Yahoo News MotoGP 2017: Qatar preview
The World Superbike Championship may have started a month ago (and heads to Spain in a weeks time for round three) but for myself and many other race fans the season starts now, with the opening race of the MotoGP season.
This weekend the Losail International Circuit in Qatar will host round one of the 2017 MotoGP championship. As always the race will take place under the floodlights of the 3.34-mile circuit. There really is nothing like the sight of the Grand Prix machines shimmering under the floodlights that use in excess of 3,500 light bulbs. This year sees MotoGP visit the circuit for the 14 time, the 10th time under the floodlights.
Winter testing has been intriguing to say the least. 2015 champion Jorge Lorenzo moved from Yamaha to Ducati with who many perceive to be a champion elect, Maverick Vinales, taking Lorenzo’s berth at Yamaha after an impressive season on the Suzuki.
Indeed it has been Vinales who has taken all the headlines in pre-season testing, eclipsing even team-mate Valentino Rossi. The young Spaniard has topped the timing charts at each of the four winter tests, including the final test in Qatar.
Rossi - for the time being at least - is showing warmth to the Spaniard, how long that will last should Vinales prove a serious threat to Rossi’s status as No1 in the Yamaha garage is the question on many lips.
Lorenzo had a relatively slow start to his Ducati career but has picked up the pace at recent tests and could be a serious contender for the title. Reigning champion Marc Marquez can never be discounted and while pre-season may not have gone to plan, with the Spaniard taking a number of tumbles, once the flag drops on Sunday evening he will undoubtedly be in the mix.
Cal Cruthlow remains Britain’s best hope of GP wins and will be hoping to improve on his tally of two wins from last season. Scott Redding will meanwhile be hoping to improve on last year's erratic form that saw take him only six top 10 finishes and an eventual placing of 15 in the championship.
The final British rider on the grid will be Sam Lowes, who graduates from the Moto2 class to the factory Aprilia team for 2017.
The 2015 and 2016 Moto2 champion Johan Zarco also makes the leap to MotoGP this year, with the Yamaha Tech three team, and has had a solid pre-season finishing mid-way down the order.
This season sees a new manufacturer enter the championship in the shape of KTM, which will have British rider Bradley Smith on board, partnered by Pol Espargaro. It will undoubtedly be a long, hard season for the pair but KTM never enters any series just to take part.
One thing helping KTM ever so slightly is the fact that last year saw the introduction of both new control tyres and electronics, meaning their rivals don’t have years of experience with them. None the less, weather or freak conditions apart, it is difficult to see the Austrian manufacturer challenging for podium finishes in 2017.
The arrival of KTM sees the roster of manufacturers increase to six, with a regular grid of 23 riders. Of the current grid, Valentino Rossi is the most successful rider at Losail with four wins, the most recent coming in 2015. Hot on his heals with three wins is arch-rival Jorge Lorenzo. Rossi shares the record for most wins at the Losail circuit with another bitter rival, the now-retired Casey Stoner.
In the Moto2 supporting class, without Johann Zarco it’s time for someone new to step up to the plate. At this stage who that will be is difficult to call, but expect Franco Morbidelli, Thomas Luthi and Takaaki Nakagami to be pushing at the front. All three finished in the top six last year and have the experience necessary in the class.
After an imperious season in Moto3, where he won the championship comfortably, Brad Binder will this year contest Moto2 .
Based on last year's showing it might be fanciful, but it would be nice to see Britain's Danny Kent put 2016 behind him and rediscover the form that took him to the 2015 Moto3 Championship. This season could well define the 23-year-old's future.
The Moto3 class will be as entertaining as ever and whether anyone will dominate as Binder did last year remains to be seen. In a class where 1/10 of a second invariably separates front-runners from also-rans, we are guaranteed all action racing.
British hopes once again rest on the shoulders of Scot John McPhee, who for 2017 has factory Honda backing for his British Talent Team. I very much doubt 2017 will yield another British champion but it none the less as always promises to be an intriguing and exciting eight months.
The racing is live on BT Sport from 4pm on Sunday with Channel 5 showing a one-hour highlights program on Monday at 7pm.
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