Starting from the fifth row, Sergio García Dols was ninth after Lap 1, gaining five places.
The Repsol rider set the third fastest lap of the race, 55 thousandths of a second off the top time set by Ai Ogura.
Teammate Ryusei Yamanaka ended the Qatar GP in the Top 20. This result continues to confirm his progression in a class that promises to be hotly contested.
SERGIO GARCÍA DOLS
I was a little far back at the start but I took things calmly and I gained positions until I reached second. However, with 4 or 5 laps to go, I noticed that something was lacking for me. The positive thing is that I finished in the first group and added 5 points to my tally.s.
RYUSEI YAMANAKA
I’m finding the start of the season difficult. Starting from 27th position makes performing a comeback hard. My pace was not all that bad, but it is a shame that we finished 20th, since it was not what I had expected. I can’t take many positive things away from this first GP, but I am still learning day by day in order to improve