Lusail (Qatar) (AFP) - Marc Marquez survived a first-lap collision with his brother Alex to win the Qatar MotoGP on Sunday, for a seventh victory in eight races this season.

“Luckily for both of us we stayed on the bike,” said Marc Marquez.

Alex Marquez ran into the back of his brother’s Ducati at the second corner. Marc Marquez lost ground but recovered to finish 1.8sec ahead of Spaniard Maverick Vinales on a KTM.

Vinales was later penalised for illegal tyre pressure, promoting Francesco Bagnaia, on a factory Ducati, to second and Franco Morbidelli, on a Ducati VR46, to third.

Reigning champion Jorge Martin, racing this weekend for the first time after a couple of bone-breaking pre-season crashes, fell again and was later admitted to hospital with a chest injury.

Marc Marquez started from pole but at the first corner Alex rammed into Marc’s rear wheel.

“First corner I did a mistake, for that reason Alex hit me,” said Marc. “I slide a bit and maybe he didn’t expect that.”

Alex agreed.

“I didn’t expect him there,” he said.

Italian Morbidelli pounced, but did not have the pace to stay clear.

Vinales worked his way through the pack and took the lead while Bagnaia also briefly passed Marc Marquez.

With seven laps to go, Marc Marquez swept past Vinales and then pulled away.

“I told you before the race, I need to manage the tyres,” said Marc Marquez at the finish.

“The way we managed the race today was super clever,” he said. “I just pushed the last five laps.

“For that reason, in the first part of the race I was quiet. When Pecco (Bagnaia) overtook me I thought ‘OK, now I start to race’.

“Vinales was surprising. He had pace. But I had this margin at the end,” said the winner.

- ‘Stupid mistakes’ -

The 32-year-old finished the weekend at a track where he had not won since 2014 by taking two victories, pole position and the course lap record. After starting the weekend one point behind his brother, Marc Marquez ended it 17 points clear in the standings.

“The most important weekend of the season so far because it is one of my weak circuits,” he said. “But I was able to come back to the top of the championship.”

Marc Marquez took his third Sunday victory in four race weekends this season. He has also won every sprint. His only miss came in Austin where he crashed while leading.

“One way to make up for the mistake of Austin,” he said, adding that he needed to learn from the last two races. “When it’s difficult, I’m more concentrated. When it’s easy I make stupid mistakes I need to avoid.”

Alex Marquez lost a bit of his bike in his first-lap collision. He later incurred a long-lap penalty for running into Fabio Di Giannantonio. After finishing second in every previous outing this season, he ended up sixth on Sunday.

Martin still troubled by his healing left hand, slid out with eight laps to go and knelt in the gravel, head bowed.

His team, Aprilia, later released a statement saying the Spaniard had undergone a chest scan in hospital which showed pneumothorax swelling which required “the installation of suction drainage”.