MotoGP

Fabio Quartararo returned to the lead of MotoGP Championship after winning his first race since July in the Catalan Grand prix as Andrea Dovizioso crashed on the first lap of the race. The race started as Franco Morbidelli held onto his pole position ahead of Pramac’s Jack Miller. As the riders raced towards the first two turns, Danilo Petrucci experienced delayed acceleration from turn to which forced Johann Zarco who was behind him to slow to avoid Petrucci’s Ducati which was ahead. Avintia’s Zarco later made contact with Dovizioso taking both of the Ducatti riders out of the race. Valentino Rossi who was at the front, was able to take on Jack Miller at Turn 5 and was now chasing down after Franco Morbidelli who was the race leader. Jack Miller on the other hand, made a mistake as he was approaching Turn 10 almost knocking out Valentino Rossi. Fabio Quartararo was able to weave between the two bikes to take the third position. Franco Morbidelli had made half a second gap over Valentino Rossi in the earlier stages of the race as the top three Yamaha riders were distancing away Jack Miller. At the start of the sixth lap, Quartararo was able to pass Valentino Rossi at the first corner and after three laps Rossi came to re-take his position from Quartararo at the same corner. Franco Morbidelli was riding very close to Quartararo but his hope for a victory vanished when he almost crashed twice as he approached Turn 1 on lap 14. Quartararo later settled in the third position behind Valentino Rossi. Rossi’s gap to the race leader Fabio Quartararo was just six tenths of a second as he put a fight for his 200th MotoGP podium in his 350th MotoGP start, but his hopes quickly eluded from him when he slid off at Turn 2 crashing and was out of the race. Franco Morbidelli took over the second position but his rear failed him in the final stages of the race making Joan Mir and Alex Rins on their Suzukis bypass him. Joan Mir was later able to take the second position from Franco Morbidelli at Turn 1 in the last lap. The Suzuki rider put on a fight as he closely followed Quartararo who was over 3 seconds in the lead, and as they approached the chequered flag the gap was just below a second. Mir’s teammate Alex Rins on the sister Suzuki was able to come up from the 13th position on the grid and achieve a podium finish after completing the race third. This was the first double-Suzuki podium finish since Misano 2007. Franco Morbidelli held onto the 4th positions just 0.545 seconds ahead of Pramac’s Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia who finished the race 5th and 6th respectively. LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami closely followed the Pramac duo on seventh place. Danilo Petrucci on his works Ducatti finished 8th as Maverick Vinales finished in a disappointing 9th place on his Factory Yamaha. Maverick Vinales also had a challenging afternoon after being kicked out of the points at 16th as he was overtaken in the first lap after a poor start, he however benefited from the crashes which pulled out the riders who were ahead. The Yamaha rider would afterwards take on LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow and finish the race 9th as Crutchlow rounded the points at 10th. KTM’s Brad Binder, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, the Honda of Alex Marquez, Iker Lecuona(KTM Tech 3) and Avintia’s Tito Rabat finished later taking position 11 to 15 respectively. Fabio Quartararo’s third win in the 2020 MotoGP Season now puts him 8 points ahead in the championship lead as Suzuki’s Joan Mir takes second position in the championship after four podium finishes. Maverick Vinales is 18 points down in 3rd as Andrea Dovizioso is fourth with 24 points behind. Valentino Rossi is 50 points behind putting his hopes for a championship win down.

