Dovizioso: Nobody had the pace to beat Vinales in Qatar
Nobody had the race pace to beat Maverick Vinales in Sunday's Qatar MotoGP season-opener, according to second-place finisher Andrea Dovizioso.
Maverick Viñales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Vinales converted his testing and practice pace to a win on his Yamaha debut, but had to battle past Dovizioso's Ducati in the closing laps to do so.
Dovizioso made a last-minute change from medium-compound rear tyre to a soft on the grid, putting him at odds with the majority of riders running mediums front and rear.
He conceded he ran short of grip late on, but said if he had mirrored Yamaha's tyre choice Ducati would not have been fast enough to fight for victory - and doubted anyone could have beaten Vinales.
"Today we didn't have the pace to fight Maverick for the win, and I don't think anyone did," said Dovizioso.
"We took the gamble [with the soft tyre] because there was a lot of humidity. We thought the race would be slower and if you don't push really hard you can save the soft tyre.
"After the crash of [Johann] Zarco I was leading and able to save the tyre. I tried to be consistent and not use the potential of the tyre. I did that but still in the last five laps the rear tyre dropped too much.
"As long as I had eight tenths to [Marc] Marquez I thought I could win, but when I saw Maverick five tenths behind I quickly realised he would be in perfect shape for the last part of the race.
"We did a great job, we took the right strategy and to finish second, very close to Maverick, is a good result."
"Dream" first Yamaha win for Vinales
Vinales, who needed several attempts to successfully overtake Dovizioso, described winning on his Yamaha MotoGP debut as a "dream".
"I didn't know how to pass [Dovizioso]. We had a great battle," said the Spaniard, who recorded his second premier class victory after having won for Suzuki at Silverstone last year.
"I knew if I didn't pull out a little bit he was going to pass me as he was so fast on the straight. I was just trying to be smooth, do my best laps at the end and finally we did it.
"It's so great, like being in a dream. First race with Yamaha and winning, I could not ask for more."
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