Maverick Vinales claims Qatar MotoGP victory in maiden outing with Yamaha as Valentino Rossi battles to third

Vinales fought back after a conservative start in difficult conditions as the rain-delayed Qatar Grand Prix finally got underway on Sunday night

Maverick Vinales won the Qatar Grand Prix on his first ride for Yamaha (Getty)

Spain's Maverick Vinales won MotoGP's season opener in Qatar on his Yamaha debut after a rain-delayed start.

Vinales, 22, mastered far-from-ideal conditions to finish ahead of Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso in second and Yamaha's fellow Italian Valentino Rossi, who was third, after rain had threatened to ruin the curtain-raiser under the Losail International Circuit's floodlights.

"It feels great," Vinales told http://www.crash.net after the race. "The track was so difficult. I was taking so much care at the start.

"Anyway, the bike was great. I have to say thanks to the team. Even if the conditions were difficult we were there all the time. I'm so pleased to be with Yamaha."

Reigning champion Marc Marquez had to settle for fourth as Vinales, who started on pole position, became the first rider to win on his debut for a new team since Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) in 2011.

Vinales dropped off the lead after a cautious start but regained the lead with seven laps remaining and, after being briefly edged out by Dovizioso, he went back to the front with two to go and held on for his second career MotoGP win.

Nine-time world champion Rossi worked his way through the field after starting from 10th on the grid.

Starting positions for the race, reduced from 22 to 20 laps, had been based on combined practice times after Saturday's qualifying had also fallen foul of the weather.

Andrea Iannone hit the front off the start as Vinales slipped back (Getty)

In Moto2, Franco Morbidelli took his maiden victory aboard the Marc VDS Kalex ahead of Thomas Luthi and Takaaki Nakagami, with the leading Briton coming in the form of Danny Kent in 13th, while Moto3 saw a thrilling finish go in favour of Spain’s Joan Mir, who edged out Britain’s John McPhee by just 0.135 seconds ahead of Jorge Martin, with the top eight all finishing within a second of the race winner.

MotoGP Rd 1 Qatar Grand Prix Race Positions:

1 Maverick Vinales (Spa) Yamaha 38mins 59.999secs

2 Andrea Dovizioso (Ita) Ducati 39:00.460

3 Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 39:01.927

4 Marc Marquez (Spa) Honda 39:06.744

5 Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 39:07.127

6 Aleix Espargaro (Spa) Aprilia 39:07.660

7 Scott Redding (Gbr) Ducati 39:09.781

8 Jack Miller (Aus) Honda 39:14.485

9 Alex Rins (Spa) Suzuki 39:14.787

10 Jonas Folger (Ger) Yamaha 39:15.068

PA