Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) fought off team-mate Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing). at the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar in the first round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship to snatch 25 points on his debut ride with Repsol Honda. Stoner finished 3.440 seconds ahead of second placed Jorge Lorenzo.
The riders observed a one minutes silence in honour of the victims of the Japan earthquake ahead of the MotoGP race. The 22 lap race was run in the best conditions of the weekend with fairly high temperatures without the strong winds that had been feared. It produced a thrilling race with close encounters throughout the pack.
Pedrosa took the lead from the start of the race and then it was the reigning World Champion, Lorenzo who took up the mantle as race leader. What followed was fierce between the two Spaniards and Stoner, with the Repsol Honda’s eventually pulling an advantage. Stoner and Pedrosa swapped position for the lead on several occasions and at the midway point, the pole sitter, increased his pace and set off for the chequered flag. This left the two championship rivals from 2010 dueling it out for second place and it was the Yamaha rider who picked up the 20 points.
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) were involved in a close battle for fourth place throughout the race and it was the Repsol Honda who took the first position off the podium. Dovizioso finished 5.942 behind Stoner.
There was much anticipation surrounding the debut of Valentino Rossi with the Ducati Team. The Italian finished seventh after racing Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing), after swapping places with the American, the Yamaha got the advantage over the Ducati to take sixth place.
Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was eighth, with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) completing the top ten. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) managed to take 11th place on the last lap ahead of Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar Team). GP debutant Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing) was the final rider to pass the chequered flag and earned himself three points, with just 13 riders finishing the first race of the season.
It was a nightmare start for the Pramac Racing team after Randy de Puniet had a nasty highside on lap on causing his race to end early. His team-mate Loris Capirossi was hit by the Frenchman’s bike, crushing his hand and therefore had to retire from the race.
1 25 27 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 166.5 42'38.569 2 20 1 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 166.3 +3.440 3 16 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 166.2 +5.051 4 13 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 166.2 +5.942 5 11 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 166.1 +7.358 6 10 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 165.9 +10.468 7 9 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 165.5 +16.431 8 8 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 164.8 +26.293 9 7 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 164.8 +27.416 10 6 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 164.7 +28.920 11 5 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 164.3 +34.539 12 4 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 164.3 +34.829 13 3 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 164.1 +37.957 Not Classified 24 Toni ELIAS SPA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 162.8 4 Laps 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 142.4 21 Laps 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 0 Lap
