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Maverick Vinales Wins Moto GP Season Opener On Yamaha Debut As Rossi Battles To The Podium
Maverick Vinales won the 2017 Moto GP season opener at Qatar to win his debut race for Yamaha.
Maverick Vinales won the season-opening Moto GP race in Qatar keep Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso at bay to pick up the win on his debut for Yamaha.
The Qatar Grand Prix start got delayed by showers that popped up minutes before the lights were to go green. Rains had also washed out all of Saturday's running including the Qualifying session.
However, when the curtailed race (trimmed down by two laps to 20) finally started, it was Tech 3 Yamaha's Yohan Zarco who stormed into the lead from fourth on the grid after switching to a soft rear tyre on the grid.
Zarco zipped past pole sitter Vinales on the second corner and then took the race lead by making a move past Suzuki's Andrea Iannone. Unfortunately for Zarco, his race came to an end on the seventh lap when he crashed at turn 2 while leading the pack by over one and half seconds.
Zarco's crash saw Dovizioso inherit the lead, who then stretched the gap to Iannone to a second by the halfway point. The Suzuki rider was fighting off Marc Marquez and the two Yamaha factory riders when he crashed out on lap 11.
Vinales and Rossi (who started 10th on the grid) then roared past Marquez on the very next lap as they set about chasing the Ducati.
Vinales caught up Dovizioso's Ducati and tried overtaking him three times in three laps (Laps 14,15,16) but failed. He finally managed to make it stick on Lap 19 and then held on to take the race win by 0.461 seconds.
7-time World Champion Valentino Rossi took the final place on the podium, battling his way up from 10th on the starting grid. The two factory Hondas of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa rounded up the top 5.
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