizioso said. “The feeling is much better than last year. Our pre-season testing was very fast.
“It will be difficult to fight with Marc but our speed is there,” the Italian added.
Pedrosa said: “It was very important to be on the front grid. I think it was important week for us. You could see the lap times were really close.”
“Others were also doing very good lap times. It might be my fastest lap here so I am very happy about that,” the Spaniard added.
Marquez looked pleased despite being the third-fastest rider.
“I am happy because our target was the front row,” Marquez, 22, said. “Honestly, I expected a little bit more because we were good but I did not make the perfect lap. It was my mistake. Anyway, for tomorrow I feel really good. I will try to do a good race and battle for victory of course.”
Ducati Team General Manager Luigi Dall’Igna was a picture of absolute delight, celebrating with all members of the Ducati camp. Dall’Igna oversaw the development of the new GP15 from scratch.
Earlier, Britain’s Sam Lowes grabbed the pole position in Moto2 on his Speed Up bike following an intense battle with France’s Johann Zarco. Defending champion Tito Rabat was 0.390 seconds adrift of Zarco.
The three riders — who swapped the fastest times throughout the session — were joined by Sandro Cortese in fourth.
QMMF Racing Team’s Julian Simon and his team-mate Anthony West finished 21st and 22nd respectively.
THE PENINSULA