Franco Morbidelli got his maiden pole position in the Barcelona MotoGP qualifying session on Saturday afternoon as he lead a Yamaha 1-2-3 lead for the Catalan Grand Prix. Andrea Dovizioso only managed to get the 17th position in the qualifiers. It was a tight race between all the four Yamaha riders at the close of the Q2, with Morbidelli leading Fabio Quartararo and Valentino Rossi who was confirmed and announced by the Petronas Yamaha SRT to be their rider for the 2021 MotoGP season. Rossi had set an early pace with 1m 39.881s but it was quickly taken by Maverick Vinales recording 1m 39.655s. Morbidelli the took over the top spot with 1m 39.110s while his teammate Quartararo was 7th after making an error at turn 10. As the session had only few minutes to go, the Yamahas were proving their dominance in setting fastest lap times with Quartararo making the benchmark time of 1m 39.008s. However Morbidelli challenged the time after recording 1m 38.798s to claim his maiden pole for the MotoGP class since his Moto2 season in 2017. Fabio Quaratararo went for one final lap as the chequered flag came out but was unable to better his second position, with Rossi coming up in the front row for the first time this season. Jack Miller(Pramac Racing) ended up the session as the best of the Ducattis coming 4th after setting a record of 1m 39.225s earlier on in the Q2 on the soft tyre after having to use the other in Q1. Maverick Vinales came 5th in the time rankings while Avintia’s Johann Zarco came in sixth. His former teammate Pol Espargaro completed the session 7th on the KTM. Joan Mir on the Suzuki closely followed Espargaro coming 8th while Danillo Petrucci(works Ducatti) and Brad Binder on the KTM finished 9th and 10th respectively. LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami only managed 11th which was an improvement from Q1 as Miguel Oliveira closely followed in 12th place on the KTM Tech 3 after crashing earlier on at Turn 10. Andrea Dovizioso had a tough time in both Q1 and Q2 and could only produce 1m 40.109s which only placed him at the 17th position. He will be starting Sundays race beside Cal Crutchlow(LCR Honda) who was 16th despite his injury and Repsol Honda’s Alex Marquez who was 18th. Alex Rins will be starting 13th on the grid ahead of Pramac’s Francesco Bagnaia and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Franco Morbidelli who is the San Marino MotoGP winner emerged the first in the Barcelona MotoGP FP2 which was held in Catalunya as he was able to beat KTM and Ducatti. Morbidelli’s teammate Fabio Quartararo who was the pacesetter in FP1 encountered problems before the start of the FP2 session. The two Petronas SRT Yamaha bikes topped in the overall timesheets of the Friday’s Catalunya Free Practice session for the Barcelona MotoGP. Franco Morbidelli was top overall recording a time of 1m 39.789s after beating Quartararo’s FP1 time by six tenths of a second. Ensponsorama racing’s Johann Zarco closed in on Franco Morbidelli’s time managing to get his time in the 1m 39s bracket. Brad Binder(KTM Factory racing) came in third closing the top three pacesetters on Friday. Many riders were able to get faster lap times in FP2 than FP1. Morbidelli, Binder and Suzuki’s Alex Rins were able to set the pace in the FP1 after Fabio Quartararo. Monster Energy Yamaha’s Maverick Vinalez and Valentino Rossi were also able to improve their lap times in FP2. Pol Espargaro(KTM Factory racing) completed in 4th place in the overall rankings. The champion leader Andrea Dovizioso(Ducatti Team) ended up 6th in FP2 after being 2nd in FP1. After setting the pace in FP2, Morbidelli was then down at Turn 10 – unhurt – with 24 minutes to go as the San Marino GP winner sat just over a tenth off teammate Quartararo. Before Morbidelli crashed, Zarco crashed at Turn 5 rider okay with Repsol Honda Team’s Stefan Bradl also crashing unhurt, the German biting the dust at Turn 2. The wind was up and was playing a factor with tyre temperatures, making it tricky for the premier class in the second session of the weekend. In the mid part of the session, a lot of the riders were trying to get some race pace work done with the timesheets not really changing much. With 14 to go, eight tenths covered the top 11 Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) improving in FP2 to jump up to just outside the top 10. Zarco then came back out on his second GP19 machine and was able to go quicker, slotting in just ahead of Alex Marquez to make it 12 riders within a second heading into the final 10 minutes of FP2 cue the time attacks. A few soft Michelin tyre lap times came in but it was still Quartararo who held P1, thanks to his FP1 time. Mir and Rossi went close with the Spaniard sitting just 0.010 off Quartararo’s pace, as two Hondas then rose to the fore in FP2 and on the combined times. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) and Alex Marquez went into the top five after stringing great laps together, but the goalposts were about to be moved significantly. Rookie Binder finished FP1 down in 21st position as he attacked the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time on a MotoGP machine. But, clearly, it hadn’t taken the South African too long to work out how to tame the RC16 beast in Barcelona Binder blitzed his way to P1 with a 1:40.008 to stretch four tenths clear of the field. Nakagami completed the top five on the combined times after finishing FP1 just outside the top 10 in P11, the Japanese rider sits just ahead of Quartararo who encountered issues when coming out of pitlane to start his time attack. The 21-year-old was unable to get out and dropped to P6 after sitting as the fastest rider in FP1, but remains safely in the top 10 for now. In form Mir finishes 7th despite improving his time from FP1, Pol Espargaro and Alex Marquez rise into 8th and 9th respectively after finishing FP1 in 16th and 20th marked improvement for the two Spaniards. 10th went the way of Rossi, The Doctor slips two places from FP1 but holds onto the final provisional automatic Q2 spot ahead of Saturday’s action. Dovizioso didn’t improve his FP1 time that was good enough for P2 this morning, the Italian slipping to 15th in FP2 as both he and teammate Danilo Petrucci who sits P22 failed to go quicker in the afternoon session.

