DOHA: Maverick Vinales won a rain-delayed and shortened Qatar MotoGP season-opener on Sunday in a triumphant Yamaha debut for the young Spaniard.

Italian Andrea Dovizioso was second for Ducati with compatriot Valentino Rossi, at 38, back on the podium in third place for Yamaha under the desert floodlights.

Honda’s reigning champion Marc Marquez finished fourth on an eventful evening that saw Vinales shrug off a poor start from pole before making a stirring comeback for his second career victory, finally beating off Dovizioso after the pair swapped the lead several times over the final seven laps.

The 22-year-old Vinales, who took all the headlines in pre-season testing as well as practice in Qatar, further enhanced his growing reputation.

“It feels great,” he said immediately afterwards. “Honestly, the track was so difficult. I was taking so much care at the start.

“Anyway, the bike was great. I have to say thanks to the team. Even if the conditions were difficult we were there all the time.”

Vinales triumphed in a race reduced to 20 laps after rain and a wet track had delayed the start by 45 minutes and in a high-quality field which included 10 world champions.

In fact organisers were extremely lucky as the heavens again opened up immediately after the race ended in a weekend dominated by wet weather in Qatar, and which saw qualifying cancelled on Saturday because of thunderstorms.

Vinales looked to have blown his chances early on after his poor start.

The early leader was France’s Johann Zarco, who on his MotoGP debut riding a Yamaha Tech3, dominated the early laps taking a lead of more than a second into the sixth lap, before dramatically crashing out unchallenged at the head of the race.

Also crashing out were Italian Andrea Iannone, who left the race at the halfway mark while in third position, and Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, an early faller.

Spain’s triple champion Jorge Lorenzo, last year’s winner in Qatar whose place at Yamaha was taken by Vinales after he moved to Ducati, finished 11th.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2017