I’ve just arrived back home from Qatar with a super new Tissot watch but I would willingly swap it for 25 World Championship points. Of course I’m still really bitterly disappointed about the problems we had when I was leading a grand prix for the very first time but there are still so many positives to take from the complete weekend in Qatar.
Perhaps everything was just going too smoothly when race day arrived. I’d led all practice and qualifying sessions despite a couple of crashes when I was just twisting the throttle too early after setting the fastest laps. The crashes just reminded me to calm down.
Even the start of race day (or should I say night) was perfect when I was awarded the Tissot watch and helmet for taking pole position. It was a great way to start race day and took my mind off what lay ahead.
Things started to go wrong during the warm-up session for the race when the bike seized and I had to run back to the pits to just get out on my second machine. The team then had just one and a half hours before the race started to swap engines from bike two to bike one and prepare everything for the race. We finished in time and everything seemed fine but as I prepared to go out for the sighting lap before the race, the bike would not start. I thought I was going to have miss the lap which would have meant I would have had to start from the back of the grid instead of pole.
We kept calm and I was not fazed and when the bike started I felt it was a real bonus to be able to start from pole after all the problems.
My start was very good and I was leading a grand prix for the very first time and it all felt a bit surreal. Usually in a 125cc grand prix it’s very hectic in the pack but here I was with an empty track in front of me with a floodlights glaring down on the empty road ahead. I had the whole track to myself and it was more like a Sunday night ride than a grand prix race but unfortunately it did not last for long.
