Formula 3 returns this weekend at historic Silverstone, for the fourth round of the 2020 season.
As things stand coming into Great Britain, championship leader Oscar Piastri has begun to break into a dominant position in the title fight. On 76 points so far, he is more than a feature race victory ahead of his nearest rival, teammate Logan Sargeant.
Apart from one eighth place in the first Austria sprint race, Piastri has consistently finished in the top five in every race so far this season, including a double podium last time out in Hungary. Meanwhile, Sargeant has yet to take victory this year, while third-placed driver Theo Pourchaire didn’t score points at all in the first round of the season.
David Beckmann, Trident (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Piastri’s rivals might take some heart from the fact that Silverstone was one of the few rounds Prema didn’t dominate last year, with Juri Vips and Leonardo Pulcini taking both victories for Hitech Grand Prix.
Hitech don’t look to be the same contenders they were last year, despite Liam Lawson winning the first sprint race of the year in Austria and Dennis Hauger finishing third in Hungary. However, Trident and ART have both been close challengers to Prema in 2020 and will be pushing to deal any blow they can to the Italian team this weekend.
One driver in particular who could be a real headache for Prema and Piastri is David Beckmann, who comes to Silverstone off the back of his first F3 win in the Hungary sprint race. With two further podiums already to his name, Beckmann is also one of only three drivers—alongside Piastri and Richard Verschoor—to score in every race so far this season.
Aleksandr Smolyar, ART (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
As for ART, Pourchaire underlined his own championship credentials in Hungary by becoming the only repeat race winner of the season so far. The young Frenchman has a bit of ground to make up after his slow start to the campaign, but clearly has the speed to challenge for the podium this weekend.
But it’s not just Pourchaire carrying ART’s hopes. The French team has plenty more talent in its lineup in Sebastian Fernandez and Aleksandr Smolyar, both of whom have taken a feature race pole this year.
So far luck hasn’t been on their side, with Fernandez and Smolyar both retiring early from their respective pole position starts. But if either of them can marry up another strong qualifying performance with a clean race on Saturday, there’s no reason they can’t join the fight at the front with their teammate.
Formula 2 returns this weekend at Silverstone for the fourth round of the 2020 campaign.
Prema driver and Ferrari protege Robert Shwartzman will come into the weekend full of confidence, after becoming the championship’s only repeat winner so far last time out in Hungary.
With 18 points in hand over the next-best driver Callum Ilott, Shwartzman’s goal at Silverstone will be to build that gap even further and break free of the chasing pack. If he can keep up the momentum now, there will be little his rivals can do to stop Shwartzman asserting his dominance over the title as he did in Formula 3 last year.
Ilott will of course be the first of many drivers hoping to disrupt Shwartzman’s title challenge this weekend. Since winning the first race of the season, Ilott’s own campaign has been patchy by comparison, with only one further podium to his name so far.
A win on home soil this weekend will easily put Ilott back in the mix, and he should be well-placed to do so as his UNI-Virtuosi team won last year’s Silverstone feature race with Luca Ghiotto.
Callum Ilott, UNI-Virtuosi (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Behind Shwartzman and Ilott, there’s a fierce battle developing over third place in the standings. Christian Lundgaard currently holds the position with 43 points, but Mick Schumacher, Dan Ticktum and Marcus Armstrong are all within nine points of the Dane.
Although Lundgaard is quite a way adrift of Shwartzman, he is still likely to be a threat this weekend. Prior to Hungary, where he failed to score in either race, Lundgaard had been on a run of top-six finishes culminating in his sprint race win in Austria.
If Lundgaard can put his Hungaroring disappointment behind him, he’s shown he has the pace to be a serious title threat this year.
Schumacher comes to Silverstone on a good run of form, having taken a double podium at the last round in Hungary. However, he’ll need to make a much bigger step forward this weekend if he wants to stay in contention for the title and an F1 shot next year, as he is so far yet to outscore Shwartzman in any race this season.
