MotoGP

Monster Energy Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi has tested positive for Covid-19 yet again just a week after he tested negative. All this is following his layoff from the MotoGP track for two rounds after he tested positive for the virus back in October, he missed the Aragon double header as he caught the virus between the French and Aragon MotoGP. The 41-year-old rider had tested positive for the virus on Tuesday last week at home, but another test on Thursday turned out negative as he was cleared to head for the Valencia MotoGP where he still underwent another PCR test. After passing the PCR on the Friday of the European MotoGP, Rossi was able to continue racing from Saturday onwards. Rossi had been replaced by American WorldSBK rider Garett Gerloff for the Friday’s FP1 and FP2. Rossi’s race however did not last for more than five laps as he experienced a mechanical issue meaning the 41-year-old has not seen a chequered flag since the Emilia Romagna GP. This means that Rossi’s participation in this weekend’s Valencia MotoGP is in doubt after the positive Covid-19 test back in Tuesday. He will need to undergo another test which will determine if he will participate in this weekend’s race. With the final round of the 2020 MotoGP season coming in just over a weeks time in Portugal, Rossi could as well miss the race as the Yamaha rider. There are a lot of questions about Rossi’s latest Covid-19 results and the PCR tests he tested negative last Friday before he was allowed to enter the Ricardo Tormo Circuit and whether he was still positive without knowing it or was re-infected after the Sunday’s race. Scientists are still trying to discover how the virus works as there are several cases of re-infection worldwide in the recent months. The pandemic has affected the Yamaha factory team as five crew members were forced into quarantine since one of Maverick Vinales’ crew tested positive for the virus. This was also after six Yamaha team members who were forced to isolate ahead of the French MotoGP. Yamaha named Gerloff as Rossi’s his official standby replacement for the European GP, and the American will remain ready to take over should Rossi test positive once more. However, if Rossi has tested positive a second time, then more members of Yamaha may be forced into isolation, depleting its track numbers further

Ducatti rider Andrea Divizioso has officially announced that he will be taking a sabbatical from MotoGP come 2021. The 15-time MotoGP winner announced during the Austrian MotoGP back in August that he will not be renewing his contract with the Ducatti works team for 2021. The Italian however also admitted that he did not have a plan B although he said that his fully focus back then was on the championship title fight. Rumours have been going around that Dovizioso was holding talks with KTM, Yamaha and Honda over the position of a test rider as it is well understood that he was about to close a deal with Yamaha to test the M1 in 2020. Dovi will now be able to put focus on his passion for motorcross racing come 2021, as it will help him to keep fully fit for staging a comeback to MotoGP in 2022 if he gets a ride. On his Instagram handle, the Italian wrote, “Over the last few months, I have received several offers to work as a test rider in developing MotoGP projects and I am grateful for the consideration received by the manufacturers.” “However, I have decided not to make any commitments and to remain free from formal agreements for now. “I have an immense passion for racing. I still have the ambition to compete and fight to win. I will return to MotoGP as soon as I find a project driven by the same passion and ambition that I have and within an organisation that shares my same objectives, values and working methods. “Now I am focused on finishing the world championship in the best possible way, and I have already started developing some projects with my partners.” Numerous contracts will be up for renewal in 2022, though a 36-year-old Dovizioso may struggle to find a place despite his prior achievements. Dovizioso was linked to an Aprilia race seat for 2021 though it is understood he never considered the Italian marque a realistic option. It is understood outgoing LCR rider Crutchlow had a pre-agreement in place with Aprilia – though has been linked to a Yamaha test role but it is now understood that agreement was one of intent and it expired in mid-October. It is unclear what Dovizioso’s sabbatical will do to Jorge Lorenzo’s prospects of remaining with Yamaha in 2021 in a test rider role, with the triple world champion also admitting recently Aprilia was an option.

