Qatar MotoGP

Never one to jump to early conclusions, Qatar race winner Andrea Dovizioso believes the hierarchy of the 2019 MotoGP world championship won't be clear until at least round five, in France.

Franco Morbidelli was forced into 'defence mode' to salvage eleventh place on his Petronas Yamaha Sepang MotoGP debut, in Qatar.

Francesco Bagnaia's hopes of a strong MotoGP debut effectively ended at turn one of the Qatar Grand Prix. Contact with Pramac predecessor Danilo Petrucci broke the upper section of Bagnaia's right wing, altering the behaviour of the reigning Moto2 world champion's Ducati.

It was a case of so close, yet so far for Pol Espargaro and KTM in the season-opening Qatar MotoGP. The Spaniard began his third year as an RC16 rider 12.774s from victory, by far KTM's best Losail performance, but it was only good enough for twelfth place.

The first round of this year's hotly contested MotoGP Rookie of the Year title ended resounding in favour of Joan Mir. The Suzuki rider ran as high as fourth on has way to finishing the Qatar Grand Prix in eighth, thus scoring eight points.

UPDATE: Despite Petrucci's words (below), Ducati sporting director's Paolo Ciabatti says the swingarm wing is for cooling the rear tyre and not downforce generation, which the protesting teams claim is its main purpose...

Marc Marquez credited Honda's more powerful 2019 engine for enabling him to finish a fraction from Andrea Dovizioso in Sunday's season-opening Qatar MotoGP.

After a stunning pre-season and then fifth in Qatar qualifying, it was particularly cruel that rookie Fabio Quartararo's first notable error as a MotoGP rider came as he left the grid for the season-opening grand prix.

One of the keys to Andrea Dovizioso's (provisional) victory in the Qatar season-opener was containing a charging Alex Rins in the middle stages of the race.

It wasn't Cal Crutchlow's healing ankle that left him in most discomfort at the end of Sunday's Qatar MotoGP.

Dovizioso wins a thrilling season-opening Qatar MotoGP night race after another showdown with Marquez, decided in the Italian's favour at the very final corner - just like last year!

Riders' World Championship:

Race results from the 2019 Qatar Moto2 Grand Prix, round 1 of 19.

Race results from the 2019 Qatar Moto3 Grand Prix, round 1 of 19.

Petrucci takes command of warm-up for the season-opening Qatar MotoGP, ahead of Marquez and Rins. Pole starter Vinales was fourth, as just 0.866s cover the top 14 riders!

Warm-up results from the 2019 Qatar Moto3 Grand Prix, round 1 of 19.

Vinales takes the first pole position of the 2019 MotoGP season in Qatar and will be joined on Sunday's front row by Dovizioso and Marquez.

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez emerged unscathed from two falls and went on to secure a front row start for the season-opening Qatar night race, at perhaps Honda's worst circuit.

When Andrea Dovizioso finished the final pre-season test with the 15th fastest lap time, the general consensus was that he and Ducati were not showing their true speed.

Maverick Vinales and Yamaha had to wait until the 17th round of last season to claim what would be the M1's only victory of the year.

Reigning five-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton made his latest visit to a MotoGP as a guest of the new Petronas Yamaha Sepang team on Saturday in Qatar.

Crutchlow leads Qualifying 1 and now advances to Qualifying 2 along with team-mate Nakagami. Already sore from a big highside in FP3, Lorenzo was one of several riders to tumble during the 15-minute session.

Petrucci, Dovizioso and Miller make it three Ducatis in the top four during final practice for the season-opening Qatar MotoGP. Petrucci did the whole session on soft tyres and did not stop. Team-mate Dovizioso started on a soft rear but then switched to the medium rear.

Qualifying results from the 2019 Qatar Moto2 Grand Prix, round 1 of 19.