CRICKET | Page 5 GGOLFOLF | Page 10 Fletcher Chawrasia To Advertise here shines as claims 3rd Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 West Indies European down Lanka Tour title Monday, March 21, 2016 FORMULA 1 Jumada II 12, 1437 AH Rosberg pips GULF TIMES Hamilton for Mercedes one-two SPORT Page 3 MOTORCYCLING Lorenzo takes off from where he left last season Movistar Yamaha rider wins season-opener in Qatar; Ducati’s Dovizioso and Repsol Honda’s Marquez round up top three By Joe Koraith Doha Results MotoGP (top 10) Moto2 (top three) hat’s life without drama 1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 42:28.452 1. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 40:14.293 they say! And the 2016 2. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) +2.019 2. Luis Salom (Kalex) +9.610 MotoGP season-opener 3. Marc Marquez (Honda) +2.287 3. Simone Corsi (Speed Up) +9.665 provided quite a bit of that 4. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +2.387 4. Hafizh Syarin (Kalex) +13.558 Wand more. In the end, Jorge Lorenzo 5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +14.083 5. Dominique Aegerter (Kalex) +16.064 continued from where he had left off 6. Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) +15.423 Moto3 (top three) last season and produced a comfort- 7. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha Tech3) +18.629 1. Niccolo Antonelli (Honda) +38:12.161 able win in the end to launch his title 8. Bradley Smith (Yamaha Tech3) +18.652 2. Brad Binder (KTM) +0.007 defence in style. In second place was 9. Hector Barbera (Ducati Avintia) +21.160 3. Francesco Bagnaia (Mahindra) +0.148 Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso and a 10. Scott Redding (Ducati Pramac) +24.435 4. Romano Fenati (KTM) +0.435 close third was Marc Marquez. Val- 5. Enea Bastianini (Honda) +0.606 entino Rossi managed to fi nish fourth and grab some valuable points. But the results don’t give an inkling of the plethora of action that happened during the race. Lorenzo took the lead at the start while Marquez had a bad start and dropped to fi fth. But at the end of the fi rst lap, the Ducatis showed their prowess down the straight, and Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso zoomed past the Yamaha rider. Iannone, who came under pressure after being overtaken by Dovizioso, crashed in the sixth lap, bringing his race to a premature end. Lorenzo was then able to overtake Dovizioso in the eighth lap and didn’t relinquish the lead after that. The battle for second was keenly contested in the closing laps with Marquez overtak- Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo receives the trophy after winning the ing Dovizioso in the 18th lap but the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit yesterday. Italian was able to regain the position PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil in the last lap and then relied on his straight line speed to grab the second the Ducati after losing in acceleration joy! You’re not enjoying like 2011 and spot on the podium. on the straight. But we have 16 points 2013!” I want to say thanks to my fam- This is a great start to the season for for the championship and now we will ily. There were 2 diffi cult years and I’ll Lorenzo and he attributed part of his go to tracks that are better for us,” said make my best from now until Valen- success to the right choice of tyres. Marquez yesterday. cia,” said Spanish rider yesterday. “To choose the right rear tyre was im- The Moto2 race had drama right at Moto3 was the fi rst race of the day portant. I tried the hard one in warm the start! Thomas Luthi, who started and it’s the category that sees the most up but I didn’t get the right feeling. It 10th on the grid claimed a sensational drama every season. And the start of was a risk to try the soft because both victory after seven of the top 10 rid- the 2016 was no diff erent with Nic- my rivals – Marquez and Rossi chose ers on the grid jumped the start. De- colo Antonelli snatching victory from soft – but fi nally it came good. I was fending champion Johann Zarco, Sam Brad Binder by seven thousands of a able to do really fast laps. It’s always Lowes, Marcel Schrotter and Alex Rins second! Third place went to Mahindra important to start the season on the were all handed ride-through penal- rider Francesco Bagnaia. podium but it’s even better to get a ties for their false start. Pole position Throughout the race, the battle for victory. Tonight we party,” said Loren- man Jonas Folger had a great start but the top spot was between Romano Fen- zo after