Andrea Iannone’s MotoGP career is on the verge of an end after the appeal he filed to have his anti-doping ban overturned was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and in turn increased the ban to four years. Iannone had been suspended from competing by the FIM towards the end of last year after he tested positive for a banned steroid during the Malaysian MotoGP weekend. The Italian’s ban had also been upheld after a FIM hearing back in March, but he claimed to have ingested the banned substance accidentally through contaminated food. Both Aprilia and Iannone appealed this ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sports(CAS) after believing that acquittal of other athletes for the same offence in the past would also apply in their case. CAS, however, rejected the appeal following a thorough review of the evidence and upheld the World’s Anti-Doping Agency’s bid to have the ban increased to four years which is the maximum ban period beginning 17th December 2019. CAS also confirmed that Iannone’s MotoGP race results from 1st November 2019 were disqualified officially. The CAS panel rejected the appeal as Iannone had not provided the necessary evidence to back up the contaminated meat claim because he did not specify the exact type of meat he ate that lead to the contamination. Also, Iannone and his experts couldn’t provide substantial evidence suggesting there was an issue of meat contamination with Drostanolone, the substance that he tested positive for. All this lead to his ban being upheld. Aprilia was in support of Iannone through the doping allegations and had even expressed to retain him for the 2021 MotoGP season if his ban was overturned. However, now Aprilia has to look for another rider to join Aleix Espargaro for 2021. It is believed that Cal Crutchlow has an eye for the seat as he had a pre-agreement with Aprilia as the team admitted last weekend that test rider Bradley Smith is also an option. Iannone is a one time race winner having raced for Suzuki, Ducatti and Aprilia since 2013.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir took his maiden MotoGP victory in a dramatic European Grand Prix to put one hand on the title, after a crash for Petronas SRT’s Fabio Quartararo. Of the top six in the standings ahead of the first Valencia race, Mir was the only won yet to win a grand prix in 2020, but his first – making him the ninth winner of the year – has given him a 37-point lead to put the title within sight. Poleman Pol Espargaro got the holeshot into Turn 1 ahead of Alex Rins on the sister Suzuki, with Takaaki Nakagami holding third off the line on the LCR Honda. Quartararo leaped up to ninth from 11th on the opening lap and was looking to get ahead of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro at the Turn 8 left-hander when both slid off their motorcycles. The Frenchman was able to remount at the back of the field, some 15 seconds adrift of the pack, and salvaged two points through misfortune for others but his title hopes are all but over now, with his deficit to Mir to 37 points. Rins scythed past Espargaro at the Turn 11 right-hander on the second lap, with Mir copying the move two tours later. Rins absorbed the pressure from his teammate behind for a number of laps, with Espargaro just about staying in touch. A mistake for Rins on the run into Turn 11 on lap 17 opened the door for Mir to come through into the lead, with the number 36 immediately opening up a gap of half a second. From this point, Mir took total control of the race and continued to extend his advantage over Rins, coming under no threat through to the chequered flag. Rins held onto second to give Suzuki its first 1-2 in grand prix racing since 1982, but is now 37 points behind Mir in the championship, equal on points with Quartararo – though the latter holds second owing to his greater number of wins. Espargaro completed the podium on the KTM, with Nakagami overhauling Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira in the latter stages to claim fourth, while Jack Miller was sixth on the Pramac Ducati. Brad Binder recovered from the long lap penalty he was forced to take as punishment for wiping out Miller at Aragon last month to finish seventh and edge a lead in the rookie of the year battle. Andrea Dovizioso was eighth on the factory Ducati, though was lucky not to be wiped out by a crashing Honda of Alex Marquez at Turn 1 on lap 24 having just overtaken the Spaniard. The top 10 was completed by Avintia’s Johann Zarco and the sister works Ducati of Danilo Petrucci, with Franco Morbidelli the first Yamaha in a lowly 11th as his gamble to run the hard front and rear tyre seemingly backfired. Stefan Bradl on the Honda followed him home, while Maverick Vinales recovered from his pitlane start to 13th on the works Yamaha ahead of a distraught Quartararo. Valentino Rossi’s first race since returning from COVID-19 ended on lap five with a technical issue with his Yamaha, while there were crashes for Pramac’s Francesco Bagnaia, LCR’s Cal Crutchlow.Aleix Espargaro never remounted from his lap one crash, while Avintia’s Tito Rabat was forced to retire with an issue.