Fabio Quartararo, Andrea Dovizioso, Joan Mir and Maverick Vinales are the top four in the 2020 MotoGP standings and also fill the top four in the Catalunya MotoGP FP1. The top four in the 2020 MotoGP World Championship standings filled the leading positions as the Catalunya MotoGP which kicked off in Spain with Fabio Quartararo the quickest over Andrea Dovizioso. As is becoming a frequent occurrence for the Frenchman in his second season of MotoGP, Quartararo was in fine form out of the box on the Petronas SRT Yamaha to take control early on at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya before steadily chipping away at his own benchmark. Eventually posting a best of 1min 40.431secs on his final revolution, it placed him four tenths up on championship leader Dovizioso, who enjoyed arguably the best start to a race weekend this year in second place. Coming into the weekend unclear of whether his inconsistent Ducati would have pace, the Italian made full use of trailing Joan Mir before going on to play best of the rest to Quartararo. Mir endured an eventful start to his weekend, suffering an unusual crash early on at the tricky downhill Turn 5 left-hander which, though low speed, sent his Suzuki GSX-RR somersaulting through the gravel trap. Undeterred, he returned to track later to post the third fastest time, ahead of the fourth rider to currently sit within four points of the top in the standings, Maverick Vinales. Local hope Aleix Espargaro fired in a quick late lap to climb to fifth on the Aprilia, ahead of Franco Morbidelli, Alex Rins and Valentino Rossi. Making his first FP1 appearance since Styria despite injuring his ankle on Wednesday as Cal Crutchlow hit the ground running with a solid run to ninth position on the LCR Honda, while Miguel Oliveira rounded out the top ten. Save for Dovizioso, it was a disappointing start to the weekend for Ducati broadly with Johann Zarco its next best representative in 13th, while Misano standout Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller were 15th and 18th respectively. It was also a low key opening for KTM beyond Oliveira, with Iker Lecuona 14th, after crashing late on at Turn 2 ,Pol Espargaro and Brad Binder 13th, 16th and 21st respectively.

Rossi says he will be taking three of his current crew members at Yamaha to Petronas for 2021 MotoGP season. This comes as he prepares to announce his new deal before the end of the 2020 MotoGP season. The three current crew members that will be joining Rossi for the 2021 MotoGP season include crew chief David Munoz, data engineer Matteo Flamigni, and rider coach Idalio Gavira. This means that the current veteran Southern Hemisphere major crew members Alex Briggs and Brent Stephens, won’t be working with him in 2021 for the first time since he made his premier class debut in 2000. Valentino Rossi’s new petronas deal is expected to be announced officially on Thursday and the 7-time world champion also announced that the new contract signing will be formalised later in the Barcelona MotoGP weekend. “Like I said last week, we tried to sign during the weekend [at the Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna] because between the two races at Misano we fixed all the details,” said Rossi. “The situation is very clear, I will race with Petronas next year, but the contract is long and we’re in no hurry. “During this weekend, I will sign it and I will continue next year with Yamaha and Petronas, and we’ll let you know as soon as possible!” He also brushed off the latest delay as simply being due to all parties taking their time in ensuring that the deal is perfect before pens are finally put to paper. “Sometimes in MotoGP we sign the contract for next year too early and sometimes you’re already thinking of next season before the current one is over. Step by step, everyone is signing a lot earlier – for example, we sign a lot earlier than Formula One,” he added. “I agreed with Yamaha and with Petronas from Jerez, but because we are OK we haven’t made the deal in a hurry. It’s an important contract so there are things to fix: the technical details, the bike, the team. “In general we’re not in a hurry and I’m happy.”

