Plenty can happen over the weekend in Lusail as MotoGP returns to its home in the Middle East for the only night race of its calendar.
A fresh layer of intrigue will surround the Lusail International Circuit this weekend as MotoGP returns to Qatar — this time three races into the season.
Marc Marquez’s crash and Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia’s win at the Circuit of Americas in the third round have shuffled the leaderboard table with Alex Marquez ahead of his older brother by just a point. That close combat will continue under the lights in Lusail, with the doors open for rest of the grid to make a mark too.
Ahead of the much-anticipated race weekend which will witness reigning world champion Jorge Martin’s return, here are some storylines to look forward to:
Lusail’s legacy under the lights
It is fitting that the Lusail International Circuit, primarily built for two-wheelers in 2004, has entertained MotoGP classics over the years.
Star debuts, comebacks, dead heat finishes and iconic duels — the now 5.4-kilometre long Middle Eastern home of the MotoGP has seen it all.
The first of the iconic battles was contested just a year after the circuit was completed, just in time for the inaugural race in 2004. While Marco Melandri’s late lunge at the then-dominant Valentino Rossi went in vain, it made up for a spectacle that would be a mainstay at the circuit for years to come.
If a sophomore Marc Marquez’s moves against multiple-time World Champion Rossi in 2014 were iconic, the former’s close contests against Andrea Dovizioso in 2018 and 2019 made up for pure racing drama along the high-speed corners of the circuit.
Multiple riders who have previously dominated the circuit will compete in the 2025 Qatar GP, including the 2024 race winner, Francesco Bagnaia, who comes to Lusail fresh off a win in Austin.
Despite changing in 2022 to accommodate more four-wheeler events, Bagnaia believes the track, with its flowing corners, will offer a great race. Not only does it suit his swooping riding style, but Lusail has proved prosperous for his current team, Ducati, over the years.
“I think this is a track more suited to me, all we have to do is keep working to take another step forward in braking and corner entry,” Bagnaia said, implying his championship bid could have looked different had the opening race been held in Qatar like the previous years. “We know it [the track] will improve session by session.”
The Qatar GP is the only night race in the calendar, with only two free practices held during the day on Friday. As Doha warms up, temperature as well as night breeze could play an unexpected part over the weekend.
World champion returns with managed expectations
Reigning world champion Martin will hit the track after being declared fit in the final mandatory check on Thursday, ahead of a stacked weekend at the Lusail International Circuit on Thursday.
Martin was cleared to travel to Qatar after initial tests in Europe showed satisfactory improvement on the fractures that made him miss the first three races of the season.
“I’m a bit nervous and very happy,” the 2024 MotoGP World Champion told reporters on Thursday. “I’ve been through two difficult months and I’ve worked so hard to be here.”
The 27-year-old is yet to make his competitive debut for new side Aprilia, having made the switch following an impressive triumph with Ducati. Despite recovering well from his surgeries on his right hand and left foot following the first crash in Sepang, lightning struck twice as another incident in pre-season testing led to further surgeries.
While the Spaniard — nicknamed Martinator — returning to action is itself a positive, expecting a dominant return to title defense straightaway, that too with a new team, could be quite a stretch.
Martin hinted at a slow return, adding that competing with the best will perhaps take two or three months. In realistic terms, completing the weekend will be a “great success”, he added.
“From a physical point of view, I am not 100% and I don’t really know what to expect,” Martin said. “I have good strength, but I still feel pain. The important thing will be to do laps.”
‘Unexpected’ leader eyes maiden Grand Prix win
Just a point above his older brother is Alex Marquez, who is leading in the world championship going into the race in Lusail.
The leading online motorsports news content website Motorsport.com prefers to call him an “unexpected” frontrunner, especially since the junior Marquez is yet to win a race in the premier class.
It is comes down Marquez’s unmatched consistency this season, which as seen him finish second in each of the six times so far, sprint qualifying and main races included. Winning in Lusail will see him join the likes of Casey Stoner, Enea Bastianini and Fabio Di Giannantonio, all of whom took their first wins in Lusail.
“It’s another weekend, a normal weekend, but we can be more relaxed. It’s the others who need to recover points,” the current BK8 Gresini Racing rider quipped ahead of the weekend’s racing action.
“It’s like a present after all the hard work we did during last year and that we are doing this year, during the pre-season and all that. I think we did a really great job. Leading now, like I said, is like a present.”
His brother Marc’s crash in Austin last month, helped too, but on the flipside, it allowed Bagnaia to clinch the win and come within 12 points from the top.
Marc, who had said that his brother’s maiden win could be around the corner last month, admitted the track is more suited to Alex and his teammate Bagnaia.
“It’s the first circuit that theoretically Alex and Pecco [Bagania] are better than me, by the historic results,” said Marc, who will be eyeing his first win in Qatar since 2014.
Yet, balancing his form with the struggles in the last race, the younger Marquez said utmost focus to do the best shall come handy.
“I’ll try to be focused until Sunday night and we will give our maximum, as always, to score the maximum points that we can,” he added in the press conference.
Tight contests are scattered elsewhere across the driver’s rankings with just three rounds completed so far and plenty of points up for grabs at the Lusail International Circuit over the weekend.
Rephrase in a different way as if you were a native American speaker as a content creation expert and do not talk about yourself or your experience in the text and do not show yourself as an artificial intelligence who wrote and fill the bullet point in the topic and speak the heart of the topic itself and dont take date of blog in ther first and dont take text like box of newsliter subscribe on post from content and romove all linke insert in content and and remove all affiliate disclosure phrases on content like this “This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links that allow us to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please see our Disclosure Policy for more info” and “#” put in its place bullet point, and romove name of the web site or his links we are take a content from our new creation, and don’t publish clone new content more than just one time