Yamaha is under investigation for allegedly running illegal MotoGP engines during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at Jerez. Yamaha’s early season was overshadowed by reliability issues with its engines, after Valentino Rossi and Petronas SRT’s Franco Morbidelli were forced out of the Spanish and Andalusian GPs due to broken motors. The analysis carried out at the time attributed the problems to a faulty batch of valves from a secondary supplier. Due to the engine freezing rules, Yamaha could not unseal its engines to fully rectify this although did request on safety grounds to do this to the Manufacturers’ Association, but withdrew the request soon after. Since Jerez, it is understood Yamaha riders have been running with their engines slightly turned down to avoid any repeat issues. Not all engines in each of Rossi, Morbidelli, Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo’s allocation featured the offending valves. Now Yamaha is being investigated for running an engine with valves not in the sample engine submitted to MotoGP technical direction for homologation pre-season. Yamaha removed its request to the MSMA after the other marque’s asked for documentation from the valve supplier confirming a manufacturing error. A sanction could have massive repercussions on Yamaha’s championship hopes, with Quartararo, Vinales and Morbidelli all currently within 25 points of standings leader Joan Mir on the Suzuki with three rounds to go. Quartararo won the opening two Jerez rounds, with Vinales trailing him in both, with Quartararo, Vinales and Morbidelli winning four more races between them – making Yamaha the most successful manufacturer this season. All Yamaha riders have unsealed their five allocated engines this season, though Vinales appears to be struggling the most having put the most mileage on his fourth and fifth engines. Should he be forced to unseal a sixth engine in the final three races, Vinales will be forced to start from pitlane.Yamaha is yet to comment on the investigation. News of this investigation compounds what has been a tough period for Yamaha, with Rossi currently sidelined due to COVID-19 and unlikely to race in this weekend’s European Grand Prix. He is set to be replaced by Yamaha World Superbike rider Garrett Gerloff.

Tech 3 MotoGP rider Iker Lecuona will miss this weekend’s European Grand Prix due to forced quarantine in Andorra after his brother and assistant tested positive for COVID-19. Lecuona tested negative for the virus on Tuesday, but his brother whom Lecuona lives with in Andorra tested positive. Due to legislation in Andorra, Lecuona has been forced into quarantine for the next 10 days despite testing negative for the virus himself. He will undergo a test next Wednesday, the results of which will determine if he is able to start next weekend’s Valencia Grand Prix. Tech 3 won’t replace him for this weekend’s first Valencia race. “We are very sad to announce that Iker Lecuona won’t be participating in the Gran Premio de Europa this weekend,” Tech 3 team boss Herve Poncharal said. “So far, he’s been tested negative, but his brother, who is also his assistant is positive and therefore the Andorran authorities have called him ‘contact case’. He will have another test today, but even if it’s negative again, he’s got to stay in quarantine without moving from his home in Andorra for 10 days.” “The plan is to have another test next Wednesday and if this one is negative as well, he will be able to travel to Valencia and participate in Valencia II.” “This is very unfortunate, everybody was very careful. We are deeply sorry for that. We just hope that Iker will keep negative on the next tests and that we can see him next week here.” “Don’t forget, this is his home grand prix and him and the team were expecting so much from these two races, that it’s a real pity. But with how the world is at the moment, unfortunate things like this are happening.” “Again, we hope everything will be back to normal next week, of course, he won’t be replaced for this event, therefore the whole Red Bull KTM Tech 3 team will concentrate on our sole rider, Miguel Oliveira.” Lecuona made his MotoGP debut at Valencia last year in place of the injured Miguel Oliveira. The Spaniard may be the second rider forced to miss this weekend’s race due to COVID-19, after Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi returned a positive PCR test on Tuesday. Yamaha is yet to reveal if the test he took on Wednesday returned negative, but have lined up American World Superbike rider Garrett Gerloff to take his place should Rossi be ruled out again having missed the Aragon double-header.

Monster Energy Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi’s test for Covid-19 has turned out positive again, this situation has put his participation in the European MotoGP in jeopardy. This is after the nine-time world champion missed the Aragon and the Teruel MotoGP after testing positive for Covid-19 prior to the Motorland double header in which he had hoped to test negative and get into the Valencia action. Despite being fully fit for racing, the 41-year-old rider still tested positive for the virus on Tuesday as it is required for him to post a negative result on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the race, as WorldSBK champion Garett Gerloff is set to replace the Italian’s Yamaha M1. “This virus is very complicated and serious,” said the 41-year-old. “I felt bad for two days, then in a few days I came back to being fully fit, at my 100%. I self-isolated at home all the time and I followed the medical advice closely. It‘s a very sad and difficult situation, but that‘s the way it is. “Unfortunately, yesterday (Tuesday 3rd November), I had another test and it came back positive again, like all previous ones. Luckily I still have two more chances to be back on track on Friday or Saturday. I am very sad because I am feeling well, and I can‘t wait to be back aboard my M1 and be reunited with my team. I really hope the next PCR test result will be negative because missing two races was already two too many.”