Valentino Rossi will be anouncing his move to Petronas Yamaha SRT this week at the Catalan Grand Prix. The deal has been very much anticipated after it has been delayed for weeks, after the announcement was expected to be made in the Austrian Grand Prix. A series of meetings have been going on between Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis, Petronas Yamaha CEO Razlan Razali and Valentino himself in the last couple of weeks trying to get to an agreement on the deal, but finally the deal has been confirmed and it will be announced on Thursday at the Barcelona circuit. The final details of the contract were being put in place last week as the MotoGP events took place at the Misano Circuit for the San Marino and Emilio Romagna MotoGP. With Rossi being in his homeground and the other parties being at the same venue, it was easier to have face-to-face talks as Razlan Razali confirmed on social media. Valentino Rossi signed a year-long contract for 2021 with the Yamaha satellite team which is based in Malaysia. The contract does not last for just one year as there are speculations that Rossi may be looking for retirement, but because all the contracts will be coming to an end for the satellite team as they will be preparing for reorganisation for the 2022 MotoGP season. The deeper details of the contract are yet to be known, with the specification of his new bike and how much of his current crew will be joining him at Petronas SRT Yamaha which have seemed to be very difficult to come up with an agreement in the talks. On the other hand, some of Fabio Quartararo’s crew are looking forward to move with him from Petronas Yamaha to Factory Yamaha, and some of the straight personnel swap has been put in place to ease the transition between the two teams for the two riders. This could in turn open the door for the long waited VR46 Yamaha MotoGP team to join the grid for 2022. That’s an idea reinforced by rumours that the Petronas SRT squad is unhappy with its current status as a Yamaha client team while many of its independent rivals are becoming an increasingly key part of their respective factory set-ups. It’s not the first time a Yamaha satellite team has felt that way. Tech3 boss Herve Poncharal admitted in an exclusive interview after his team’s first win with KTM at the Styrian Grand Prix that he’d wanted more from Yamaha. Having moved to KTM in search of a closer factory relationship, he admitted that he thought Yamaha was moving in that direction with Petronas – but it seems according to The Race’s sources within the team that progress has been more limited than it appears from the outside. “When we were with Yamaha it was coming, they were starting to understand,” said Poncharal. “You always feel a little like you’re a weight on your factory – ‘oh we’re concentrating on the top guys, leave us alone, but they realised when I left them that they lost something they needed.” “Of course, Razlan stepped in and they did very well. He’s got the support of a huge sponsor, they picked up the right riders, and if you went to Yamaha now and told them that an independent team is a weight, they would disagree.” Should Petronas SRT decide to look elsewhere, there is a strong option available for it in the shape of Suzuki. Having admitted that it’s all but necessary to have a satellite squad for 2022 in order to further speed its rapid development, Suzuki has also hinted that its plan would be to field four identical machines instead of two different specifications as Yamaha currently does.

Maverick Vinales took first win of the 2020 MotoGP season after Francesco Bagnaia who was the race leader having a late crash giving the Yamaha rider victory in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Vinales had struggled from pole position in the first Misano race last week due to a wrong tyre choice, but it was later rectified in approach to a new set-up in practice meaning he was much stronger from the race start on Sunday. The 25-year-old Yamaha rider took the lead from the fast-starting Pramac’s Jack Miller around Turn 4 on the opening lap and was able to create half a second gap, as Miller’s hopes of a podium quickly faded and he would drop out of the race on lap eight after experiencing an engine issue. Bagnaia on the sister Pramac bike was the rider following Vinales closely by lap two, with the Italian rider finding a way through on lap six at Turn 4 when Vinales on the Yamaha ran wide. Bagnaia later opened up a lead of over seven tenths, by harnessing the power of the Ducatti and the grip from the rear soft tyre. This gave the rider the edge to widen the gap to over a second a few laps later. With KTM’s Brad Binder behind, chaos ensued after crashing at the Carro hairpin around Turn 14 on the second tour having just moved into the podium places. Moments earlier, Valentino Rossi on the Factory Yamaha fell back from the top eight at Turn 4 and eventually pulled out having only completed 12 laps. Bagnaia’s gap held stable between 1.4s and 1.6s as he lead the bikes, as Maverick Vinales comfortably closing the gap behind to the Pol Espargaro on the Factory KTM and Petronas Yamaha SRT with Fabio Quartararo. Though the gap had come down to 1.1s by the start of lap 21, Bagnaia still looked in control until he crashed going through the Turn 6 left-hander.  This released Vinales into a dominant lead to the chequered flag to become the sixth different winner in 2020 and move right back into championship contention.  The battle for second was very tight in the closing laps as Factory KTM’s pol Espargaro was experiencing problems with his soft rear tyre fading due to wear. Fabio Quartararo tried to close in on him on the Petronas Yamaha but the race concluded as he took 4th behind Espargaro. Suzuki’s Joan Mir closed in on this pair having started from 11th and overtook Quartararo in lap 23 at Turn 1 for third, before taking the second position from Espargaro at Turn 4 on lap 24. Quartararo followed him through at Turn 4, but was hit with a long-lap penalty on the final lap for exceeding track limits too many times. The Petronas rider did not take the penalty loop and was hit with a three-second time penalty at the chequered flag, dropping him to fourth and promoting Espargaro to the podium being third. Miguel Oliveira came through from 15th on his Tech 3 KTM to complete the top five ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez, who took his best result of the year on the works Honda in seventh. Andrea Dovizioso holds a one point lead over Quartararo in the standings after finishing down in eighth, with just four points now covering the factory Ducati rider, Quartararo, Vinales and Mir. San Marino GP winner Franco Morbidelli recovered from early contact after Aleix Espargaro crashed into him to finish ninth, with Danilo Petrucci (Ducati), Avintia’s Johann Zarco, Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Aprilia’s Bradley Smith claiming the final points. Tech 3’s Iker Lecuona crashed out of sixth in the latter stages, with Avintia’s Tito Rabat also crashing and joining Rossi, Bagnaia, Miller, Binder and Aleix Espargaro on the sidelines.