the race. fell on the third lap. Franco Morbidelli nati, Binder and Nicolo Bulega. Fennati Ducati’s Dovizioso was happy to then had the lead and he battled it right started from pole and was either in the have emerged victorious in the bat- till the end with Luthi. But Morbidelli lead or thereabouts for most of the race. tle against Marquez. “When you fi n- also was given a 20-second penalty for But in the penultimate lap, the Sky Rac- ish the race with Marc, it’s diffi cult his false start. That meant that despite ing Team VR46 rider ran wide from sec- to fi ght. We were on the edge. We re- fi nishing second, Morbidelli was clas- ond and dropped out of the title fi ght. ally destroyed the rear tyre. In the last sifi ed as having fi nished seventh. Luis Fennati’s teammate, Bulega too led at corner I knew Marc would try but my Salom rode well to take advantage of multiple points in the race, but lost out engine helped me to beat him. We fi n- the front riders getting penalized and in the frenetic last lap. ished last season with not so good a fi nished second. In third place was Binder would be the one who would feeling but we worked really well and Simone Corsi who started the race in feel the most pain. The South African now the feeling has come back. We are 14th place. started from sixth place from the grid really competitive with the new rules. “I didn’t know (about the penalty to after having gotten a penalty of three I’m so happy to start like this,” said Morbidelli)! For me nothing changed, places for irresponsible riding dur- Dovizioso. I won the race with and without his ing practice. He did well to get himself As for Marquez, the Spaniard was penalty. Maybe I didn’t need to take involved in the battle for victory and happy with his third-place fi nish on the risk at the end so that’s not that would have won the race if it weren’t for this diffi cult track for Honda. “The nice. But I stayed behind Franco, that last minute burst from Antonelli. last corner was my only chance. I knew watched and attacked,” said Luthi af- “In the last lap the slipstream can that if I overtook there he would get me ter the race. sometimes win, sometimes no. I knew before the line. But I’m really happy Salom was just excited to benefi t if I stayed behind Brad I would be because I did my maximum. The per- from penalties. “It’s incredible. I can’t close. I’m very happy because it wasn’t fect result would have been second believe it! I was speaking with my an easy weekend,” said Antonelli after place but it was diffi cult to overtake mother yesterday and she said, “En- the race. Lorenzo (centre) finished ahead of Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso (left) and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez. Gulf Times 2 Monday, March 21, 2016 SPORT FOCUS MOTO3 Antonelli claims Luthi wins dramatic thrilling fi rst victory of 2016 Moto2 race at Losail he Moto3 World Cham- fi ghting behind. Try as he might, pionship kicked off the the South African was caught by season with a classically Fenati on the straight and the Franco Morbidelli is pushed down to seventh after a 20 second penalty close race, with Niccolo brawl resumed once more. The TAntonelli (pictured) emerging leading six continued to tussle, arage Plus Interwetten rider victorious ahead of Brad Binder Binder able to stretch a small lead Tom Luthi picked up the victory and Francesco Bagnaia. through the corners but caught in the Moto2 World Champion- Starting from pole position, each time down the straight. ship opener at Qatar’s Losail In- Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team Behind the leading six a large Gternational Circuit yesterday even as the VR46) charged off the line to lead eight-rider battle rumbled along race itself saw number of penalties and during the opening corners with for tenth position, Fabio Quar- crashes. Livio Loi (RW Racing GP BV) and tararo (Leopard Racing) control- For the QMMF Racing Team, the home Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) hot ling the second group for much race was a tough outing with Julian Simon on his tail. Loi attempted to take of the race. crashing out of the race, and teammate the lead with 17 laps to go before With four laps to go rookie Xavier Simeon retiring after taking a fall running wide at Turn 1, dropping Bulega struck and took the lead, with fi ve laps to go. outside the top fi ve. Binder responding immediately Starting from pole position and having Binder and Jorge Navarro (Es- as the two KTM men sparred for won the 2015 edition of the Commercial trella Galicia 0,0) tried to break supremacy.