[mayankk]

Originally Posted by ebonho

But one must give it to Jorge. He is formidably fast man.

Seriously so. I mean, never once did we hear that the gap was coming down. Both the factory Yamahas,they were in a class of their own. Crutchlow was on a satellite, yeah. I seriously felt for him. If not for that one straight, he'd have demolished the Hondas.

I can't wait for when both Vale and Jorge start side by side.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by mayankk

I can't wait for when both Vale and Jorge start side by side.

I am worried about that. Rossi starting 7th on essentially the same bike.

Someone was saying something about the new qualifying format being a bouncer for Rossi?

[StarrySky]

It was reported that Rossi had traffic issues on his lap during qualifying and hence started a bit further down than he should have. In the race, his fastest lap at the end of the race (on worn tires) was only a tenth slower than his qualifying lap. Even so, I am not sure if he would've challenged for pole without the traffic issues.

[sgiitk]

Rossi has always been a slow starter / qualifier. In MotoGP where overtaking is realtively easier he tends to try and save his tyres in the beginning.

[JVH]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Rossi has always been a slow starter / qualifier. In MotoGP where overtaking is realtively easier he tends to try and save his tyres in the beginning.

I was just about to type this. I remember Rossi in very few pole positions even during his peak days. But he was never in the 3rd grid consistently. Like someone said, it is his ascend to the top at the right moment and at the right corners which make his races memorable.

Am glad Doctor has made this season rather interesting in the very first race itself. I hope we see the best of Dani in this season. If not now, then when? And badly missing Stoner.

[ebonho]

I am also missing Stoner. No one "looked" faster or more dramatic on a Moto GP bike!

[zebo]

Jorge must be very worried, if not for the mistake by VR in the 1st lap, he would have taken it to him for top spot. I had the privilege of being there again last night; like I had for the last 7 years.

[badri]

It was great to see the doctor back in business. I'm sure that he could have given Lorenzo a run for his money with out the Dovi incident. That said, Lorenzo's riding is so precise that it's almost boring. Seems like there are invisible rails beneath his tyres and he is just skimming along.

I feel that one of the reasons for Rossi's amazing pace in the second half of the race is that he played with the engine maps and pushed it to the limit. No doubt he ran out of fuel on the victory lap. It was a risky strategy but obviously it worked. I don't think that Yamaha could have out dragged a Honda on such a long straight under normal circumstances..even with the slip stream. However, the overtaking is classic Rossi. I woke up a few people at home with a big 'YES!!' when he overtook Pedrosa. I guess it was well past 1:00 AM..

Watching the onboard video of Cal (with Marquez in front of him), it was amazing to see that the Yamaha is almost 10km/h faster in some of the sweeping corners. Poor Cal worked really hard in the rest of the lap only to see the Honda's fly by on the straight. Yamaha, please give him a factory spec bike.

2 weeks to go to the Austin GP, where the Honda's should do really well and Marquez is going to be the man to beat . My prediction is a Honda 1-2. Check out the following video of the last Austin test. The acceleration of the Hondas out of the corners seem to be better than the Yamahas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mQMBVArvGk

This is one of the few videos with the unadulterated sound of motogp machines echoing in the empty grandstands of a track. The rest of the tests are controlled by Dorna and shooting videos is highly restricted even for factories. Little surprise that Honda used this test for a promotional video shoot.

[badri]

Originally Posted by zebo

Jorge must be very worried, if not for the mistake by VR in the 1st lap, he would have taken it to him for top spot. I had the privilege of being there again last night; like I had for the last 7 years.

Lucky you! I hope MotoGP comes to India in 2014..if not Malaysia is the nearest ( and realistic) option for the rest of us.

[mayankk]

Just got this on facebook.
"how ironic that Vale got to the podium on a ducati at Qatar".
From his fan page only.

[Mpower]

The last 6 laps were a treat to watch...esp Rossi brilliant overtakes

Marquez stamped his authority on the Honda team on this debut. This kid is a future champion for sure!

[Sheel]

Interesting Stuff By Crash.net


It is impossible to know how fast Lorenzo could have gone if he had been pushed by his rivals for longer. However two things about Rossi's race performance stand out from the other riders.

The first is that Rossi was the only person to set any sub 1m 56s laps during the second half of the race. He set five of them. The second is that Rossi's lap times kept getting faster until lap 16 of 22. Most others had peaked by lap 4, when the tyres were at their freshest.

Overall, rookie Marc Marquez set the fastest lap of the race, by 0.124s over Lorenzo and 0.311s over Rossi. Marquez and Lorenzo set their best times on laps 3 and 2 respectively.

Rossi had openly been in awe of Lorenzo's speed and consistency during race simulations in winter testing. But if the Qatar performance is anything to go by, Rossi is now more than ready to go the distance...

Lap : Lorenzo - Rossi - Marquez
Lap 1 : 2'01.783 - 2'02.752 - 2'03.306
Lap 2 : 1'55.569 - 1'57.209 - 1'56.054
Lap 3 : 1'55.684 - 1'56.382 - 1'55.445
Lap 4 : 1'55.644 - 1'56.315 - 1'55.807
Lap 5 : 1'55.820 - 1'56.691 - 1'56.180
Lap 6 : 1'55.947 - 1'56.802 - 1'56.401
Lap 7 : 1'55.900 - 1'56.974 - 1'56.198
Lap 8 : 1'55.856 - 1'56.396 - 1'56.253
Lap 9 : 1'56.051 - 1'56.408 - 1'56.035
Lap 10: 1'55.893 - 1'56.469 - 1'56.584
Lap 11: 1'56.171 - 1'56.173 - 1'56.545
Lap 12: 1'56.196 - 1'55.921 - 1'56.416
Lap 13: 1'56.102 - 1'56.326 - 1'56.398
Lap 14: 1'56.062 - 1'55.912 - 1'56.695
Lap 15: 1'56.444 - 1'55.986 - 1'56.493
Lap 16: 1'56.333 - 1'55.756 - 1'56.362
Lap 17: 1'56.284 - 1'56.144 - 1'56.527
Lap 18: 1'56.076 - 1'56.168 - 1'56.765
Lap 19: 1'56.173 - 1'56.531 - 1'56.770
Lap 20: 1'56.331 - 1'56.252 - 1'56.336
Lap 21: 1'56.289 - 1'56.328 - 1'56.414
Lap 22: 1'57.194 - 1'55.897 - 1'56.019

@sgiitk - Sirjee, I never knew you had a keen interest in Motorcycle racing

[VLOCT]

What a ride by Rossi! He surely looks home on the Yamaha. Shaping up to be a great season, this year. Wish Stoner didn't retire, though.

[naveenroy]

Not a fan of Rossi so nothing to say about that.

But for me, Marc Marquez was the rider of the race! And he will be the one to watch in the remaining races.

Miss Stoner though!

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

What a ride by Rossi! He surely looks home on the Yamaha. Shaping up to be a great season, this year. Wish Stoner didn't retire, though.

Could not agree more.

But without Stoner's retirement, I wonder if Marquez would be on a top class bike..so its all good I guess.