Vinales masters conditions to grab pole position in Qatar

In difficult conditions, Maverick Vinales mastered the Losail International Circuit to take the pole position for the VisitQatar Grand Prix yesterday. The Spaniard put in a blistering lap of 1 minute 53.546 seconds on his Yamaha YZR-M1 on an evening when several riders suffered crashes in cold and windy conditions.But Vinales was untouched on the night, as he dominated the Q2 in qualifying to secure a first pole of the year by almost two-tenths of a second over Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati.Last year’s winner in Qatar, Dovizioso managed to beat reigning MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez on the Honda by just 0.001s. Marquez’s new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo failed to make past the Q1, so did Valentino Rossi, whose struggle on  Yamaha was even more perplexing after Vinales’ stunning show. In the pre-season testing at the Losail circuit, Vinales had impressed and the 24-year-old continued his strong form. This is Vinales’ second pole in Qatar but only the first time he has topped the qualifying at Losail Circuit.  In 2017, persistent rain meant qualifying was called off and Vinales was handed the pole position then on the basis of practice times, where he was the fastest. He went on to win the rain-delayed and shortened race back then on his debut for Yamaha, and looks good to repeat the feat today.The Spaniard sounded out a warning to his rivals, saying he is at his best ahead of today’s opening race of the season. “I think I’m riding my best in my third season with Yamaha. I always try to work for the race set-up and I felt great after one lap. After setting the fastest time early, I just attacked and gave my best. We are bringing the bike to the limit all the time and that’s really positive,” he said.Vinales, though, was quick to add that Yamaha is far from the best. “We need to improve. In the last corner, we were pretty slow. We have two opponents (Dovizioso and Marquez) who can hit the top seed tomorrow in the race, but we have really good rhythm. And I’m confident we can deliver in the race,” he said. Jack Miller briefly moved up to second with a 1:53.809s, only to crash at Turn 2 moments later, and the Australian was eclipsed by Ducati stablemate Dovizioso by 0.065s. Miller was then pushed out of the front row as Marquez vaulted up to third at the chequered flag.Dovizioso said he was pleased to start from second place, having come into the opening race of the season with some disappointing pre-season tests. “I’m really happy because we came here before the weekend with not a really good feeling after a strange testing,” the Italian said.  “This weekend we worked really hard and we are improving step by step, practice by practice, small things, but the key was to stay calm. We came into FP4 and in qualifying with a better feeling, and the lap time got better. We are very close to the fastest riders,” the Ducati rider added.Honda’s Marquez blamed it on the conditions for his struggle on the night. “The conditions on the track were not so good, really cold and windy. That is the reason all the riders wanted to start the qualifying and race one hour earlier because it gets very cold.  I had better pace and rhythm in practice, but we will work really hard for the race,” the Spaniard said. Meanwhile, Rossi will line-up 14th ahead of Lorenzo, who crashed once again, having suffered similar problems in testing. Lorenzo was the first rider in qualifying to go down at Turn 2 during his final run in the opening session, while Rossi continued to struggle for one-lap pace on his Yamaha.Rookie Fabio Quartararo stunned on his MotoGP debut by taking fifth place for new squad Petronas Yamaha ahead of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow who progressed through Q1 along with team-mate Takaaki Nakagami. Factory Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci, who topped FP4, heads up row three ahead of fellow countryman Franco Morbidelli on the Petronas Yamaha and Nakagami.Meanwhile, Sterilgarda Max Racing’s Aron Canet clinched the first Moto3 pole position of the new season in impressive fashion. The Spaniard was the only man the go beneath the 2:06 barrier, eventually finishing just under two tenths clear of the chasing pack with a 2:05.883. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) and Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) took second and third on the grid to grab debut front row starts for both riders.