MotoGP curtain raiser in Qatar

After 120 days without a race the MotoGP World Championship fires back into life this weekend with the first round of the 2017 season in Qatar. The elite class of international motorcycle circuit racing begin their latest battle for honours on Thursday, a quest that will take them across four continents, fourteen countries and eighteen racetracks in the hunt to decide the latest name on the most prestigious trophy in the sport. The likes of Marc Márquez, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will be hoping it is theirs again, although you can never rule out Dani Pedrosa and now there is a new contender in the shape of Maverick Viñales, who has taken the factory ride vacated by Lorenzo on his switch to Ducati. It is hard to imagine a season like the last one, which featured nine different winners from four different factories, although from the second the first session starts in Qatar to the moment the chequered flag is waved in Valencia the top step of the podium will again be the ultimate goal for all.
Pull&Bear Aspar riders Álvaro Bautista and Karel Abraham head into the first round of the season in positive mood after some satisfying results in the recent preseason tests. Bautista has finished two of the three winter sessions as the top Independent team rider, ahead of several factory rivals, and as he said at the start of preseason he maintains that his objective this season is top five finishes. The Spaniard is hoping to pick up the good feeling with his Ducati that he established at the test in early March and maintain it for the whole weekend. Meanwhile his team-mate Karel Abraham is feeling nervous and excited about the new campaign after two seasons where he has found it hard to show his best form. The Czech rider is hoping to score consistent points throughout the eighteen-round championship.

Álvaro Bautista:“I am looking forward to getting started now, after a preseason during which we have worked hard to get to know the bike and the team. Every day we have felt more comfortable, we have done a good job and we go to the first round with a decent base to work from. We have already had three days in Qatar to prepare a little for the race because the conditions are different to usual. Hopefully we can reproduce the same feeling as at the test, continue to build and see if we can get back to the same level as then. I arrive feeling confident and now we will see how high we can go. My thoughts are the same as at the start of preseason and our objective remains to be a top five contender. Even though there are a lot of factory bikes and the level in this category is very high, I think that is something we can aspire to. We will fight our hardest, give our maximum and hopefully we can achieve it. If it doesn't happen this weekend, the season is long and the important thing will be to gain experience and improve our performance on this bike.”
Karel Abraham: “The winter tests went really well and I am looking forward to getting back on the bike. We arrive in Qatar feeling very happy because it was a good track for all of the Ducati riders in the test. At the beginning of preseason I didn't want to make any predictions about what our objectives might be this year. Now I can say a little more but I am hesitant to say because maybe it could go better or maybe it could go worse. I would be very happy if we can consistently be in the points, but who knows, we can't get ahead of ourselves. The circuit in Qatar has always been good for Ducati so hopefully it will go well this weekend. The Ducati is a very specific bike, it doesn't behave the same at every track and sometimes we have to work on the suspension, whereas other times we have to work on the chassis... I am excited to start and also a little nervous because my last few seasons have not been that good and this is my chance to do well for the first time in a couple of years.”