The emirate is home to 68,500 millionaires with at least $1 million in liquid assets and 206 centi-millionaires
uae1 hour ago
Maverick Vinales was the top gun in testing and Valentino Rossi's new Yamaha teammate will have triple world champion Marc Marquez in his sights when the MotoGP season starts in Qatar this weekend.
Vinales has replaced fellow-Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo alongside Rossi, the Italian great who was runner-up last season and remains a force to be reckoned with as he starts a new campaign at the age of 38.
If nine times world champion Rossi thought old foe Lorenzo's departure for Ducati would make life easier, Vinales's arrival might force a rethink.
The 22-year-old former Suzuki rider was fastest in the tests in Spain, Malaysia, Australia and Qatar and arrives at the floodlit Losail circuit looking like Marquez's biggest challenger.
"After the amazing pre-season, we can't wait finally to start racing," said the Spaniard, a Moto3 champion who took his first MotoGP win last season at Silverstone's British Grand Prix.
"I'm very curious to see how the Yamaha will respond...and to see if we are going to be as strong during the race as during the test." Rivals have identified Vinales as the man to watch in Sunday's night race: "He's really fast, he's really confident," said Ducati's Italian Andrea Dovizioso, a winner in Malaysia last year. "Vinales is very strong and I don't think it's just the Yamaha, as he's ahead of the other Yamaha riders," commented Lorenzo, a triple champion with the Japanese marque and last year's winner in Qatar.
While Marquez's Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa is another contender, after a 2016 season that saw a record nine different race winners, the likely battle between the reigning champion and Vinales has been the talk of the off-season.
Marquez crashed five times during the Qatar test as he wrestled with his Honda but said his overall race pace was good.
"Maybe it's not one of the best tracks for my riding style, but I like it and we have worked very hard during the preseason to find a good rhythm and a good base setup for all circuits," he said. "From a technical point of view, we're starting this Championship better than the last one."
Sunday's race also sees the MotoGP debut of the new factory KTM team, with Britain's Bradley Smith and Spaniard Pol Espargaro, and debut of France's Moto2 champion Johann Zarco at Tech3 Yamaha.
Other MotoGP rookies for the 18-race season are Spaniard Alex Rins, with Suzuki, Germany's Jonas Folger at Tech3 and Britain's Sam Lowes on the Aprilia.
The emirate is home to 68,500 millionaires with at least $1 million in liquid assets and 206 centi-millionaires
uae1 hour ago
Here's how much it will cost to tank up your car this month
uae2 hours ago
The currency logged its sharpest intra-day fall in more than two weeks on Monday
asia2 hours ago
Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr have come on board to voice the younger versions of Mufasa and Scar
entertainment2 hours ago
US FDA is gathering additional information on the matter, while Indian authorities have recently inspected the plants of the companies
asia3 hours ago
The total size of the offering remains unchanged at 900 million shares, representing 25 per cent of the company’s total issued share capital
markets3 hours ago
India's foreign ministry called the Washington Post report 'unwarranted and unsubstantiated', which stated that an officer in the intelligence service was directly involved in the plan
world3 hours ago
More than 34,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since war broke out
world4 hours ago