Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo started his title defence with a relatively easy victory in Qatar on Sunday, though it might not have been so easy had Andrea Iannone not crashed out from the lead of the race.
Lorenzo, starting from pole, made a great start to lead into Turn 1 but was quickly passed by Ducati’s Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso on lap two using their superior straight-line speed.
The lead saw a battle between the two Ducati team-mates which Iannone managed to see off initially, but he was later passed and dropped to second. The Italian rider later crashed out after running onto the white line at Turn 13.
With Lorenzo now in second, he mounted a fight for the lead, muscling his way to the front, although Dovizioso, Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi remained close until the closing laps when Lorenzo opened up some distance between him and them.
Marquez soon passed Dovizioso but the scrap continued until the final lap with the riders swapping positions once more, coming in second and third with Rossi settling for fourth.
Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was a distant fifth – 13 seconds off the lead – finishing ahead of Maverick Vinales who slipped down to seventh at the start and made up just one place with Iannone’s crash.
Pol Espargaro crossed the line seventh, narrowly beating team-mate Bradley Smith with the pair split by little more than a metre.
Hector Barbera and Scott Redding completed the top ten riders.
As well as Iannone, there were crashes for Loris Baz and Stefan Bradl, but were uninjured.
| Pos | Rider | Team | Gap | Points |
| 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 25 | |
| 2 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati Team | 2.019 | 20 |
| 3 | Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | 2.287 | 16 |
| 4 | Valentino Rossi | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 2.387 | 13 |
| 5 | Dani Pedrosa | Repsol Honda Team | 14.083 | 11 |
| 6 | Maverick Vinales | Team Suzuki Ecstar | 15.423 | 10 |
| 7 | Pol Espargaro | Movistar Yamaha Tech 3 | 18.629 | 9 |
| 8 | Bradley Smith | Movistar Yamaha Tech 3 | 18.652 | 8 |
| 9 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Racing | 21.160 | 7 |
| 10 | Scott Redding | Octo Pramac Yakhnich | 24.435 | 6 |
| 11 | Aleix Espargaro | Team Suzuki Ecstar | 35.847 | 5 |
| 12 | Eugene Laverty | Aspar Team MotoGP | 41.756 | 4 |
| 13 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 41.932 | 3 |
| 14 | Jack Miller | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 41.982 | 2 |
| 15 | Tito Rabat | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 54.953 | 1 |
| 16 | Stefan Bradl | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 11 Laps | |
| 17 | Loris Baz | Avinita Racing | 14 Laps | |
| 18 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | 16 Laps | |
| 19 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati Team | 17 Laps | |
| 20 | Yonny Hernandez | Aspar Team MotoGP | 21 Laps |
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