Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, on a Yamaha, won a spectacular Grand Prix of Qatar on Sunday as he withstood a furious onslaught from fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso over the final laps to take the opening race of the season.

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A see-saw battle saw the the lead change hands numerous times before the 36-year-old Rossi opened up a slight gap on the final two laps and held off the charging Dovizioso on his Ducati, who was looking for his first win in MotoGP.

The six-time world champion, who won two races in a rejuvenated 2014, secured victory at the first attempt this year as he aims to return to the top of the sport for the first time in six years.

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, also on a Yamaha, was also in the hunt for victory and led midway through the race before Rossi, who began from eighth on the grid, charged to the front and went into battle with his compatriot Dovizioso.

World champion Marc Marquez never fully recovered from a dreadful start when he was forced off the track and left last, although the Spaniard did battle back to finish fifth.

Marquez ran away with the title during his maiden Formula One season in 2013 and repeated that triumph in 2014. However, the 22-year-old Spaniard failed to recapture that form in Qatar on this opening weekend.