Meanwhile, Ticktum has also displayed plenty of ability in his F2 debut, although has yet to claim his first win in the series. A challenger in sprint races in particular, the DAMS driver will be one to watch this weekend for sure.
Dan Ticktum, DAMS (Carl Bingham, LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship)
One of the main talking points of the current 2020 season is Racing Point – nicknamed the Pink Mercedes. Subsequently, Renault have raised concerns about the legality of their car to the stewards. We are awaiting a decision upon the review of the brake ducts as Racing Point have handed over their current car’s ducts and Mercedes are due to sample a pair from the 2019 car – the Mercedes W10. The stewards are investigating all of this, but unfortunately there is no timescale presently so every race Renault can continue to protest a result or any team if they are unhappy with the result. It is much easier to copy external aerodynamics from images and videos such as wings and floor designs but internal details are much harder which is why brake ducts were the focalpoint. If their brake ducts are passed clear and are very similar, what stops Red Bull giving their junior team Alpha Tauri their old designs to base next year’s car, similar to what they did prior to 2010? Will 2021 be the return of four Red Bulls to the grid?
Sergio Perez, Racing Point RP20
Scuderia Toro Rosso, now Alpa Tauri, entered the Formula One grid when Red Bull bought the beloved backmarkers Minardi. Their first car, the STR1, was near enough a carbon copy of the 2005 RB1 whilst Red Bull moved onto the RB2. This preceded the arrival of one of the greatest designers in the history of the sport – Adrian Newey. He moved over from McLaren for 2007 to embark on a new challenge. Controversy ensued that season when the RB3 and STR2 were both designed on the same chassis by Newey. Williams and Spyker felt this was against the concorde agreement, very much on the terms to what Renault are going to the stewards for this season. The FIA classed this is as legal for a customer chassis but the Toro Rosso team then managed the car throughout the season.
GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool // 1329476893572-1682678767 // Usage for editorial use only //
The cars remained identical until 2009. Ironically Toro Rosso was the first Red Bull branded car to win an F1 race in Monza in 2008. Sebastian Vettel, as a result, earned a drive for the Red Bull team alongside Mark Webber. In 2010 Toro Rosso built its first car, the STR5, from scratch as duel-designs had been banned. Adrian Newey and Red Bull Technology had no say on this car due to differing engine suppliers. Since transmission assistance and suspension assistance were introduced in 2013 and 2018 respectively, Red Bull have once again been able to aid their second team. This arrangement is very similar to Haas’ relationship with Ferrari.
GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool // 1329477258696-281002003 // Usage for editorial use only //
An interesting scenario now arises if Racing Point have managed to near enough copy the Mercedes car from last year. Can Alpha Tauri, within regulation, just get the base designs to build their AT02 car on their own chassis? They would not need to take hundreds of photos; owner Helmut Marko probably would get the prints to a certain extent within the rulings. The Red Bull for many seasons has been dubbed the best car on the grid aerodynamically and has cut the deficit to Mercedes around the less power sensitive tracks on the calendar such as Monaco and Hungary. Such circuits have more sectors with low to medium speed flowing corners. Red Bull took a gamble with Honda power and the Japanese manufacturer is beginning to find its footing in the hybrid era. Hopefully now at power tracks like Monza, we will start to see Red Bull competing once again.
Upon all of this would we see the return of four Red Bulls like the mid to late noughties when Toro Rosso entered the grid? A cost-cap has also been agreed for the future so this would assist both teams greatly. Red Bull could make a return in possibly passing on old designs if permitted and as a result Alpha Tauri would spend less on research and design.
The 2020 Bennett’s British Superbike Championship season is now tantalisingly close and the excitement kicked up a gear on Tuesday 28th July as the teams descended on Donington Park for an official test session.
