Fruitless Grand Prix for Dalla Porta and Arenas in Qatar

The rain gave a respite to the Moto3 riders on Sunday, after disrupting the schedule and causing the qualifiying session to be cancelled the previous night. The Qatar GP got underway without a hitch, and was ridden in a group. Joan Mir would take the victory in the first race of the season, with John McPhee and poleman Jorge Martin alongside him on the podium. Aron Canet, Romano Fenati, and Andrea Migno were also close behind at the chequered flag. The next round for the Moto3 riders arrives in a fortnight's time at the Circuito de Termas de Rio Hondo (Argentina).
The Mahindra Motard Aspar riders were out of luck in Losail. Albert Arenas crashed out just after completing the fourth lap of the race.The Spaniard, who was unhurt in the incident, had a good setup and was running a strong pace almost a second better than on Friday, as well as fighting for points at the time of the crash. Teammate Lorenzo dalla Porta crossed the finish line in twenty-third place, almost 30 seconds off the leading group. The Italian had lost touch of the chasing pack early on, and was unable to catch them back up. His intention for the Argentinian GP is to improve the setup of his bike.

23^rd Lorenzo dalla Porta: "It was a very difficult race, and I didn't do as I would have liked. At the start I was not going slowly, but I lost the group that was ahead and we didn't have the best setup. I tried to reach the front but I wasn't able to do so. With this race, over, we go to Argentina with good intentions of improving, finding a setup that I completely like, and being in the positions that we deserve."
Albert Arenas (DNF): "Despite the crash in the race, I'm physically fine. It was a slip on the inside of the corner, which was dirty. The tyre slid and I wasn't able to avoid falling. We had caught the group fighting for the points and we were setting a pace almost a second faster than on Friday. The bike was going very well and we had found a perfect setup, but we lost any chance of a good result with the crash. I feel bad that we couldn't finish because we had a good bike, but we were also starting from far back on the grid because of the absence of a qualifying session -which made everything difficult."