MotoGP: Qatar Grand Prix – Who did what

March 6, 2022 March 6, 2022

The opening round of the 2022 MotoGP season has finished under the lights at the Lusail International Circuit. After twenty two laps of hard racing three riders make up a surprise podium

Gresini Racing MotoGP:

The surprise race winners from the opening round of the season are the Gresini Racing MotoGP Team. The historic team have won their first race in MotoGP since the 2006 and have taken the honor of becoming the first ever team to win with a female team principal, The Late Fausto Gresini’s wife.

Enea Bastianini:

Enea Bastianini has taken his first ever MotoGP race win in only his second season in the class! The Italian youngster is on the 2021 Ducati bike, so he was not expected to outperform the 2022 Ducati machines.

However, after qualifying second place the 24-year-old showed that he had incredible race craft. This allowed him to battle against some very experienced MotoGP riders

Fabio Di Giannantonio:

One of the rookies on this years MotoGP grid is Fabio Di Giannantonio. The Italian rider made the step up from Moto2 to MotoGP and is expected to have a slow start to life in the premier class.

The 23-year-old qualified in 21st place for his debut MotoGP race. But he made his way up to 17th place when he crossed the line.

Enea Bastianini – The first race winner of 2022

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing:

Another surprise team featured on the rostrum today. The Austrian squad managed to secure their first MotoGP podium since the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix.

Brad Binder:

Brad Binder started his 2022 off with a bang as he claimed KTM’s best ever result around Qatar. The South African rider managed to put the Austrian bike up on the podium as he finished second place.

The 26-year-old rode an amazing race for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. Binder was the only KTM rider to unlock the full potential of the KTM.

Miguel Oliveira:

The Portuguese rider started the year off in a disastrous style! Oliveira started the race in 14th and did not finish the race.

Oliveira will be looking over at his teammate for support at the next race as he did not match his ability this weekend.

Repsol Honda Team:

The new RC213V made its way up onto the podium today after a promising weekend for the new machine.

Pol Espargaro:

The Spanish rider looked like he was in line for his first ever MotoGP win! However, the pressure got to Pol Espargaro today and he missed his braking marker at turn one.

Espargaro still secured a podium position but it will be bitter sweet as he was so close to that first MotoGP race win

Marc Marquez:

The eight time World Champion started the race in third place. But he was out performed by his teammate from the beginning

Marquez is still adapting to the new RC213V as the characteristics of the bike has changed drastically since last year. Overall, the Spaniard finished fifth place.

The top Honda from the Qatar Grand Prix was Pol Espargaro!

Aprilia Racing:

Aprilia have started 2022 off with a very good result for one of their riders! After another complete overhaul to their RSGP there could be a good year ahead for Aprilia.

Aleix Espargaro:

Aleix Espargaro was so close to taking Aprilia to their second ever MotoGP podium. However, he did manage to finish fourth place today in the desert of Qatar

The Spanish rider will be targeting further podiums and potential race wins this season

Maverick Vinales:

Maverick Vinales managed to score points in the opening race of 2022. The new boy at Aprilia manged to take his machine into 12th place.

However, it is not a great result when you compare it to his race win at the beginning of last season.

Team Suzuki Ecstar:

After an extremely promising Friday and Saturday it was a rather underwhelming Sunday for Suzuki.

Joan Mir:

Joan Mir was the top Suzuki today after he finished the race in sixth place. The new Suzuki GSX-RR has improved drastically this season.

Mir put on a great late charge but could not crack the top five.

Alex Rins:

Alex Rins is expected to have a poor season this year. However, he started the year off with a decent result as he finished seventh place.

The Spaniard was expected to do better in the race but his qualifying result let him down.

Joan Mir was the top Suzuki rider after round one

Pramac Racing:

The Pramac Racing team had a rider on pole position for this opening Grand Prix. But the race did not go as expected.

Johann Zarco:

After a very poor weekend on the build up to the race Zarco managed to have a decent race. The Frenchman put his 2022 specification Ducati into eighth place as he blasted passed a Yamaha on the line!

Zarco qualified down in thirteenth place which was not an ideal position for Zarco.

Jorge Martin:

Jorge Martin took the first pole position of 2022, but it did not go as well in the race. After a poor start Martin dropped back into the pack.

The Spanish rider was taken out by a fellow Ducati rider into turn one, which ended his race prematurely

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP:

The team which took their rider to the 2021 World Championship had an absolute shocking start to 2022

Fabio Quartararo:

The French rider had a horrid Friday and Saturday as he qualified in eleventh place on the grid. Historically Quartararo has not had great success when he has not qualified on the first two rows of the grid.

History repeated itself today as the reigning Champion started his 2022 campaign with a ninth place finish

Franco Morbidelli:

The Italian rider has fully recovered from his knee injury and looked like he could have a good weekend. However, like his teammate he had a poor qualifying as he started from 12th.

Morbidelli did not have a good race either has he dragged his M1 Yamaha across the line in 11th place.

LCR Honda:

The LCR Honda Team did not have as good a weekend as the factory team. However, they did have a decent weekend after their 2021 standards.

Takaaki Nakagami:

The Japanese rider had a decent performance today as he finished the opening round of 2022 in tenth place.

Nakagami needs a strong 2022 season if he wants to stay in MotoGP for 2023

Alex Marquez:

The little brother of the Repsol Honda rider had an appalling start to the 2022 season as he crashed out of the opening race.

Alex Marquez will need some top level performances this season if wants to keep his MotoGP ride in 2023.

Mooney VR46 Racing Team:

Valentino Rossi’s new Mooney VR46 Racing Team made their debut this weekend in Qatar and they managed to score points today.

Luca Marini:

The younger half brother of Rossi starts his second year of MotoGP racing and he has a Ducati GP22 to ride

Marini managed a result of 13th place today, which was average after a poor weekend from the young Italian.

Marco Bezzecchi:

Another MotoGP rookie had a decent start to the race for his first ever MotoGP race on his Ducati GP21 as he was battling for 12th.

However, his race did end in disaster after he crashed out of his debut in MotoGP, but he was rather impressive.

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team:

The new WithU Yamaha Team have not had a good preseason and have flown under the radar at the start of 2022. There first MotoGP race did not go very different.

Andrea Dovizioso:

The veteran Italian has returned to MotoGP in the satellite Yamaha squad. But it does not look like he will have a good 2022 season.

Dovizioso finished his first full time race back in MotoGP down in fourteenth place, not where he would have been expecting.

Darryn Binder:

Rookie rider Binder made the jump from Moto3 up to MotoGP this year on a Yamaha and a lot of pressure is on him.

The South African rider had a decent debut after everyone has written him off for 2022. Binder finished 16th place but he was battling for the points with fellow rookies.