It was a tight first practice session as Fabio Quartararo led the Petronas SRT for a 1-2 lead in the inaugural Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano. This is the third time that the MotoGP has returned to the same circuit for a Grand Prix following the Tuesday tests. Franco Morbidelli in the sister Petronas Yamaha bike had set the earlier pace recording 1m 33.194s but KTM’s Pol Espargaro took over the lead moments later recording a lap time of 1m 32.390s. Morbidelli was not present in the Tuesday’s test due to stomach problems as later on shot to the top barely 15 minutes gone in the practice session recording 1m 32.365s in the timed lap, the 25-year-old would then go ahead to better his lap in the final 15 minutes recording 1m 32.224s. Ducatti’s Andrea Dovizioso later on went to snatch the lead from Morbidelli in the 6 final minutes recording 1m 32.152s on the soft tyres. The Ducatti rider had been struggling in the San Marino race weekend but the change in the bike’s set up seems to have done the magic. Dovi’s time was the benchmark briefly as Joan Mir in the Suzuki GSX-RR took the lead recording a lap time of 1m 31.926s. Quartararo later took on the Suzuki as he recorded 1m 3.889s and finished the session with 1m 33.721s lap. Franco Morbidelli opted for the hard tyre as the session was coming to a close and made a lap that was just 0.090s slower than Fabio Quartararo as KTM’s Pol Espargaro coming third as the session came to an end, despite his efforts coming on top briefly in the closing stages. Suzuki’s Joan Mir was pushed to fourth as Miguel Oliveira on the Tech 3 KTM closely followed in fifth. Takaaki Nakagami took the sixth position on the LCR Honda. Ducatti’s Andrea Dovizioso 1m 31.152s lap time got him the seventh position as Avintia’s Johann Zarco with his updated Avintia chassis took the 8th slot. Maverick Vinales who took the pole position at the San Marino GP took the 13th position though he didn’t participate in the final stages of the time attack. His teammate Valentino Rossi ended up 17th as he also did not go for a fast lap later on. Suzuki’s Alex Rins had a near miss at turn 5 and avoided crashing but 10 minutes later, a crash was inevitable at the Quercia corner around turn 8. The 24-year-old Suzuki rider took the 16th position as KTM’s Brad Binder and Pramac’s Jack Miller finished 14th and 15th respectively.

Maverick Vinales says he needs Yamaha to react urgently on his grip woes on the track after having a struggle in the San Marino Grand Prix last weekend. The Yamaha Factory rider went ahead to smash the Misano record lap to take the pole position as there were very high expectations to be the biggest threat to the victory following the perfect practice sessions. This however did not happen as Vinales dropped out of the podium battle finishing 6th which was 5.3 seconds later than the Petronas Yamaha winner Franco Morbidelli. There was speculation that Vinales troubles were due to his choice of being the only rider to run a hard rear tyre. The Tuesday’s test at Misano favoured the 25-year-old rider as he topped saying it was the ‘best of the year’, the excess of Michelin rubber on track made a very huge contribution to his success on the test. With this he urged Yamaha to find a solution allowing him to have the same feel of grip as the Moto 2 Dunlop rubber on Sunday afternoons. “I need to be quicker, so then the damage is less… So, if I’m a bit quicker in the practices, I’ll be a bit quicker in the race. We will try our maximum. For sure it’s not an easy point for us because we suffer a lot all the time on that.” Vinales said after he was asked on how he will handle the race weekend. “But I want a reaction from Yamaha. I want them to provide me with the best, because we came from Saturday to make a lap record in qualifying, from being a beast on track, and then we were a little kitty on the track. It’s something strange. I take it with humour because it’s the only thing I can do.” “On the test I felt good, honestly I felt incredible on the bike. We rode fast because at the end of the day I rode in 1m32s-low with a lot of laps on the tyre as the rhythm, which is good.” The Yamaha Factory rider continued “As we know when there is Michelin rubber, there is good grip. I can do whatever I want with the bike. But when there is no grip, it is difficult to ride” Maverick Vinales also tested the new exhaust and the carbon fibre swingarm as well as some additional settings which will be run in the Emilia Romagna MotoGP this weekend. His teammate Valentino Rossi will also be testing the new modifications on his bike.

