Moto3 season start as you know it from the junior class. Lined up like a string of pearls in a huge group with constant changes of position. As so often, there were unfortunately numerous falls and not all of them were self-inflicted.

The race with the most failures on the first Grand Prix Sunday

Dennis Foggia and Deniz Öncü fell on the first lap, and the young Turk was able to continue afterwards. A little later, Romano Fenati took a double long lap penalty, which the Italian later described as unjustified. After that, 5 riders fell within a minute and a half. It all started with Riccardo Rossi and a little later Öncü was down again with Migno, Artigas and McPhee. The latter had been pulled out of the saddle completely innocently, which meant that one of the top candidates for the podium was already out of the race. In the meantime, his team-mate Darryn Binder played a decisive role, but with a leading group of mostly 15 drivers, he had anything but an easy task to make it onto the podium.

John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing Honda) before the start – the Scot had nothing to reproach himself for after being eliminated in the second round. On the next Sunday he will get a second chance, and it is to be hoped that he will not be the victim of a driver who fell at the same time.

The usual course of a Moto3 race – constant changes in leadership

If you look at how the position changes of the first 3 drivers resulted over the 18 lap race, the picture is adventurous. In yellow the eventual winner Jaume Masia, rookie Pedro Acosta in gray and the later third Darryn Binder in orange. All of these three pilots had been in the lead at times, but some of them were repeatedly thrown back many places within a short period of time. After all, the three drivers on the podium at the end were the first to cross the finish line alternately on exactly two thirds of the laps. Only six times was someone else in the lead. Most convincing on P2 were Pedro Acosta, seventh Izan Guevara (both Spain) and Jason Dupasquier from Switzerland in 10th place.

Which driver belongs to which starting number can be seen in the next graphic in the third column.

Result of the first Moto3 Grand Prix of Qatar

In the second column the championship points, since the first race naturally includes the interim rankings of the world championship. The Austrian Max Kofler benefited from the fall of Ayumu Sasaki with rank 15 and his first world championship point of his career.
The Moto3 podium at the season opener with from left Pedro Acosta (P2), winner Jaume Masia (both Red Bull KTM Ajo) and third-placed Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Honda).

What can we expect from the second Moto3 Grand Prix of the season?

In contrast to MotoGP and Moto2, a driver between turns 1 and 16 hardly manages to break away from his pursuers sufficiently so as not to be caught up on the start-finish straight. On the endless long straight of the Losail International Circuit, there are always extreme changes of position in Moto3. As John McPhee’s accident through no fault of his own proved, such a fate can hit any driver. This is another reason why a forecast of the outcome of the next race is almost impossible. Even the starting position is no indication of where a driver will end up in the end. The only thing that is certain is that excitement is guaranteed from start to finish.

Jason Dupasquier (CarXpert PruestelGP) – The Swiss son of a former motocross rider from the French-speaking part of the small Alpine country not only scored his first World Championship points, but also made it into the top ten straight away.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).