Andrew Irwin, aboard the new Honda FireBlade for the factory team, set the pace in the first two sessions posting a fastest lap time of 1.07.079 in session one, followed up by a 1.06.663 in the second run-out. Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan was second fastest in the first two sessions recording times of 1.07.216 and 1.06.813 respectively.
The elder of the Honda Racing Irwin brothers, Glenn, was quickest in the third and final session, posting a time of 1.06.640 with Buchan again recording the second fastest time with a 1.06.776.
In session four, it was Buchan’s team-mate Lee Jackson who finished top of the pile, recording an impressive 1.06.583 aboard his Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki with McAms Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran finishing the final session second fastest with a 1.06.597.
It was indeed Jackson who ended the day fastest overall, with O’Halloran again in second. Hector Barbera (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) was third, Glenn and Andrew Irwin rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
Many people’s tip for the championship, Josh Brookes (PBM VisionTrack Ducati), best time came in session four with a 1:06.719. Brookes’ team-mate Christian Iddon’s best time was recorded in session three with a 1:06.719.
In the support classes, Rory Skinner of Tyser Yamaha was quickest of the Supersport riders across the four sessions, finishing top of the pile in all four with his quickest coming in session three with a 1.08.450. Bradley Perie aboard the Diamond H Racing Yamaha was second in all four sessions.
Chrissy Rouse dominated the test sessions for the Superstock riders, finishing fastest in three of the four sessions, piloting his Crowe Performance BMW to a 1.08.236 in session four, his fastest time of the day. Danny Kent, aboard the Morello Racing Kawasaki, finished fastest in session three, posting a 1.08.304.
With testing out of the way and some of the lockdown-enforced dust shaken off, focus shifts to the weekend of 7-9 August when BSB returns to Donington for the opening round of the 2020 season.
After a two-week break since the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Formula One circus rolls into the lush fields of Silverstone for the 75th British Grand Prix, and the first of two back-to-back races to be held there in as many weeks.
The 5.8 kilometre circuit has seen 30 different winners in the 53 Grands Prix that it has hosted, one of them being the six-time winner Lewis Hamilton, who looks to make it a seventh on his way to, potentially, his seventh world championship this campaign.
2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images
And it is he and his relentless Mercedes team that look to take their sixth win here since the new track layout was introduced in 2010, after an utterly dominant display by Hamilton won him the Hungarian Grand Prix last time out.
Ferrari’s 13 wins overall in Silverstone are nothing to gawp over regarding recent years – their last two victories in Northamptonshire came in 2018 with Sebastian Vettel, and back in 2011 with Fernando Alonso.
Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
And speaking of Ferrari, their terrible beginning to the 2020 season is not going to be improved at a track where the teams will need power – something that the Prancing Horses have been lacking in their power unit over the first three races. This has also translated to their customer teams Haas and Alfa Romeo. They have both struggled to make it out of Q1 in Austria and Hungary, but Kevin Magnussen’s point in Budapest was a step in the right direction for the American outfit. The Dane and team mate Romain Grosjean will be trying not to make contact for the third year in a row in Britain – something that landed them in a fiery rollocking from team boss Guenther Steiner last year.
Red Bull’s erratic car performance has negatively impacted on Max Verstappen and Alex Albon this year. Albon ended up out in Q2 in Budapest last time out, while Max Verstappen’s assessment of the RB16 has generally been that it is “too slow” to challenge the dominant Mercedes. He did very well though to hold off Valtteri Bottas for second two weeks ago. The Finn, who took victory in the first round in Spielberg, knows he needs a win over the next couple of races to close the gap back up to team mate Hamilton and stem the colossal tide from the brilliant Briton.
McLaren enter their home race having made a positive start to the year in Austria, but struggled in Hungary; Carlos Sainz claimed a ninth-placed finish, while Lando Norris failed to score points in thirteenth. However, seldom do poor weekends tend to happen for McLaren since the start of 2019 and the entertaining driver-partnership know that, with a bit of misfortune for Red Bull and Ferrari, they could go in search of a podium.
