Source: Yamaha Racing.

Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi said Sunday’s opening round of the MotoGP World Championship reminded him of the sport witnessed a decade ago, with a number of riders challenging for victory.

The dramatic night race at the Losail Circuit was one for the ages as Rossi duelled with world champion Marc Marquez, eventually forced to settle for the runner-up slot to commence the season.

Rossi was satisfied with his performance in his first race without Aussie crew chief Jeremy Burgess, hopeful that the regulation updates will promote close competition all season long.

“I’m very happy but a little bit upset because I lost,” Rossi said. “Marc is very strong and I enjoyed very much the whole race. It was a great race, very funny from the beginning – I started from behind and I had to risk in the first laps.

“I was very precise and didn’t make any mistakes. At the end I played my card with Marc but he was stronger than me so he won and he deserved it.

“It’s the first time it looked like an old race from MotoGP from 10 years ago, all together on the same pace, some mistakes, going wide and so on. Maybe Dorna had a great idea!”

Despite teammate Jorge Lorenzo crashing out on the opening lap after struggling for much of the weekend, Rossi believes Yamaha is in good shape for coming rounds.

“The Yamaha is always good in Qatar and I worked very hard in the practice for the race,” he added. “I’m very happy with the work of my team and the bike was great in the race too. But anyway I am so happy for this start to the year, now we have to continue like this.

“Usually Jorge is so fantastic and so strong in the first laps so I don’t understand what the mistake was.”