Maverick Vinales leads a Yamaha 1-2-3 lockout in a potentially crucial Aragon MotoGP FP2 as Ducati fumbles well outside the top ten. Maverick Vinales led an almost identical Yamaha 1-2-3 lockout in FP2 as the Iwata manufacturer sent a warning signal to its rivals by revelling in the blustery conditions at Motorland Aragon. Having prevailed in bitterly cold conditions in FP1, Vinales was markedly quicker this time around, taking a full two seconds off the erstwhile benchmark with a 1m 47.771secs to head off M1 counterparts Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli. FP2 could prove a critical session for the riders as very cold conditions are forecast for tomorrow’s Q2-deciding FP3 session. Though organisers have pushed it back 30mins – as they did this morning – the huge difference in times between FP1 and FP2 suggest it will be difficult for riders outside the top ten right now to get close to the times they’d need to guarantee a Q2 spot. That was of little concern to Vinales though, who comfortably got the gauntlet down to head series leader Quartararo by three tenths of a second, providing a sure reminder that at 19 points off the top overall, he is far from out of this title fight. Quartararo and Morbidelli bounced back from their FP1 tumbles to look assured in second and third, the result no doubt adding to Valentino Rossi’s frustration in the wake of his COVID-19 enforced absence. Given cool conditions hampered Suzuki last week, Joan Mir will take fourth as a very good indication of a competitive weekend, while Cal Crutchlow and Aleix Espargaro brought some smiles to the Honda and Aprilias camps with a solid fifth and sixth respectively. Pol Espargaro brought KTM into the mix with the seventh best time, while Alex Marquez could be looking at his first Q2 entry of the year with a confident run to eighth, just ahead of Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Rins on the second Suzuki. The only manufacturer that will be poring intensely over data this evening, however, will be Ducati as not one of its six entries cracked the top ten with Andrea Dovizioso down in 13th, Jack Miller 14th, Danilo Petrucci 15th and Pecco Bagnaia 16th.

Valentino Rossi became the first MotoGP rider to test positive for Covid-19 as he will be missing in this weekend’s Aragon MotoGP and most probably next week’s Teruel GP. This comes as MotoGP has been operating under very tight restrictions to tame the spread of Covid-19, however several cases from the paddock members have been reported including Moto2 rider Jorge Martin who had to miss the double header races at Misano last month. Through his Instagram handle, Valentino Rossi said that he was not feeling well as he was waking up at Aragon and immediately underwent a test for Covid-19 which came back negative. However, a second test turned out to be positive which means that he will be missing in action at the Aragon MotoGP and most probably the second Aragon event next week. The 9-time world champion had been self isolating since his arrival at Aragon and he expressed his disappointment having done his best to respect the given protocols. “Unfortunately this morning I woke up and I was not feeling good,” Rossi posted on social media. “My bones were sore and I had a slight fever, so I immediately called the doctor who tested me twice.” “The ‘quick PCR test’ result was negative, just like the test I underwent on Tuesday. But the second one, of which the result was sent to me at 4pm this afternoon, was unfortunately positive.” “I am so disappointed that I will have to miss the race at Aragon. I’d like to be optimistic and confident, but I expect the second round in Aragon to be a no go for me as well.” “I am sad and angry because I did my best to respect the protocol, and although the test I had on Tuesday was negative, I self-isolated since my arrival from Le Mans.” “Anyway, this is the way it is and I can’t do anything to change the situation. I will now follow the medical advice and I just hope I will be feeling well soon.” The news comes a week after six Yamaha engineers tested positive for Covid-19 and were forced to remain in Andorra. “This is very bad news for Valentino and very bad news for the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team and for all MotoGP fans around the world. First and foremost we hope Valentino will not suffer too much in the coming days and will recover fully in the shortest time possible.”Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis added. “It comes as a second blow for our MotoGP operations having faced the absence of Project Leader Sumi-san and five YMC engineers at the Le Mans race after one member tested positive – despite being fortunately totally asymptomatic. “These two incidents remind us that no matter how careful you are, the risk is always present – as we see with the rising numbers of infections in Europe at this time. “We have checked with the Italian health authorities and we have been advised that any member of our team that was in contact with Valentino up until Monday is excluded from direct risk. “Nevertheless, we will be even more attentive from now on to minimise the chance for any future issues.” Yamaha has made no mention of fielding a stand-in yet, though this could open the door for test rider Jorge Lorenzo to make a shock MotoGP return this season. Lorenzo was due to make an appearance at the Catalan GP before the original calendar was scrapped owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The three-time world champion rode the 2019 M1 at Algarve last week, though hasn’t had any time on the 2020 Yamaha this year and has only completed four days on a MotoGP bike since February.