Racing Point will have the same perspective. Their exceptional qualifying in Budapest was followed by a fourth-placed finish for Lance Stroll, who may well yet be partnering Sebastian Vettel next year. The German is tipped to be signed by the team as it becomes Aston Martin in 2021.
As with last year, Williams find themselves entering this race having thus far been the only team yet to score points, but will have designs on lifting themselves off the bottom of the Constructors’ standings if changeable conditions play a factor.
After his eighth win in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton has his sights well and truly set on number seven in Silverstone – one of the best weekends of the year, and we get to see it twice!
World Superbikes returns this weekend (31 Jul-02 Aug) for Round 2 in Spain at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, Andalusia after a five month break when the 2020 battle for the title WorldSBK championship recommences.
At the moment there are 8 more rounds of this season but of course in this current situation this could change at anytime. The remaining rounds are:
Round 3 : Algarve International Circuit, Portimão, Portugal : 07-09 August
Round 4 : MotorLand Aragon, Teruel, Spain : 28-30 August
Round 5 : MotorLand Aragon, Teruel, Spain : 04-06 September
Round 6 : Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona : 18-20 September
Round 7 : Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours, France : 02-04 October
Round 8 : Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours, France : TBC
Round 9 : Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, Riviera Di Rimini, Italy : TBC
It has just been announced that after extensive discussions between the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) and Dorna WSBK Organization (DWO), that three rounds have been cancelled and these were to be held at Donington Park (the first time in WorldSBK history that there will not be a round in the UK); the Dutch Round at the TT Circuit Assen (which has been a permanent fixture on the calendar since 1992) and the Qatar Round at the Losail International Circuit.
The Driver’s / Team Standings so far at the end of Round 1 at Philip Island on the 29 Feb-01 Mar looked like this:
Pos
Rider
Points
Pos
Team
Points
1
Alex Lowes
51
1
Kawasaki
57
2
Scott Redding
39
2
Yamaha
47
3
Toprak Razgatlioglu
34
3
Ducati
39
4
Jonathan Rea
32
4
Honda
23
5
Michael van der Mark
31
5
BMW
17
6
Alvaro Bautista
20
7
Loris Baz
20
8
Chaz Davies
19
9
Leon Haslam
17
10
Tom Sykes
17
11
Maximillan Scheib
10
12
Sandro Cortese
10
13
Michael Ruben Rinaldi
7
14
Xavi Fores
5
15
Eugene Laverty
5
16
Federico Caricasulo
4
17
Garrett Gerloff
2
18
Takumi Takahashi
0
During the five months hiatus, teams were busy developing their bikes, engines and race strategies and the riders were continuing with their fitness regimes to ensure they are race fit.
Leon Haslam at MotorLand Aragon WSBK test on 16-17th of July 2020. Image courtesy of Honda racing corporation
Two days of testing took place at MotorLand Aragon on the 16th/17th July where track temperatures were pushing 50 degrees celsius during the afternoon session. Topping the board at the end of day one was Team HRC’s Leon Haslam who beat his teammate Alvaro Bautista followed by Christophe Ponsson riding for Nuova M2 Racing who are putting in five wildcard appearances this season on the Aprilia RSV4 1000. Ponsson was incredibly only about a second off Haslam’s pace.
Day two of testing still saw the scorching heat meaning the track temperature was high again leading to a few crashes and red flags with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) riding the ZX-10RR being the man to beat after setting a blistering time in the morning session with his teammate Alex Lowes in 4th.
Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) was 2nd a mere 0.156s behind Rea and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 3rd with his teammate Eugene Laverty in 6th place.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) finished 5th and whilst Leon Haslam in the Honda HRC team was inside the top five after lunch, he finished the day in 9th with his teammate Alvaro Bautista down in 15th.
