Maverick Viñales shines for Yamaha amidst an almost disastrous MotoGP weekend in Qatar

Safety Car checking out the track conditions on Saturday. (motorsport.com)

The MotoGP race weekend that only went from bad to worse. With dark clouds looming, Thursday and Friday’s Free Practice went off without a hitch. Then on Saturday, the torrential rain hit and caused havoc for Dorna.

Race Direction in cooperation with the track officials were trying make sure the track was safe for the riders to go out for qualifying. After almost two hours of delays, the decision came from Race Direction to cancel Saturday’s sessions on safety grounds.

“In the run off area of turn 8, we nearly have a lake. The problem is without drainage, the water keeps coming up from the bottom.”, head of Race Direction, Loris Capirossi stated in a press conference following the cancellations.

Loris Capirossi giving a press conference after Saturday’s cancelled sessions. (motorsport.com)

With no qualifying sessions, the Free Practice session times were combined to provide the grid positions for Sunday’s races. For MotoGP this meant Maverick Viñales would start from pole position on his debut for Movistar Yamaha.

Five minutes out from the start of the MotoGP race, rain began to fall. A delayed start caused all riders, mechanics, and media to clear the starting grid and retreat into pit lane.

Forty minutes behind schedule the lights finally went out and the MotoGP race begun.

Rookie, Johann Zarco led for the first six laps before crashing, with Viñales eventually finding his way to the front. Battling with Andrea Dovizioso, Viñales overtook him with two laps to go for the victory.

Maverick Viñales in parc ferme. (motogp.com)

A mix of new and familiar names rounded out the top ten, Jack Miller in eighth, followed by two rookies Alex Rins and Jonas Folger. One major name missing was that of Jorge Lorenzo, a mistake on the first lap costing him greatly on his Ducati debut.

“He’s very self confident, especially when it comes to his riding but Casey Stoner is the only person that’s ever tamed it. He has that legacy to live up to.”, said former pit crew chief Bill Nolan, when asked to comment on Lorenzo’s Ducati adventure.

The next round of the championship will be in Argentina in a fortnight.