Yamaha recently brought out its new modified exhaust for its for its YZR-M1 MotoGP bike at Misano race test, confirming the delivery of the predictions of modifications for the bike that Neil Spalding who is the MotoGP race technical guru had predicted two weeks ago. Yamaha had experienced a series of engine failures at the two opening events at Jerez which had been caused by faulty valves as the team tried to change engines so as to get the maximum out of the bike, but this has lead to rev restrictions have been minimised by 300rpm for the Yamaha riders as they struggled in Brno and Red Bull Ring last month. Yamaha’s problem can be however rectified by using a new and longer exhaust system, changes were evident on the bikes of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi. “Yamaha definitely cooked some of their engines right at the start of the year, and that damaged the valves, but sealed engines mean they’re not allowed to change those valves. So they’ve got to run the rest of the year with those engines and now they’ve got to find a way to put them under less stress.” Neil Spalding explained. “The only way to do that is to reduce the maximum revs and then try and build all of the equipment on the outside of the sealed engine to try and help that engine make its best power lower down the rev band. “That is typically going to include modified throttle bodies inlet lengths and most critically a new exhaust system with longer primary pipes and a longer overall length to help the engines make better power at lower rpm.”

Franco Morbidelli came to win the Misano Grand Prix to claim his first MotoGP victory while his Petronas Yamaha teammate, Fabio Quartararo retired from the race after crashing twice. It was a dramatic race as Franco Morbidelli started second on the grid as he went ahead to lead Yamaha Factory team’s Valentino Rossi through the first corner. The pole-sitter Maverick Vinales resulted to third and Quartararo fifth as the race progressed. Morbidelli’s win was unexpected in the 6th stage of the 2020 MotoGP season with the season becoming more unpredictable, Morbidelli being the fourth first-time winner to win in 2020 season alone. However the performance by the rider was superb throught the race. ndeed, Fabio Quartararo and  Maverick Vinales the only rider to start on a hard rear tyre – fluffed their chances at the start when they allowed Ducati’s Jack Miller between themselves and Morbidelli, plus Valentino Rossi out front. With Vinales taking time to get his tyres up to performance, Quartararo became bottled up behind him initially but having finally passed his stablemate on seven, dropped his Petronas SRT Yamaha when he ran wide at Turn 4. The crestfallen Frenchman soon pitted and returned to track, only to fall again almost straight away on cold tyres on a veritable day to forget for the title contender. Up front, Rossi tracked Morbidelli during the initial laps, but a new lap record from the 2017 Moto2 champion allowed him to put the air he needed to start pushing on. By contrast, Rossi found himself being swallowed by Alex Rins and Pecco Bagnaia behind, the pair having relieved Vinales earlier before quickly catching and dispatching a fading Miller ahead of them.  However, a steely Rossi wouldn’t give up second place without a fight, the fairly evenly matched Yamaha and Suzuki riders line astern but never looking that likely to swap positions. As such, Bagnaia – in his first race back since breaking his leg at Brno – would wait no longer as he streamed up the inside of Rins at the fast Turn 11 to move into third with eight laps remaining. Unlike the more hesitant Rins, Bagnaia wasted no time in getting the better of Rossi – his VR46 rider academy mentor – repeating the same move at Turn 11 on the very next lap to nose the Pramac Racing Ducati into second position. Their feuding would allow Morbidelli – at times 3secs clear of the pack – the opportunity to ease off in the closing stages, crossing the line to take an emotional maiden victory in his third season of MotoGP competition.  He joins team-mate Quartararo,Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira in notching up maiden wins in just the six races of the 2020 MotoGP season alone. Behind them, Bagnaia visibly faded as fatigue no doubt set in but did just enough to collect second place for his first MotoGP podium, in so doing likely guaranteeing his promotion to the factory Ducati team in 2021. Just adrift of him on the line though was a brilliant Joan Mir, who after losing time trying to overtake Miller, managed to catch the podium-contesting group before planting a superb pass on Rins into the first corner of the final lap. With momentum on his side, Mir did was Rins couldn’t by slicing up the inside of Rossi at Turn 5 in one of the moves of the season to snatch a brilliant third place. As a result, Rossi had to make do with fourth, just denied the chance of a 200th grand prix podium at his home race. Rins was left fifth, no doubt frustrated at not taking his opportunities, while a perplexed Vinales was left down in sixth, his hard tyre only coming into strength late on as he set his fastest time in the closing laps. With Quartararo down and out, bizarrely it means Andrea Dovizioso is the new 2020 MotoGP World Championship leader despite barely featuring in the race and finishing well down in seventh but notching up useful points towards what is becoming an unconventional title bid. Takaaki Nakagami maintained his record as the only rider to finish every race this season inside the top ten with a charging ride from 14th to eighth, getting the better of a fading Miller in ninth and Pol Espargaro, the best KTM in tenth. Fellow KTM riders Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder trailed in 11th and 12th, while Aleix Espargaro, Iker Lecuona and Johann Zarco completed the points’ paying positions.

