Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales put together a stunning race to claim victory at the Barwa Grand Prix of Qatar, as 2021 kicked off in sublime style in the desert. Viñales climbed his way through the pack to eventually beat second place Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) by just over a second, as the Frenchman and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) beat reigning World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) on the run to the line to stand on the rostrum.

MotoGP™ returned with a bang as factory Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales took the first victory of the season. Reflect back on a franctic opening night of action in our race recap here.

Throughout the season, our behind-the-scenes cameras bring you closer to the action than ever before in our UNSEEN series. In the first episode, we caught all of the emotions in the Ducati and Suzuki garage as Zarco, Bagnaia and Mir’s fight for the final podium places went right down to the wire.

One of the huge talking points heading into the season-opening race was the advancement every factory had taken with their start devices. It suddenly became clear they needed to go back to the drawing boards when all four full factory Ducatis romped past the rest of the grid off of the line.

During Saturday’s Free Practice sessions, the Frenchman hit an astonishing 362.4kmh with the premier class grid giving their reaction to the stunning new record.