Tito Rabat takes the opening Moto2 win of 2014 at Qatar

Tito Rabat and teammate Mika Kallio got the Marc VDS Racing Team’s 2014 Moto2 World Championship campaign off to a flying start, with the 24-year-old Spaniard winning the opening race of the season in Qatar and his teammate joining him on the podium in third place.

Rabat made a good start from pole, but got pushed out wide in turn one and dropped back to fifth.

The Marc VDS rider then battled his way back towards the front, eventually passing his teammate and then pushing past Takaaki Nakagami on lap 13 to take the lead, which he held to the chequered flag.

Tito Rabat // 1st
“I’m happy to have come here to Qatar and taken the first win of the season on my debut for the Marc VDS team. I got a good start, but then Taka Nakagami braked really late into turn one and I made a mistake and ran wide. It took me a good few laps to work my way back to the front, but I was pushed all the way by Taka and Mika. In the end I managed to defend the lead to take the win, but I need to think about the early laps and also how to manage better the end of the race. It was a great way to start the season and now we need to look ahead to the next race in Austin.”

Source & photo: Marc VDS Racing