Yamaha Factory racing rider Maverick Vinales smashed the Misano lap record to claim the pole position for the 2020 San Marino MotoGP as Petronas Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo took the second and third pole positions. In the qualifying session that expectations were high that Yamaha will continue its dominance, Vinales unbelievably smashed Jorge Lorenzo’s fastest lap record of 1m31.629s made back in 2018, by recording 1m31.411s leading a yamaha 1-2-3-4 in the second qualifying session. Maverick Vinales had earlier on set a pace of 1m32.130s, but it was quickly subdued by his teammate Valentino Rossi. The 25-year-old FP3 pacesetter held provisional pole for all of 30 seconds, as Quartararo concluded the opening run of Q2 fastest of all with a 1m31.791s. Vinales then headed out for his second run and returned to top spot with a 1m31.787s with just under five minutes remaining to the conclusion of the session. Franco Morbidelli fired in a 1m31.723s to take over provisional pole on the 2019 Yamaha bike but the lead was short-lived. On the other hand, Vinales guided his works team to record 1m31.411s claiming his second pole of the season and back to back Saturday successes at Misano. The Spaniard went ahead to set off the air bag in his leathers during his animated celebrations. Morbidelli did his best qualifying result of the year after holding the second position and will be starting next to his teammate Quartararo in the front row. Valentino Rossi got the 4th position missing Quartararo by only 0.086 seconds. Pramac’s Jack Miller rounded off the top five as his teammate Francesco Bagnaia came 6th, having only 0.002 seconds splitting the two riders. The first Suzuki rider, Alex Rins was 7th as his teammate Joan Mir followed after running off track On the Rio corner around turn 4 as Andrea Dovizioso took the 9th position as the first Ducatti. Avintia Racing Johann Zarco rounded the top ten. Pol Espargaro held the 11th position despite passing his Q1, but the rider had experienced a crash at turn 15 which affected his performance. KTM Tech 3 rider Miguel Oliveira took the 12th place also being another rider who had quite good performance in Q1. Aprilia’s rider Alex Espargaro took pos 13 as Takaaki Nakagami was the top Honda rider holding the 14th position as his teammate Crutchlow retired due to his recently operated arm. Danilo Petrucci will start 15th ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder and Avintia’s Tito Rabat. The grid will be completed by a disappointed Iker Lecuona (Tech3), Honda’s Stefan Bradl, Bradley Smith (Aprilia) and the sister factory team Honda of Alex Marquez.

Valentino Rossi gave his limited number of fans allowed to attend the Misano MotoGP a reason to celebrate as he topped the third free practice of the San Marino MotoGP. This was a big event for Yamaha Factory rider as this was his hometown. The 41-year-old took his time perfectly on the track as he avoided several yellow flags around the circuit following a series of crashes and ended up recording a time of 1m 38.816s on a lap a few moments before the close of the session. He was brandishing a special helmet bearing the writtings “46g of Valentino Viagra” as he led a Yamaha 1-2-3 as the manufacturer exhibited its dominance on the track ahead of the afternoon practice session. Rossi’s teammate Maverick Vinales recorded a time of 1m31.936s which was just 0.075 seconds slower than Valentino as the other teammate Fabio Quartararo came in third recording a time 1m 31.961s. Pramac’s rider jack Miller recorded the biggest improvement between sessions as he moved up to fourth position, though this didn’t help his cause as he was one of three riders who crashed in the final five minutes after the Australian suffered a fast low-side at the final corner.  Cal Crutchlow was declared unfit to race by the doctors after his arm had a major swell after undergoing the right hand pump operation, he was in for the Friday’s practice session but fluid build-up in his arm saw him retire from the session and will not be on the grid for the San Marino MotoGP. Both Suzuki Ecstar riders, Alex Rins and Joan Mir came in fifth and sixth respectively as Francesco Bagnaia came an impressive seventh as he is currently on crutches. Ducatti’s Johann Zarco came in eighth as his teammate Andrea Dovizioso came tenth making it 4 Ducattis heading for Q2, Yamaha will also have Franco Morbidelli in the afternoon Q2 as he came in 9th in the session. KTM did not have a good time in the session as both of its riders, Pol Espargaro and Iker Lecuona ruined their afternoon ticket for Q2 after crashing, Espargaro was making good progress but his KTM laid him off turn 12 eventuall giving him 11th place. Aprilia’s Bradley Smith also crashed but was able to see off the last two Repsol Hondas which came 19th and 21st.