Factory Honda MotoGP outfit is set to hold talks on an agreement for a new two-year title sponsorship deal with Spanish oil magnate, Repsol as Racetrackmasters.com has learnt. Repsol became title sponsor to the works Honda outfit back in 1995, beginning one of the most enduring partnerships in MotoGP and yielding 15 riders’ world titles spread between Mick Doohan, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner and Marc Marquez. Rumours in recent weeks emerged from the paddock suggesting Repsol could be set to end its association with Honda in 2021. It was said energy drinks giant Red Bull would take over as a title sponsor, though the company’s branding already features prominently on the RC213V as a secondary partner. Red Bull is also currently the title sponsor of the factory KTM squad, and counts Marquez as one of its most high-profile athletes. All of this made the Red Bull rumours suspect. We can now confirm Honda and Repsol are set to continue their partnership, with a new two-year deal to run through to the end of 2022 imminently. Honda has endured a tough 2020 campaign, with reigning world champion Marquez out of action since the Spanish Grand Prix owing to an arm injury. Marquez will continue to watch from the sidelines at this weekend’s Aragon GP, with HRC test rider Stefan Bradl to deputise once more. Though his chances were remote should he have staged a comeback this weekend, Marquez’s continued absence means he now mathematically cannot win the 2020 MotoGP title. Honda’s first podium of the campaign came last weekend at the French GP when Marc’s rookie brother Alex Marquez guided his RC213V to second having started 18th. HRC’s top runner is currently LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami on the year-old Honda in fifth in the standings, 34 points off the championship lead. In other sponsorship news, the Tech 3 squad is set to lose its Red Bull sponsorship for the 2021 season. Herve Poncharal’s outfit took on the Austrian brand when it became KTM’s satellite squad, having previously been backed by Monster Energy when it ran Yamaha machinery. Tech 3 will continue to field KTMs next year, though it is unclear if this loss in sponsor ship will force the team to look tying up with another manufacturer in 2022.

Valentino Rossi “didn’t understand” why he crashed on the opening lap of the MotoGP French Grand Prix and called his third-successive non-finish a “great shame”. The Yamaha rider started from 10th and was in the middle of the pack on the run up to the Dunlop chicane on the opening lap of Sunday’s Le Mans race when the rear of his M1 swung round on him. His crash forced Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales, Suzuki’s Joan Mir and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro to take avoiding action and run through the chicane, while Rossi was unable to rejoin. It marked his third DNF in three races, having crashed out of second in the Catalan GP and retired from the Emilia Romagna GP at Misano following an early fall. “I’m very sad, crashing like this at the first corner is a bad thing,” Rossi said. “I had a good start and I was already in pretty good shape after the bend. In the first corner on the left we all entered very calmly, because the conditions were very difficult due to the cold.” “I also entered very slowly, but it started behind me and we honestly didn’t understand what happened. It is a period that I am also quite unlucky I must say, because I have not been able to collect even a point in the last three races even though my performance was not bad, because in practice I have always been quite competitive.” Rossi added. Rossi wasn’t the only rider who suffered a fall which left them perplexed, as Suzuki’s Alex Rins crashed from second on lap 20. Rins had come from 16th on the grid running the medium rear tyre as opposed to the soft the leaders were using, and by lap 11 was into the podium battle. Having taken second when Pramac’s Jack Miller’s bike expired on lap 19, Rins had a “totally unexpected” tumble at the Dunlop chicane on the following tour. “It was a shame; even before the crash it was a great race,” said the Suzuki rider. “It was difficult for the tyres to warm up, it was difficult but we handled it well, I gained several positions and we moved forward.” “I had a good feeling with the front tyre, we fought a lot with Dovizioso and Miller,” added the 9-time world champion. “Petrucci escaped and when Miller’s engine broke, I went forward and I was catching Petrux , just when I fell. I was riding well, braking on the spot, it was totally unexpected.”

