Sunday at the VisitQatar Grand Prix saw us witness another classic between Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), with just 0.023 separating the duo at the chequered flag.

What’s more, just 0.6 split Dovi from fifth place Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) as the 2019 MotoGP™ World Championship started in sensational style. And, on top of that, the record for the tightest top 15 in premier class history was also broken, as just 15.093 seconds separated Dovi to 15th placed Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).  

 In 15 mins: VisitQatar Grand Prix MotoGP™ highlights10/03/2019

Watch all of the best bits of the premier class race at Losail International Circuit with Matt Birt, Steve Day and Simon Crafar

“Of course. I mean it’s MotoGP and MotoGP is like this,” said reigning World Champion Marquez, chatting post-race about how close the competition looks in 2019. “I mean it’s incredible when you’re riding there with all the guys, 350kph and just two fingers between the bikes; it’s incredible. Another interesting thing is that in pre-season we had many different names, we had many different bikes but then in real time it’s the same names and the same guys.”

Another phenomenal statistic from Round 1 is the combined winning margins of the victors in Moto3™ (0.053), Moto2™ (0.026) and MotoGP™ (0.023) being a slender 0.102. What a fine way to begin what looks set to be another year of unforgettable racing.

Closest top 15s: 
1. 2019 – Losail (Andrea Dovizioso) – 15.093
2. 2018 – Assen (Marc Marquez) – 16.043
3. 2018 – Brno (Andrea Dovizioso) – 23.159
4. 2018 – Losail (Andrea Dovizioso) – 23.287
5. 2018 – Buriram (Marc Marquez) – 23.628
6. 2017 – Aragón (Marc Marquez) – 26.082
7. 2017 – Phillip Island (Marc Marquez) – 26.168
8. 2018 – Mugello (Jorge Lorenzo) – 26.644
9. 2017 – Red Bull Ring (Andrea Dovizioso) – 28.096
10. 2006 – Brno (Loris Capirossi) – 29.296

(Story and photos from MotoGP.com)