Marc Marquez wins his third Grand Prix of the season with Maverick Vinales pulling out a surprise second place

Marc Marquez started from his fourth consecutive pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix and looked to secure his third double of the season. Alex Marquez started from second with Fabio Quartararo on his first Grand Prix front row since 2022. Francesco Bagnaia after a costly crash in Qualifying 2 started from 11th on the grid.

The lights went out and it was Marc Marquez who took the holeshot into turn one, but Alex Marquez tried to squeeze up the inside, the two brothers made contact and Franky Morbidelli from fourth on the grid took the lead. Bagnaia was up to seventh.

Pecco Bagnaia passed Quartararo for sixth place. Morbidelli was pulling a gap over Marc Marquez who had lost a rear wing from the contact with Alex Marquez.

On lap three Fabio Di Giannantonio overtook Alex Marquez into turn ten, Alex tried to retake the place at turn 12 and misjudged it and the pair made contact with Alex Marquez dropping to seventh and Di Giannantonio out of the points.

Bagnaia slipstreamed Maverick Vinales to move into third place and then on lap four Bagnaia set the fastest lap of the race and out-braked Marc Marquez into turn one and moved into second place.

Alex Marquez was given a long lap penalty for causing the collision with Di Giannantonio. The Spaniard took it on lap six and rejoined the race in 12th position.

On lap seven Marc Marquez block passed Pecco into turn one and moved back into second, the gap to Morbidelli was 0.6 seconds. Vinales was the fastest rider on track.

Vinales passed Pecco into the final corner forcing the Italian to sit up slightly and Pecco was unable to respond. Vinales then started to hound Marc Marquez.

Jack Miller who was having a disastrous weekend ended his weekend in the gravel, a weekend the forget for the Australian.

On lap ten Vinales executed the perfect block pass on Marc Marquez moved into second place and was now on the back of Morbidelli. Johann Zarco was behind Bagnaia in fifth place having another fantastic ride.

On lap 11 Vinales took the lead for the first time on a RC16 KTM and Marc Marquez managed to get passed Morbidelli also. Bagnaia then passed Morbidelli but the VR46 rider wasn’t giving up the podium, they dueled for multiple corners with Bagnaia emerging in-front but they lost a lot of time to Marquez.

Zarco the passed Morbidelli at turn ten and made the move stick to go into fourth place. Alex Marquez had gotten up to seventh after his long lap penalty and was three seconds behind his teammate Fermin Aldeguer.

On lap 14 Jorge Martin was running in 17th and he hit the outside of the kerb at turn 13 and he went down and seemed to be in some discomfort.

On lap 16 Vinales ran wide at turn six and Marquez inherited the lead and his bike was starting to move around a lot in the left-hand turns.

There was battle for tenth between Marco Bezzecchi, Brad Binder and Luca Marini.

Marc Marquez was pulling away setting a new race lap record. A three way battle for fourth had formed with Morbidelli passing Zarco for fourth at turn one with Aldeguer on the back of both of them.

Marc Marquez crossed the line to win the Qatar Grand Prix, his first victory at the Lusail International Circuit since 2014. Maverick Vinales finished an incredible second with Francesco Bagnaia settling for third. Vinales was under investigation for his tyre pressures. Franky Morbidelli was fourth ahead of Zarco in fifth and Aldeguer in sixth. Alex Marquez was seven after his long lap penalty, Fabio Quartararo was eighth, Pedro Acosta in ninth and Marco Bezzecchi in tenth.

Marc Marquez leads the championship on 123 points, Alex Marquez was second on 105 points with Pecco Bagnaia in third on 93 points.

Featured Image: Ducati Corse.