Ducatti rider Danilo Petrucci won a dramatic French MotoGP ahead of Alex Marquez who is a Repsol Honda rookie, while the title contenders Fabio Quartararo and Suzuki’s Joan Mir struggled throughout the race. There was a brief delay before the race could officialy start due to a very heavy downpour at the Le Mans, the race was declared wet for the first time since the Valencia GP back in 2018. The race started as LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow held the lead very briefly on the run up the hill to the dunlop chicane but was immediately overtaken by Pramac’s Jack Miller who took the lead at Turn 3. Moments later, Valentino Rossi on his Monster Yamaha crashed forcing his teammate Maverick Vinales, Joan Mir(Suzuki) and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro to take avoiding action through the first chicane. This put Vinales and Mir off the points in the race. In the middle of Rossi’s chaos, Andrea Dovizioso and Petrucci on the works Ducatti moved in behind Jack Miller, with Fabio Quartararo who was in the pole position dropped to fourth but soon faced immense pressure from the riders behind him as he struggled on his Petronas Yamaha, this being his first wet race. Petrucci found his way around Miller at the blue esses towards the completion of the first lap as Dovizioso quickly followed him through. The 3 Ducatti riders made a buffer to hold off the following riders as Suzuki’s Alex Rins made it to the fourth position after improving from 16th as lap four approached once his medium tyres were up to temperarture. Rins continued chasing after the Ducatti’s and by lap 11 his efforts paid off as he was under a second behind Miller. Dovizioso, on lap 18 made a move to take the lead on Petrucci on the first corner and later resisted a counterattack at the Garage Vert. The two Ducattis fought side by side as the ran through the double right-hander side as they made contact at the following corner while Rins overtook Dovizioso from the inside and took the second position behind Petrucci. Miller’s Pramac GP20 later failed him on the following lap as Rins crashed out of the second place at Turn 3 on the following hour. Petrucci was now 2.7 seconds ahead of the second placed Dovizioso, though the teammate quicky narrowed the gap while Marquez in his first wet race closed in on the leading pack. Petrucci’s lead narrowed further to 1.2 seconds on lap 23 but Dovizioso immediately started suffering from lack of rear grip and could not help it as Marquez passed him at the La Chapelle. Petrucci maintained his lead up to the final lap as the rider made it across the finish line first making this his second victory in the 2020 MotoGP Season also being the 7th different winner this season. Rookie Marquez gave Honda the first podium victory by finishing second having started on 18th place. KTM’s Pol Espargaro finished third after taking on Dovizioso later in the race. Dovizioso managed to finish fourth despite his fading rear tyre as Johann Zarco finished fifth on his Avintia Ducatti, he was on his home ground. Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira finished 6th ahead of Takaaki Nakagami on his LCR Honda, factory Honda rider Stefan Bradl finished in 8th place while Quartararo was able to hold off Vinales and Mir taking the 9th place. Fabio Quartararo still extends his lead with over 10 points on Joan Mir, Dovizioso on the other hand is 18 points adrift the championship leader and just a point clear of Vinales. Brad Binder finished his first wet race in 12th place on his KTM as Francesco Bagnaia couldn’t keep up with his Ducatti counterparts as he finished 13th on his Pramac GP20. Aleix Espargaro and Tech3’s Iker Lecuona rounded out the points for the race. Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli crashed and later retired from the race after lagging behind throughout the race as Crutchlow, Aprilia’s Bradley Smith and Avintia’s Tito Rabat fell of from the race.