So after five months of waiting this is shaping up to be an exciting restart to the 2020 WorldSBK season.
IndyCar has cancelled the 2020 running of the Grand Prix of Portland, due to Oregon state laws on public gatherings that will remain active throughout September. The race, originally scheduled for Sept. 11-13 is the seventh race to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement on the official website of The Grand Prix of Portland they said: “We are extremely disappointed and will miss the incredible fans who have supported us […] The safety of our fans, participants, volunteers, staff, partners and media will always remain our top priority.”
In 2019, Portland returned to the IndyCar series after a ten year absence , won by Penske driver Will Power. Unfortunately he will not get a chance to defend his win a year on.
In addition, IndyCar has also cancelled the doubleheader at Laguna Seca in California, making it the eight cancellation on the calendar. IndyCar called the cancellations: “a mutual decision between the series and promoters following close consultation and monitoring of the local situation. The series looks forward to returning to both venues in 2021.”
The 2019 running was won by Colton Herta who dominated from pole position. It was the first year IndyCar had held a race at Laguna Seca for 15 years.
In their place, IndyCar have added doubleheaders to three events already scheduled:
Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, 8th-9th August,
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, 29th-30th August,
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2nd-3rd October,
It will be the third time that IndyCar will have travelled to Indianapolis this season having raced at the IMS earlier in July and later next month for the Indianapolis 500 on August 23rd.
“Our race fans have loved the exciting doubleheader action of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES this year at Road America and Iowa Speedway,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President & CEO Mark Miles said. “We look forward to giving them even more world-class entertainment this season at three of the most exciting racetracks on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES calendar.”
IndyCar is still scheduled to run 14 races this season.
In the build up to the race everyone is talking about Marc Marquez, and how gutted they are that he’s not racing. This is the first, yes first race he’s missed in his MotoGP career.
Fabio Quartararo did an interview before the race saying that in last weeks’ free practice the bike didn’t seem that good, but the progress through qualifying was outstanding. Fabio said last week that if Marc Marquez stays on track he would win the race and without Marquez in the race, it’s not going to be as good.
On the grid Jack Miller says he is looking forward to the race but it’s really hot at the track, probably as hot as Malaysia. Track temperature is 60 degrees and 40 degrees ambient temperature. The Ducati is looking good on the grid though.
Tyres are being talked about and the majority of the grid are going with hard front, soft rear with only Alex Rins going soft front and rear.
Into the first corner. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
The excitement builds during the warm up lap and the grid forms ready for lights out, and we are off!
Rossi had a good start but we had a skittle effect on the first corner, the riders involved were Oliviera, Smith and Binder. As a result of the crash, Oliviera is out of the race.
The riders are pushing the limits of these bikes, Rossi has been 0.6 secs behind the leader and you know Rossi , he’s always getting ready to make a move.
Miller left his seat for a second as the bike twitches. Rossi was being pushed by Maverick, who’s getting close to the Doctor.
Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins are running last places which isn’t hard to understand because of the injuries they are carrying.
Fabio Quartararo hasn’t really been challenged for first place. The only thing that could stop him is his own bike, with the Yamaha’s having issues in the heat.
Iker Lecuona came off with 19 laps to go, he was hoping to have kept the bike going but sadly, he couldn’t.
Alex Rins is making this ride count as he’s slowly coming up the grid, he’s now in 15th and in the points with 18 laps to go.
Alex Marquez is riding in 14th with 17 laps to go, Jack Miller has been under attack from a bunch of riders and sadly lost a couple of places. Unfortunately, he came off on turn 9 of lap 11 which was gutting as he’s a great rider and looked promising in this race.
Happy enough with today, we would have liked to have been a little more up the grid but I’ll take it! Hopefully we can spring up a few positions tomorrow 🚦#AndaluciaGPpic.twitter.com/WjcPCtR6zq
Rossi is now 6 seconds behind leader, Fabio Quartararo, and other then the tyres falling off, I don’t think he will be caught.
