Marc Marquez fires warning with MotoGP Qatar sprint victory

Marc Marquez, who last won at Qatar in 2014, had said in the build-up to the race that the weekend was an exercise in damage limitation.

"The most important for me is not the points," he said after winning. "On a circuit where I know, and my opponents know, I struggle, I am there. This makes me happy."

Over the first three weekends of the season, Marc Marquez, in his first campaign on a factory Ducati, was all-conquering until he fell while leading in the last race, the Grand Prix of the Americas.

"The most important thing after the Austin mistake was to keep the same mentality," he said.

He started the day by claiming his fourth pole in four races his season. It was the 70th pole position of his career but his first in Qatar since 2014.

He followed that with his fourth straight sprint success.

Alex Marquez, who led by one point overall entering the weekend, briefly took the lead on the first lap and battled his brother almost to the end as he came in 1.577 seconds behind on his Gresini Ducati.

"I know him and he knows me," said Marc Marquez, laughing. "He knows where I am struggling a bit on this circuit and I know where he is struggling."

Alex Marquez has finished runner-up in all four sprints and all three main races this season.

"For sure I tried," he said. "Marc was better than me."

Marc Marquez has always been stronger on left-hand bends, but Lusail is a circuit with more right-handers and he was still fastest.

"I'm just working on my riding style," said Marc of his speed turning right. "I am losing there, but I am losing much less than in previous years."

Italian Franco Morbidelli was 3.988sec adrift on a VR46 Ducati and is fourth in the standings.

Spaniard Fermin Aldeguer, who is making a habit of finishing fast on his Gresini, overtook Frenchman Fabio Quartararo on the final lap to take fourth.'Making me angry'
Marc Marquez's Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, the winner in Austin, crashed in qualifying.

"Yesterday and this morning I was feeling fantastic on the bike," said the Italian, who is third in the standings.

"But I just crashed. I lost it. It was my mistake.

"Starting from 11, I was expecting a bit to struggle in the sprint. When I start from behind I'm struggling to overtake riders and we're struggling to understand why."

He climbed to eighth on the second factory Ducati to claim two championship points.

"At least we take two points when maybe it was a day to take zero," he said. "But it's not possible to finish eighth when you're fighting a rider like Marc."

Bagnaia, who will start from 11th again in the longer race Sunday, said his Saturday struggles are "making me angry".

"On Sundays it's a totally different feeling. I can overtake six or seven riders each lap," he said. "Tomorrow I will overtake 10 riders on one lap."

Defending world champion Jorge Martin finished 16th in his first race of the season.

The Spaniard, who missed the first three races after two bone-breaking pre-season crashes, started 14th, briefly climbed into the points but then subsided to 16th on his Aprilia.

He said he was still not in race shape.

"It was nice to see the chequered flag, and not crash," he said. "It will be really tough to finish tomorrow."