Fabio Quartararo topped San Marino GP FP2 at Misano ending the Friday session as the best overall as Yamaha and KTM filled eight of the top nine positions in the practice session. Quartararo led a 1-2 Petronas Yamaha as his teammate Franco Morbidelli came in second by a tenth of a second . The frenchman had an impressive 45-minute long session as he improved on his own lap times but all eyes were on the Yamaha Factory rider Maverick Vinales who was the FP1 pace setter and the duel was on for the top spot. The battle was hot between the two racers as they traded places in the beginning of the session but Team Ecstar Suzuki rider Joan Mir stopped the party as he took P1 on his Suzuki machine recording a time of 1m33.236s just 0.134 seconds faster than Quartararo. Mir’s teammate at Suzuki Ecstar also did an impressive job after he snatched the leadrship from Mir by recording a lap time of 1m33.015s giving him a two tenths of a second from his teammate. Brand Binder who is the Czech GP was the fastest but as his session was coming to a close he crashed around turn 6 after sliding onto the gravel on his KTM, this ended his session as he did not get back to the track. It was an encouraging session for both Yamaha and KTM as their four-strong each armada proved difficult to penetrate in FP2, with Pol Espargaro going third quickest on the factory RC16, but only just ahead of the impressive Iker Lecuona on the sister Tech 3 bike, the Spaniard consistently bouncing towards the top of the timesheets during the session before ending up in fourth. Franco Morbidelli put a time of 1m32.367s as Local hero Valentino Rossi completed the top five on the second factory Yamaha, Vinales ultimately slipping to sixth behind his team-mate as the session came to a close. Danilo Petrucci saved some honour for his official Ducati squad with the seventh quickest effort, while Binder fell to eighth ahead of Austrian GP victor Miguel Oliveira. Aleix Espargaro completed the top ten for Aprilia, the Spaniard inching ahead of Andrea Dovizioso by just 0.009.

After experiencing 3 disappointing races, the 2020 MotoGP championship leader Fabio Quartararo will be returning to Misano for the San Marino Grand Prix this weekend hoping to widen his slender lead at the top of MotoGP standings. Currently he leads the championship by only 3 points having 70 points ahead of Andrea Dovizioso who has 67 point being the second in the standings. This comes as six-time champion Marc Marquez being out of the championship as he is recovering from a broken arm after crashing during the opening of the race. Fabio Quartararo finished second in the 2019 San Marino Grand Prix just behind Marquez and went ahead to finish 5th in the overall standings for the 2019 MotoGP being quite a good performance since it was his rookie year. “Misano is one of my favourite circuits because it has a little bit of everything, slow corners, fast corners and switching from left to right…I’m curious to see how it works with the new asphalt and if the conditions will have changed a lot since last year.” Said the 21-year-old frenchman who rides for the Yamaha satellite team. Quartararo won the opening two rounds in Jerez but has failed to make to the podium since, allowing Dovizioso and the Ducatis as well as the Suzukis, KTMs and the other Yamahas to close the points-gap in the overall standings. San Marino Grand Prix will see over 10,000 spectators attending at the Marco Simoncelli circuit to see whether Quartararo will gain back his ‘fly’

The LCR Honda Castrol rider has confirmed via graphic Instagram pictures that he has undergone a right arm pump surgery. This is the second time this season that crutchlow has undergone surgery. The first crash that led to the first surgery happened during the warm up in the Spanish GP when he crashed fracturing his left scaphoid and just a week later Crutchlow mentioned he was experincing problems with the arm pump in his right hand. This problem saw him pit in Andalucia but he later got back to the track. These problems have greatly affected the rider in his pursuit for the championship this year. The 34-year-old underwent the surgery ahead of the first round of Misano Grand Prix as he is set to undergo a fitness test on Thursday afternoon to be decrared fit for the sixth round of MotoGP World Championship