Bagnaia has overtaken Rossi for second place, let’s see if he can catch the leader.
With 13 laps to go, the bikes look to be struggling with grip on the front end but pushing these bikes is what these riders do.
Brad Binder has just taken a spill as the bike kicked back going round a corner, the bike said I am not having any of this, and flipped the rider. It looked like a painful exit to the race.
Alex Marquez is building momentum on his bike but he’s in the shadows of his brother’s reputation.
The Yamaha’s have been having problems all weekend and indeed Morbidelli’s has just given up sounding like a bag of nails and has now retired from the race.
Crutchlow has entered the pit lane and has an issue but decided that with the amount of riders on the track to go back out as he can score points.
Seven laps remain and only 14 riders out on the track so everyone can get a point.
Rossi is still keeping Vinales at bay in 3rd place and the last 3 laps seem to be as good as the previous laps as everyone on track is battling for places. Maverick is now up Rossi’s exhaust, they are that close!
Rossi is teasing Maverick but the Spaniard makes it stick and now the Doctor is chasing Vinales but he is pulling away.
LAST LAP
Everyone on track is pushing so hard, Maverick just had a little wobble but was okay; Fabio Quartararo wins for the second time this season followed by Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.
It’s an all Yamaha podium which seemed unlikely at the start of this race.
After FP4 Marc Marquez looked like he was favouring his right arm by taking right hand corners in two movements, he was hesitant on left hand corners and not going as low as usual.
Qualifying 1
As all the bikes were going out on the track, Marc Marquez only managed an out lap which he did not finish, he went straight down the pit lane, got off the bike and walked to his trailer indicating that his surgically repaired arm isn’t feeling good from that, you could say.
Cal Cruchlow was banging out good times and didn’t seem to have an issue with his wrist as he got to 3rd in Q1. Alex Marquez came off the track in Q1 but he did put a time in of 1’38.648
The top 3 in Q1 were:
1 : Miguel Oliveira : Red Bull KTM Tech 3 : 1’37.355
After qualifying these are the results for the top 12 riders:
1
Fabio Quartararo
FRA
Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)
1’37.007s
2
Maverick Viñales
SPA
Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)
+0.095s
3
Francesco Bagnaia
ITA
Pramac Ducati (GP20)
+0.169s
4
Valentino Rossi
ITA
Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)
+0.335s
5
Miguel Oliveira
POR
Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)
+0.337s
6
Franco Morbidelli
ITA
Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1)
+0.405s
7
Jack Miller
AUS
Pramac Ducati (GP20)
+0.416s
8
Takaaki Nakagami
JPN
LCR Honda (RC213V)
+0.457s
9
Brad Binder
RSA
Red Bull KTM (RC16)*
+0.589s
10
Joan Mir
SPA
Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
+0.593s
11
Danilo Petrucci
ITA
Ducati Team (GP20)
+0.899s
12
Pol Espargaro
SPA
Red Bull KTM (RC16)
+3.270s
Fabio Quartararo at Andalucia MotoGP 2020. Image courtesy of Yamaha-racing
The Repsol Honda Team have confirmed that Marc Marquez will not be taking part in the race on Sunday.
Fabio Quartararo starts from pole. After he finished his timed lap he was going into turn one but the back end didn’t want to stay behind him, but he kept control and showed his skills. This is going to be a good race tomorrow.
Valentino Rossi finished 4th in Qualifying which means the Doctor has a great chance here if he doesn’t have engine issues like last week.
Maverick Viñales had a great performance again in qualifying.
Alex Rins didn’t look comfortable with his shoulder injury, it was looking like it was giving him some issues but on the track tomorrow it could change everything.
Andrea Dovizioso had a slow start at one point being down in 13th but by the end of Q1 he had made it up 4th.
