Tamada apologises to Tech 3

The experienced former MotoGP race winner took 16th at Losail, seven seconds behind his rookie teammate Sylvain Guintoli.

"I am very sorry to the team and Dunlop for the result but I have never liked this track as I can never find the grip I like as I find it very slippery and the camber of the corners doesn't suit my style," said Tamada.

"The tyres were good but I do not have the confidence at this track to push very hard and to make things worse I felt some chattering at the front as I think the tyre moved on the rim.

"Now I want to forget all about Qatar and move onto the next race in Spain."

Tamada's performance left team boss Herve Poncharal frustrated.

"I am quite disappointed because we tested here three weeks ago and he did a good race simulation then, but for some reason he was never feeling good here this weekend," Poncharal said.

"We tried everything we could but it is more a rider problem than anything else."

But the team was much happier with Guintoli, who scored a point for 15th.

"I am very pleased with what Sylvain has done this weekend as session after session he has been improving," siad Poncharal.

"He secured a very decent qualifying position, qualifying time and scored his first point in MotoGP and he was really consistent with his lap times until the end of the race."