Qatar Moto3 front-row man Jorge Martin has converted his qualifying performance into the first win of season at the Qatar MotoGP round, fending off a charge from Aron Canet by 0.023s with Lorenzo Dalla Porta a distant seven second back in third place.
It was disaster for Britain’s John McPhee though. The Scotsman had opted for the hard rear Michelin and was able to pick his way through to the fight for the podium and was sitting at the head of the group as the last lap flag came out but the CIP rider wasn’t able to convert, crashing out.
Martin,w ho crashed in warm-up, and Canet were in a class of their own after Enea Bastiannini fell with 13 laps to go , opening a massive gap over the chase for third place. Dalla Porta, McPhee, Nico Antonello, Gabriel Rodrigo, Fabio Digiannantonio were all in contention but it was Dalla Porto, who has been in the doldrums for a couple of season, who bagged third by just 0.045s from Antonelli.
Rodrigo was fifth with Digiannantonio in sixth place. Toba, Sasaki, Kornfeil and Migno completed the top ten.