If MotoGP was weird enough having no racing for over 8 months – nearly 9 months, then Moto2 and Moto3’s predicament was just frustrating especially for the riders, a four mouth wait between Qatar and the second round at Jerez.
Moto3
Saturday saw Fenati, Antonelli, Arbolino and Ogura all progress into Q2, the four were only separated by 0.393s. Q2 was just as busy with Q1. Fenati was the top Q1 runner in Q2 with Tatsuki Suzuki. The championship leader and winner of round one taking pole. Andrea, Migno and John McPhee taking the remaining front row. Sunday saw the sun shine with blue skies at Jerez. First up was Moto3, waiting to blast down the first turn with the track at 36c and air temps 27c. Everything seemed perfect except of course there were no fans.
Into the first corner, of the 2020 Jerez Moto3 GP. Image courtesy of Polarity Photo/KTM
The red lights quickly faded away, and there’s some pushing and shoving but Suzuki got the holeshot by some margin – it seemed he was gunning for the second win from two. Foggia and Tatay crashed with each other at turn one. Suzuki had a blinding first lap with a sizeable gap with about 20 bikes following him with Migno and Fernandez making the top 3. Lap 2 saw Vietti take third from Fernandez. By Lorenzo’s corner the gap that Suzuki had, was now gone. By lap four Vietti had taken Migno and then Suzuki on the start-finsh straight. By the end of the lap, Suzuki was fifth and Arenas was fourth.
From lap five the standard Moto3 dog fighting began, with Arenas and Arbolino joining into lap six. Arbolino quickly made his way to second behind Viettti. Vietti and Arblino in second, stayed in front whilst Migno, Arenas, Fernandaz and Rodrigo were all where playing musical “chairs” until lap eleven when Arbolino scuttled past Veitti for the lead and kept it. Vietti couldn’t keep second place though, falling back to fifth.
It was now a fight between Arbolino, Alcoba, Arenas and Binder. McPhee was now sixth behind Vietti. Arbolino’s lead didn’t last long before Arenas quickly grabbed first in a sort of group mele which you weren’t quite sure who would be where, or was going to fall – a very typical Moto3 moment.
Into Lap twelve it was Arenas, Binder, Alcoba, McPhee and Arbolino in the top five. Suzuki, the once leader was hanging on in sixth but by the end of the lap having a resurgence to fourth. Arenas was hanging on in first, Moto3 style because McPhee had managed to go from fourth to second with Binder sliding to fifth. Arbolino was now back in the hunt. The tustle continued with Binder briefly taking second at the end of lap thirteen but by lap fourteen Arbolino had retaken second and McPhee was fourth.
Arenas continued to stay in first with the main three protagonists of Arbolino, McPhee and Binder swapping and sniping for places behind him. Arenas like Suzuki wanted a gap, but that gap never really appeared as each lap passed Lorenzo Corner they where swamped next to each other preying for any one but them to make a mistake. Coming up to Lorenzo Arbolino went wide, along with most the train behind him – except for John McPhee and by not going wide he took first into the start-finish straight.
It wasn’t until lap eighteen that we finally saw the lead change. Arbolino made his move down the back-straight with Arenas droping behind Binder for third. McPhee managed to create more of a gap than Arbolino or Suzuki ever did but maybe because of the excessive dog fighting behind him. Arbolino, Vietti, Binder and Arenas were not in any mood to settle for anything less than first. With less than 4 laps to go the fuse was lit for the fireworks, either somebody would go wide or crash. The four were ready to pounce on McPhee.
Again the back straight was the centre of the action with Arbolino snuffling out Mcphee’s lead and regaining first again. Binder crashes mid way through lap twenty-one. The final three left in the hunt was Arbolino, McPhee and Arenas. Into Lorenzo’s corner and Arbolino goes wide again, allowing Mcphee back into first place, going into the last lap.