Fabio Quartararo beat Jack Miller to MotoGP pole in a dramatic French Grand Prix qualifying, with Joan Mir only 14th after failing to get out of Q1. Qualifying was delayed owing to an oil spill caused by Miguel Oliveira’s Tech 3 KTM expiring 13 minutes into FP4. When Q2 finally got under way, Yamaha took charge of the top of the timesheets as they did in FP3 and FP4, with Catalunya poleman Franco Morbidelli setting the early pace with a 1m32.393s. His Petronas teammate Quartararo beat this just a moment later with a 1m31.679s, which he improved to a 1m31.665s on the following tour. Pramac’s Francesco Bagnaia split the Yamaha’s on the provisional front row in second having come through Q1 alongside fellow Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci. Quartararo’s 1m31.665s came under immense threat as the session ticked into its final two minutes, with Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso jumping up to second before the injured Cal Crutchlow missed out by just 0.021 seconds. Jack Miller toppled Quartararo’s time with a 1m31.537s on his final lap, but Quartararo was lighting up the timing screens on his last effort. Under a tenth up as he entered the third sector, home hero Quartararo monstered the final split to produce a 1m31.315s to claim his first pole since the Andalusian GP in July by 0.222s. Miller held onto second ahead of Petrucci, who secured his first front row start since the 2019 Italian GP weekend. Crutchlow will head the second row on his LCR Honda despite still suffering with complications from surgery on his right arm in August, while Maverick Vinales on the Yamaha and Dovizioso line up alongside. Bagnaia was shuffled back to seventh in the end ahead of Pol Espargaro’s KTM and Johann Zarco on the Avintia Ducati. Valentino Rossi put in a charge for pole late on, but could only manage 10th on his Yamaha ahead of early pacesetter Morbidelli and Oliveira. Mir’s difficult Saturday continued into qualifying, after a crash in FP3 left him stranded in Q1. The Suzuki rider did hold a Q2 place in the closing stages of Q1, but his 1m32.187s wasn’t good enough to stop Pramac’s Bagnaia from demoting him, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami worsening the situation by jumping up to 13th. Mir’s 14th is his worst qualifying of the year and he will be joined on the fifth row by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, with the sister Suzuki of Alex Rins only 16th after suffering another crash in FP4. A late crash for Brad Binder at the Musee left-hander stopped him advancing on 17th on the KTM, with Alex Marquez shuffled back to 18th on the Honda after an early stint in the top two. Bradley Smith on the sister Aprilia, Tech 3’s Iker Lecuona, Honda’s Stefan Bradl and the Avintia Ducati of Tito Rabat complete the field.

Jack Miller slides his way to the top of the timesheets in second free practice for the French MotoGP at Le Mans, +0.7s up on Takaaki Nakagami and Johann Zarco. Jack Miller climbed to the top of the timesheets in second free practice for the 2020 French MotoGP at Le Mans as tricky, slippery track conditions continued to persist into the afternoon. After Bradley Smith emerged as the surprise pace setter in FP1 on an evolving circuit, the conditions for FP2 were much the same as riders contended with a surface that dried enough to allow a brave run on slick tyres. Australian Miller took up the challenge and duly emerged out front with a timesheet-topping 1m 34.133s lap in the closing stages of the session, the Pramac Ducati rider – who will step up to the factory team next season -a full seven tenths faster than second place man Takaaki Nakagami. Takaaki Nakagami had looked on course for the fastest time before being usurped by Miller, though the Japanese rider was denied the chance to respond when he fell in the closing stages, one of a small handful of riders to do so as they found the limit of the track. Johann Zarco endured an unusual session as he appeared to suffer with electrical issues on the Avintia Ducati, forcing him to come to a brief stop before rejoining the circuit and powering on to third quickest. Valentino Rossi was fourth best on the quickest of the Yamahas, with Danilo Petrucci and Maverick Vinales following up in fifth and sixth positions. Briton Cal Crutchlow turned in the seventh best time from Honda counterpart Alex Marquex, while Franco Morbidelli and Pol Espargaro completed the top ten runners. Further down the order, with both Fabio Quartararo and Joan Mir yet to start a wet weather race since moving to MotoGP, the chance to run in these conditions could prove invaluable in their brewing title fight should Sunday’s race prove similarly damp. There was bad fortune for Andrea Dovizioso as he suffered a lowside, albeit seemingly without consequence, while Brad Binder and Aleix Espargaro also came down from their respective KTM and Aprilia machines. However, it was Smith that suffered the most spectacular incident with a high-side from his RS-GP that left him limping away from the wreckage.

