“Incredible work”: MotoGP top rookie battle heats up in Qatar

Pointless in the four races prior to Qatar, Fermin Aldeguer left the Lusail weekend having matched the best rookie results by Ai Ogura this season.

Ogura burst onto the MotoGP scene with a brilliant fourth in the Buriram Sprint, followed by fifth in the season-opening grand prix, then top tens in Termas and COTA.

Meanwhile, Aldeguer had only a best of 13th place heading into Qatar.

But having already shown his speed by breaking into the top five in Austin, before a late crash, Aldeguer flipped the script under the floodlights.

Aldeguer fought to fourth in Saturday’s Sprint then delivered a mature ride to sixth despite some 'bad luck' in the GP. A post-race penalty for Maverick Vinales then promoted him to fifth.

“Very happy with the weekend because we did an incredible work,” Aldeguer said. “Always our progression is up, which is important not to lose the way.

“Very happy with the weekend because we were very competitive in all conditions.”

The result came despite battling rear-end issues during the grand prix.

“We had some bad luck, I think, because we were not so happy with the rear tyre in the race. I had a lot of chattering, three or four times more than the other Ducati riders," he said.

“It was impossible to fight with Zarco and Morbidelli but even with this problem we finished in fifth position so we have to stay so happy.”

With Ogura 7th in the Qatar Sprint and 15th in the GP, Aldeguer is now only nine points behind the Japanese in the Rookie of the Year contest heading into his first home round at Jerez.

Ogura was deprived of eight more points by a technical penalty in Argentina.