It's been roughly four months since we had the last race of 2018 season fold up in Valencia. But we are back to motorcycle racing this weekend as the MotoGP kicks off on the Losail International Circuit, after the official pre-season testing.
Starting from the front, Marc Marquez is the reigning MotoGP champion but his 2019 season is still very unclear, as the 5-time World Champion returns from his shoulder surgery. The rivalry between him and his new Repsol Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo might get tough this season albeit the 3-time World Champion's tough 2018 season that saw him finish 9th in final standings, with just 4 podiums, 3 of them being the victories.
The Spaniard heads to Repsol Honda this season with a very tough competitor but his track record at Qatar is supreme, winning 6 races at Losail in Motorcycle racing, with 3 of them in MotoGP while his teammate has only won the race in 2014 in premier class. We just predict Lorenzo in a better position for this race.
Moving on to Ducati, the team has a slight change, as 2018 runner-up Andrea Dovizioso is joined by Danilo Petrucci after Lorenzo moved to Honda following Dani Pedrosa's retirement.
Other than the rider changes, the team needs to up their game for 2019 season despite a good performance. The teams were still down in terms of points, finishing 2nd with 392 points thanks to a disappointing performance by Lorenzo due to the bike's reliability issues. The team are quite confident of their 2019 campaign, with Dovizioso heading to the season opener as reigning Qatar GP winner.
Monster Energy Yamaha Team heads to 2019 season with a strong performance in the pre-season tests at Qatar, with Maverick Vinales topping the charts but the team still needs to improve a lot on their bike to get a lot of podiums and increase their winning ratio from last season.
The team's ace Valentino Rossi finished on podium at Qatar and is in a stronger position for 2019, scoring multiple podiums last year.
Hunting for his maiden win in Suzuki Ecstar team is Alex Rins, who at times set the quickest laps around Qatar. Hopefully, the Spanish rider will get his first taste of victory this year if Suzuki gets it all on it's bike on time.
His teammate Joan Mir is rookie to MotoGP, having shown strong pace in testing.
The Red Bull KTM team looks good and developing in 2019, with Pol Espargaro finishing in Top 10 during pre-season testing. Will he get some sweet results? Only time will tell.
A major change happened in the Tech 3 team as well, ending their long relationship with Yamaha as satellite team and shifting to KTM for the machines, being rebranded now as Red Bull KTM Tech 3. Johann Zarco arrives a new person in the team and will try to edge closer to his rookie teammate Miguel Oliveira.
Back in the pack, Yamaha chose the SIC (Sepang International Circuit) Racing squad as their satellite team for 2019, with a brand new livery and duo of Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli, with Fabio finishing 2nd in pre-season tests. The team heads to 2019 season with positive hopes.
Track Preview
The race will take place at night as it did in past at the Losail International Circuit. The circuit is located just outside of Doha, holding it's first Grand Prix of Qatar in 2004. The circuit held first night race on calendar in 2008 and is the season opener since 2007.
The circuit is stretched to 5.4 kilometres, featuring 16 corners with 6 to the left and 10 to the right. The circuit is a mixture of high and low speed corners, with a long straight towards the start/finish line, presenting a challenge for the drivers and teams.
The current lap record set in a race is 1:54.927 by Jorge Lorenzo in 2016 while the fastest pole lap was set by Johann Zarco with 1:53.680.
There is no rain expected all weekend so the sessions are likely to be interrupted. The track temperature will be between 17°C and 23°C, providing a good atmosphere for drivers.
With just a day to go, the 2019 MotoGP season kicks off with Free Practice 1 on Friday at 9:55 am Local/1:55 pm Pakistan Time.
Comments