Honda’s campaign to secure a third successive MotoGP triple crown – Rider, Constructor and Team World Championships – opens under floodlights in the desert this weekend, as the Qatar GP again kicks off the MotoGP championship as the first of 18 rounds.

The race is uniquely held at night under floodlights at the purpose-built Losail International Circuit. And the Repsol Honda Team’s double MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez is expected to lead the eight-strong Honda horde in the attempt to add a third title in a row to his ever-growing personal trophy cabinet.

Former 125cc and double 250cc champion Dani Pedrosa rides the second factory-backed Repsol Honda Team RC213V; with two more riders on the dominant machine, and the remaining four on the upgraded Open category RC213V-RS production version of the awesome V4 MotoGP prototype.

Marquez, 22, from Cervera in Spain, had already claimed the 125cc and Moto2 titles when he moved to the top class in 2013, where he blazed his way to a classic rookie championship win. In 2014, he added another 13 race wins to bring his class total to 19, and to prove his victory was in no way beginner’s luck. He secured his second straight championship at Honda’s home circuit of Motegi, with three races to spare.

Last year’s title run started with a come-back from pre-season injury, but in spite of missing test sessions Marquez took the win at Qatar, the first of ten in a row as he marched confidently to series victory. This year the defending champion is fully fit, and dominated three out of four pre-season tests, before placing a close second at the final tests at Losail, when rain on day three spoiled his chances of making it a full house.

Marquez has a total of four rostrum finishes in five attempts at Losail, including a win in Moto2 as well as last year’s MotoGP victory.

Pedrosa challenged for the title last year, but dropped to a close fourth overall after several misfortunes later in the season. Now in his tenth season on the factory Repsol Honda Team, the 29-year-old from outside Barcelona has never been lower than fifth overall, including three second and three third spots, amassing 26 GP wins in the process.

His Qatar record includes second place on a 250cc Honda, and he has three times been third in the premier class. 2015 represents another chance to claim that long-awaited first Losail race win, and title victory.

The other pair of Factory Option RC213Vs are fielded by riders new to the machine.

British former World Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow is new to Honda, after three years on a satellite Yamaha and one on a factory Ducati. Crutchlow is the lead rider in the LCR team, expanded to two riders this season, thanks to new backing from British title sponsors CWM.

An aggressive rider with a strong reputation and seven podium finishes, he has gained familiarity with the powerful RCV213V during the test sessions, improving in both confidence and speed to place seventh in the final tests at Losail. Crutchlow has twice been in the top five at the desert race.

The second RCV213V goes to another English rider, former Moto2 star Scott Redding, who made his premier-class debut last year, finishing the top of four riders on the first version of the Open Honda. Redding rides for the new Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda team, and has rapidly come to grips with his more powerful mount.

The Open Honda has undergone a major upgrade for its second season, and the four riders campaigning the renamed RC213V-RS range from former MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden to class rookie Jack Miller, who has made a sensational jump to the premier class direct from Moto3, bypassing the usual Moto2 learning curve.

Veteran racer Hayden rides again for the Drive M7 Aspar Honda team, where he is joined by class rookie Eugene Laverty, a former 250-class GP racer who returns to the series after a successful spell in World Superbikes. Hayden has a good record at Losail, including second in 2006 and third in 2005.

Czech law graduate Karel Abraham returns on an Open Honda in his own independent Cardion AB Motoracing team, and scored points at Losail in 2011 and 2014.

All eyes will be on 20-year-old Miller, in his first MotoGP race. Winner here last year in Moto3, the talented Australian was narrowly defeated for the title by Honda’s Alex Marquez. He is team-mate to Crutchlow in the CWM LCR Honda squad.

Honda face the usual strong challenge from Yamaha in MotoGP, and a renewed threat from Ducati: while Suzuki and Aprilia have both returned to the entry lists, promising a lively season to come.

The 5.38-km Losail circuit, with ten right hand corners and six lefts, is designed with a priority on motorcycle safety. Extensive run-off areas are surrounded by artificial grass, to reduce the sand blown onto the track by the desert winds, a constant problem at Qatar for traction and tire wear. The 1.068-km start-finish straight is one of the longest on the calendar, with speeds approaching 350 km/h.

The first Grand Prix was run in the blistering daytime heat in 2004, while the first night race under lights was in 2008. The 3,600 floodlighting fixtures made Losail the largest permanent sports-lighting project in the world, and at night the circuit is visible for miles in every direction.