Bradley Smith topped a wet first practice for the MotoGP French Grand Prix on the Aprilia ahead of home hero Johann Zarco on the Avintia Ducati.Smith’s future beyond this weekend is uncertain as Andrea Iannone’s appeal to have his 18-month doping ban overturned will be heard on Thursday and could be in a position to return for the Aragon Grand Prix next weekend. Despite a spate of crashes in the preceding Moto3 session, riders were quick to start learning the conditions when the first premier class outing of the weekend got under way. MotoGP’s last full wet race was the 2018 Valencia Grand Prix, which was won by Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and featured Pol Espargaro on the KTM on the podium. Both traded top spot in the early part of FP1 at Le Mans, with the Ducati taking the advantage briefly with a 1m45.785s with around 28 minutes to go. Moments later, Ducati stablemates Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia on the Pramac GP20 would demote him, before Danilo Petrucci on the sister works team Desmosedici took over top spot with a 1m45.326s. Petrucci – who was on the podium in the dry at Le Mans last year – was shuffled back by Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales with a 1m45.121s, though the Ducati rider ensured this was short-lived when he posted a 1m44.931s. With eight minutes to go, Miller returned to the top of the timesheets with a 1m44.735s, which soon came under threat as lap times continued to drop as the session drew to a close. Petrucci toppled Miller’s time with a 1m44.409s, though the Australian retaliated with a 1m44.346s, before Vinales guided the factory M1 to a 1m44.180s. As the chequered flag came out, Smith was hooking together a lap threatening top spot on the Aprilia and produced a 1m43.804s to end FP1 fastest of all by 0.154 seconds. Zarco leaped up to second on his final lap on his GP19, with Petrucci holding onto the top three ahead of Miller and Dovizioso, with Vinales completing the top six. Morbidelli was shuffled back to seventh ahead of Valentino Rossi on the works team Yamaha, while LCR’s Cal Crutchlow – who admitted on Thursday his right arm is “not in a great situation” still – was ninth on the Honda and ahead of KTM’s Espargaro. The Suzuki duo of Alex Rins and Joan Mir were 11th and 12th, while championship leader Fabio Quartararo was some 2.6s off the pace down in 18th. With weather forecasts predicting drier conditions across the weekend, the need to push in FP1 came with little reward and likely influenced Quartararo’s caution. Stefan Bradl didn’t set a time on the factory Honda, though has spent the last two days at the Algarve circuit in Portugal testing the RC213V.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow admits that his arm is not yet in a good situation ahead of the French MotoGP a month after arm pump surgery. Cal Crutchlow underwent a surgery to correct arm pump following the Styrian Grand Prix back in August but was forced to miss the two Misano rounds after developing complications from the surgery. He is continuing to battle with his swollen arm as he raced in the Catalan MotoGP and finished 10th and now its down to 10 days since the event and his arm has not gotten any better. “I spent 10 days at home, 10 days in hospital seeing surgeons, MRI scans, etc,” Crutchlow said when asked about his physical condition. “Just another week in the life of ‘if it was easy everyone would be doing it’. My arm’s not in a great situation at the moment, honestly speaking.” “It’s one of the reasons why I didn’t ride at Portimao [in Wednesday’s test], I didn’t want to use the arm. So, again, I will ride this weekend and then I will go and see Dr Mir again and consult with him as to what the best option is to do because the arm still has some fluid, the arm is very swollen, the flexor muscle is very, very hard for some reason.” “And the skin is completely stuck to the muscle and the tendons and we can’t get it off. Whatever happens, you can’t get it off. Physiotherapy, massage, you can do whatever you want but it’s like super glue. So, as you can imagine there’s no fascia in there now, so the scar tissue normally would stick to the fascia, but there’s no fascia there so it’s stuck to the muscle.” “So, it’s not a great situation.” The LCR Honda rider is not concerned about the long term situation of his arm but is very focussed on managing it over the next seven weeks remaining on the 2020 MotoGP Season with only six races to go. Crutchlow is also unsure if he has to miss any of the rounds as a result of his swollen arm. “I don’t know if I’ll have to sit any out, but I believe that most people wouldn’t ride or be able to ride,” he added. “But that’s not something to be proud of, to be honest. I wish I wasn’t in this situation, of course.” “But, I’ll continue to do my job, I love my job, I still want to be out there. That’s the reason I am. The good thing is there’s no real safety concern for anybody else on track, it’s more of a concern for me with my arm.” “It’s not going to heal over these next weeks, there’s no doubt about that. I’m not concerned for the arm long-term. I think the arm will settle down once I get to the bottom of the problem and once I can have that fixed.” “Problem is, we don’t really know what it is at the moment, but I believe if I continue to race next year and if I have the winter off, the arm will be fine next year. That’s not a concern at all. The concern is these six races in a row, it’s going to be difficult.”