#QatarGP. In Qatar’s Night of the Oscars, the stars of Mac and Alex Marquez shone bright. The #93, in what was his debut with the Gresini Racing-liveried Desmosedici machine, made a stellar start and put together a solid race, even battling with Martin for the podium in the latter stages of the encounter. He was eventually fourth at the chequered flag; Alex Marquez also had a positive Sunday, being the fifth best-placed Ducati rider at the line for a sixth position that bodes well for the upcoming races.
 
Between sprint race and full Sunday encounter, Team Gresini Racing MotoGP proved to be on scintillating form, leaving Qatar with 31 points, and finishing as second-best team in the opening round of the season. MotoGP proceedings will resume in less than 10 days at Portimão.

4^th - MARC MARQUEZ 
“I had a go at the podium. I wanted to preserve the front tyre in order to have a little extra at the end of the race, and almost bridged the gap to Martin. Almost, but it’s good this way. If at the Valencia test they’d told me I would have finished fourth today, I would have signed for it. This has never been one of my favourite circuits so fourth place is a good result. We will analyse the data now: Bagnaia finished three seconds ahead of us and he’s the reigning champion. It’s from him we need to learn to further raise the bar.”
 
6^th - ALEX MARQUEZ
“Qualifying aside, we put together a strong weekend. I managed to stay with the top riders in the race and play my cards. It was hard to attack, especially due to the high temperatures at the front-end. At this track, this is surely a good result, we bring home a good number of points and fresh confidence ahead of the next round.”