The Qatar Grand Prix notes

100.- Jorge Lorenzo. Masterful weekend of the Yamaha rider. With a motorcycle made from scratch under his indications and those of Ramón Forcada, the Spaniard has been planted in Qatar and has made the pole and has won the race, triumph of double value that brings him back to the forefront of the most serious candidates Title. He never gave up the race, neither when Stoner was more than two seconds away, nor when Pedrosa overtook him like a shell on the straight. Spectacular Lorenzo.

90.- Marc Márquez. The boss, the master of the Moto2 category, the most spectacular and exciting race, by the way. Cervera knew how to manage the race with skill and waited his time to give the two axes needed and get rid of Luthi, first, and Iannone, after. Before he had let Pol Espargaró wear out by pulling the race.

80.- Maverick Viñales. Pilot of race, cold and calculating. He could have won the race leading from start to finish, but he let the young Fenati run off a few laps to study him and see what his rival is made of, good pasta, by the way. When he wanted, it happened and he won without opposition. If nothing strange happens, the title has a name.

70.- Dani Pedrosa. Excellent Honda. After a very complicated weekend on Sunday he did book, in the warm up he found the set-up and in the race he had victory options until the end fighting with Lorenzo and Stoner, something unusual for a pilot who until now shied away from the melee and won only when he escaped. Its greater aggressiveness will give more spectacle also in the races.

60.- Romano Fenati. Write down this name, this 16-year-old boy (Ascoli 15.1.1996), 125cc European champion who runs for the Italian Motorcycling Federation team, will have to talk, he proposed a battle between you and Maverick Viñales, and his performance was brave and dashed.

50.- Pol Espargaró. Great career of the Pons Team driver but with a wrong strategy. Pol does not have to throw from the beginning and burn the ships, he would have had to try and seeing that he could not escape, let the others who opened the way and degraded rubber, wait crouched, in the end, his chance. Anyway, Pol has to know that doing third in Qatar against pilots like Márquez, Iannone, Luthi, etc., is an extraordinary result. This is 17 races and many things can happen.

40.- Tito Rabat. Great career of Catalan. His strategy was good, stay on his head and wait for his chance by rolling at the same pace as the fastest. The opportunity did not come, but he signed a fourth place that makes clear his quality as a driver and that he will be there all season. He will win races and thanks to his regularity and coldness he can be in the fight until the end.

30.- Yamaha Tech3. Great race for the drivers of the Yamaha satellite team, Andrea Dovizioso and Carl Crutchlow. The Italian was all the test ahead of his teammate and leading the second group, behind Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner, but in the end the Briton got the ax. From Andrea we know he is a pilot with enormous talent but he is a small step below the ‘magnificent three’, of Crutchlow we still do not know very well what he is capable of, but he gives me in the nose that he will give more than I scare this year getting into the first places. It can be one of the pilots who give emotion to the races.

20.- The Aspar team of Moto2. I was surprised by the poor performance of the Aspar Moto2 riders, Toni Elías and Nico Terol, two world champions who did not show up during the race and who have had a weekend, in general, very weak. De Toni, Moto2 champion and coming from MotoGP is expected in the fight for the victories. Nico, more inexperienced in the category, must be given a margin of confidence and adaptation.

10. Casey Stoner Mal the Australian, on a track that has always been good, with the best bike and everything on the site after the warm up, did not know how to manage the race. Casey tried by all means to escape and undermine the morale of his two pursuers, beat them out of discouragement, without realizing that their aggressiveness in the first laps were melting the new Bridgestone tires. Nobody knew how those tires would respond after turning nine or ten, but everyone believed that they would be destroyed. He ignored it, he went all out and he ran out of rubber in the final laps. Also, he says, his arms ached.

0.- Rossi and Ducati. At the factory in Bologna they do not know what to do anymore. Everything has changed, the motorcycle, the engine, the configuration, even the ducatist DNA with the double-beam aluminum chassis … apparently, according to what he tells me, the relationship between the brand and Valentino Rossi has cooled to dangerous limits, No one doubts that both are waiting for the contract to end and wish good luck, the case will be to see if that happens at the end of the season or before. Nobody discard it. Valentino does not go and he is not going to play life on an indomitable motorcycle to be sixth. It deserves another end and I am sure that it will fight so that it is, but with another motorcycle. The great tricolor orgy of the Rossi-Ducati binomial has not been produced, nor is anyone waiting.