The 2015 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the

2015 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season The 2015 FIM MotoGP World Championship was the premier class of the 67th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. The championship was won by Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo, racing for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP. It was his third and final world ...

. It was held at the

Losail International Circuit The Lusail International Circuit (, sometimes rendered Losail International Circuit) is a motor racing circuit located just outside the city of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar. The track is in length, with a main straight of . It is surrounded b ...

Lusail Lusail (, , ) is the second-largest city in Qatar after Doha, and the economic capital of Qatar, located on the coast, in the southern part of the municipality of Al Daayen. Lusail lies about north of the Doha city centre, just north of the West ...

, Qatar on 29 March 2015. In the MotoGP class,

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. History Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called ...

Andrea Dovizioso Andrea Dovizioso (born 23 March 1986) is an Italian former professional motorcycle racer. He raced with RNF Racing, WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team for the 2022 MotoGP World Championship, 2022 season but announced his intended-retirement after the ...

took the first pole position of the season. It was an eventful race in which the lead was contested between the Movistar Yamaha and Ducati teams. For the first time since the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix, the podium was swept by Italian riders, as Yamaha's

Valentino Rossi Valentino Rossi ( ; ; born 16 February 1979) is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "the Doctor", Rossi is widely considered one of the greate ...

– in his 20th Grand Prix season – took his first season-opening victory since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, ahead of Dovizioso, and his teammate

Andrea Iannone Andrea Iannone (born 9 August 1989) is an Italian professional road racing, motorcycle racer who competes in the Superbike World Championship since 2024 and competed in the MotoGP World Championship from 2013 to 2019. After winning four races i ...

, who achieved his first MotoGP podium in third place. Reigning world champion

Marc Márquez Marc Márquez Alentà (born 17 February 1993) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who races for the Ducati Lenovo Team. He previously raced for the Ducati satellite team Gresini in 2024 and Honda's factory team from his MotoGP deb ...

had a good start position, third on the grid, but went off track and almost hit

Jorge Lorenzo Jorge Lorenzo Guerrero (; born 4 May 1987) is a Spanish former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer. He is a five-time World Champion, with three List of 500cc/MotoGP Motorcycle World Champions, MotoGP World Championships ...

and Bradley Smith. After he fell to the rear of the field due to the first-lap incident, Márquez overtook several riders and was able to finish fifth, behind Lorenzo.

Dani Pedrosa Daniel Pedrosa Ramal (born 29 September 1985) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racer who retired from regular competition after the season. He grew up in Castellar del Vallès, a village near Sabadell. He is a ...

started second on the grid, but dropped to sixth place due to issues with arm-pump.

Álvaro Bautista Álvaro Bautista Arce (born 21 November 1984) is a Spanish people, Spanish motorcycle road racing, road racer. He won the 2022 Superbike World Championship, 2022 and 2023 Superbike World Championship, 2023 Superbike World Championship with the Du ...

was forced to retire after his bike was hit by Márquez, breaking his left brake lever and front sensor. Rookie Jack Miller – graduating from Moto3 – crashed with

Karel Abraham Karel Abraham (born 2 January 1990) is a retired motorcycle racer from the Czech Republic. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , riding in the 125cc, 250cc, Moto2 and MotoGP classes, with the exception of 2016, when he raced in t ...

with one lap remaining. The weekend also saw the début of the new Aprilia RS-GP, which was used by

Gresini Racing Gresini Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP World Championship under the name Gresini Racing MotoGP as a Ducati satellite team, in the Moto2 World Championship as Italjet Gresini Racing Moto2, ...

after the team switched from Honda at the end of

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. This was Aprilia's first race in MotoGP as a factory team since the 2004 Valencian Grand Prix.

Classification

MotoGP

Moto2

Moto3

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded. ;Riders' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings ;Teams' Championship standings * Note: Only the top four positions are included for all sets of standings.

References

{{MotoGP 2010–19 2015 MotoGP race reports 2015 in Qatari sport

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix The Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix () is a motorcycling event that is part of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. The Lusail International Circuit, Lusail race track in Qatar represents the deb ...