Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo took the MotoGP championship in Qatar on Sunday April 7, but all the buzz is about second-place winner Valentino Rossi. MotoGP is part of the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix, motorcycle racing's premier championship.

In spite of the success of Spanish racers Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Dani Pendrosa, Rossi is Spain's most popular racer. In fact, Rossi can be mostly credited with boosting the country's figures last year by 44.6 percent. In Italy, Mediaset attained an average viewership of 5.28 million. The figures contributed to MotoGP being the most-viewed BBC2 program over the weekend and represent not only Rossi's popularity but also the popularity of motorcycle racing in Europe.

Rossi completed the race in a dramatic fashion, lagging behind his competitors at first but putting in a strong finish. This should help nullify claims that Rossi has lost his touch, based on a disappointing stint with Ducati. Rossi's sweeping performance in the last third of MotoGP should help lay to rest doubts of Rossi's ability.

Rossi's come-from-behind finish comes in the wake of the MotoGP announcement of a new qualifying format for the race. With a new split qualifying procedure, the quickest practice riders go into a pole shoot-out for the beginning of this year. This makes qualifying for frontrunners more challenging.

"It's different to last year," Lorenzo said. "There are some risks - I think it's good. You have 30 minutes to work on the bike and the race pace, then you have four laps pretty much to have the best performance you can get for the grid."

Yamaha Tech 3 satellite rider Cal Crutchlow says that the new rules add a certain drama to the qualification process.

"I don't mind it," he said. "It's good for the spectacle and for the fans and riders."