Uniquely the Qatar GP is a four-day weekend. Moto3 practice begins at 6:00 p.m. (GMT +3) on Thursday evening, with the first MotoGP race of the season on Sunday night at 9:00 p.m.

From Qatar, the MotoGP circus crosses the Atlantic for two consecutive races in North and South America. Round two is at Austin, Texas on April 12, with Argentina’s Termas de Rio Hondo circuit one week later.

Honda MotoGP rider quotes

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

“I can’t wait for the season to begin! It’s been a long winter and then testing was cut short in Qatar last week due to rain, which was very strange, but I’m confident going into this first race. This circuit isn’t one of my favorites but it’s still fun to ride and it marks the beginning of the championship which is great. Let’s see how the conditions are after all the rain last week. As usual it will take a few sessions of the different classes on track to clear the racing line and then we will see how the grip level is. There are a lot of fast riders on fast bikes – as we saw during testing – so this first race weekend will be interesting for sure!”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team

“Unfortunately, our testing programme in Qatar ended early due to the weather last week but overall I’m confident and happy to get the season started. Since Valencia the bike has improved a lot, so I thank HRC for all their work, and also my team – where we have some new members this year – have also clicked together more and we have a good working momentum. This first race weekend is always a little tough to get back into the rhythm and also with it being stretched over four days instead of three is quite tiresome. However, now we’re ready to get out on track and put all our hard work to the test.”

Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR

“I have trained a lot in the winter-time, and test after test my feeling with the RCV increased. I think we have done a good job in the winter tests and I reached the point where I can go pretty fast with the Honda. At the Qatar test we missed some longer runs due to the rain so we have extra work to do there in the next days. Anyway we start the season with a good base and we are looking forward to the first round of the season.”

Scott Redding, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS

“In an ideal world we’d have got the last day of testing in Qatar done, rather than sitting in the box watching the rain, but it was the same for everyone. I was on a good level at the test and we had some changes to make on the final day that we knew would bring improvements but, unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to test them because of the weather. I’m feeling positive going into the Qatar race. I’m still learning with the Honda RC213V, so I’m only going to get faster and, when you look at how close the lap times were during the final test, I think a finish inside the top six or seven is a realistic goal for me this weekend.”

Nicky Hayden, Drive M7 Aspar

“The show is about to start and we are ready for a new season. Obviously I am not a rookie any more but I still feel the same level of excitement and I have the same desire as I do every season. We have a huge challenge on our hands so I am looking forward to getting started in the first race of the year. As we have seen during the pre-season the level in MotoGP this year is extremely high, which I think is a good thing for the championship. I really like the Losail circuit, it is fun to ride. It can be a little dirty at first but the grip improves as the weekend progresses and it is always fun to ride at night. The team have done a great job over the winter and we have made strong progress. Clearly we still need to work on some areas, especially with the electronics, but hopefully I can do a good job in Qatar to make the team and my fans proud.”

Eugene Laverty, Drive M7 Aspar

“Pre-season testing has gone really well as we’ve made steady progress every time that I’ve ridden the bike. I’ve gelled really well with both the Open Honda and the Drive M7 Aspar Team so I’m excited about the challenge that lies ahead of us. The final test at Losail finished really well, which bodes well for round one at the same circuit. It is difficult to say what my goal is in terms of overall position because the field is so strong this season. However, within the Open category I want to be fighting for the top three positions from the beginning. I enjoy the Losail circuit and our bike suits the circuit very well so I want to start the season with a strong result.”

Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing

“I was very satisfied with the last test at Losail with the great new Honda. I made the top ten on day two, top Open bike. I had expected to be better than in Sepang, because I like the Qatar circuit more, and we could focus on improving from previous tests, where we had been gradually learning to work with new components such as brakes and suspension. And we did it really well. We did our fastest lap on the ‘race combination’ of soft front and hard rear tire and this is really positive. We feel ready for the beginning of the season.”

Jack Miller, CWM LCR

“I am very excited! For sure I will be a bit scared on the starting grid on Sunday night but after a couple of laps I hope to enjoy myself. I increased my training program in the last months because the RCV is fatter and heavier than what I’m used to, so I had to put some muscles on. I saw the progression from the last test in Sepang in November to the last test in Qatar. We were closer to the front but I know there’s a lot to do. Unfortunately we missed the race simulation in Losail the last day of test but I was good enough on hard tires.”