Albert Arenas winner of the Jerez 2020 Moto3 Race. Image courtesy of Polarity Photo/KTM
McPhee kept the pace going into turn one on the last lap. But McPhee was being prevented by Arbolino and Arenas from creating any gap, because they were snapping and sniping at his heal, ready to pounce. Arbolino was indeed ready to pounce and he made his move down the back straight into the braking area. McPhee slid back to second, but Aranas wanted second and into the corners before Lornezo Corner, he made his move. McPhee was having none of it, he made his move going sharper and closer to the apex then Arbolino and Arenas did but by doing so he went wide on the exit into the straight, slightly touching the grass and promptly hitting Arbolino causing McPhee to crash in a plume of dust. Arbolino went on to stay on his bike and to take second, Ogu took third with Arenas taking the top spot.
Moto2
In Q1 Fabio DI Ginnantonio , Xavi Vierge, Hafizh Syahrin and Joe Roberts all progressed into Q2. Only Vierge could make any substantial improvement on their grid placings in Q2 with Ginnantonio last, Roberts sixteenth and Syahrin one place up in fifteenth. At the front it was Martin who took pole with the other Jorge (Jorge Navarrro) taking second with the final front row being taken by Sam Lowes
The second race of the day saw the battle of the Jorges for the holeshot, with Jorge Martin and Jorge Navarro in second with Sam Lowes on third. Martin made the holeshot, with the other two on the front being consumed by the rows behind them, resulting in a huge gap for Martin by the first corner. The other Jorge – Jorge Navarro, crashed into the kitty litter. By the middle of the lap after the long back straight, the top three had shaken out as Martin, Canet and Marini followed by Lowes with Schrotter in fifth.
jJorge Martin into the first corner of the 2020 Jerez Moto2 race. Image courtesy of Polarity Photo /KTM
Into Lap three, and we saw a break-away group of four; Martin, Marini, Canet and Nagashima. Marini was on a charge, and just after the long back straight, he made his move swiftly under cutting Martin. Marini first, Martin second and Nagashlm third, with Canet and Bezzecchi behind them. Jorge Martin was slowly but surely heading backwards, with Nagashima taking second at Lorenzo’s corner. At the end of lap five, Bezzecchi made the pass to take fourth from Canet.
The top three of Marini, Nagashima and Martin stayed that way with an increasing gap made by Marini into lap Seven, when finally Bezzecchi made his move along the back straight and going tighter into the apex pushing Martin back into fourth. Unfortunately for Bezzecchi, it was not to last because into turn 10 on lap eight, Bezzecchi’s front folded on him after going onto the rumble strip and he crashed. Schrotter, into turn 11 on lap nine crashed looking winded from the fall. Two riders crashing in one lap removed two potential candidates for the podium
With fifteen laps to go, Marini seemed, along with Nagashima and Martin content with their positions. That though wasn’t the case for Sam Lowes, as he was sixth on lap eight, he inherited fifth after Schrotter crashed. By the end of lap eleven, Lowes had caught and passed Canet for fourth. Lowes then started hunting down Martin for third. By lap eighteen, Lowes was only a second behind but Martin was starting to match Lowes lap times.
It wasn’t just Lowes thinking he could grab another place, Nagashima also contemplated the same thing as he was closing in on Marini. Into lap twenty-one, Lowes now only .6 seconds behind Martin but his pit board showed a 0.5s to push him forwards. As much as Nagashima was catching Marini, he was, with 3 laps to go stil 1.585s behind Marini. It was to be a last lap attempt for both Lowes and Nagashima.
— Sky Racing Team VR46 (@SkyRacingTeam) July 19, 2020
Luthi meanwhile crashed on turn nine, on the 22nd lap but by the start of the final lap the gap was 1.562 to Marini, which meant that Nagashima had settled for second. Barring the racing gods intervening, the same went for Lowes who was now 1.158s behind Martin. Being racers of course, ‘it ain’t done ‘til the flag drops’ on your bike and that indeed was the case with the final five being Marini, Nagashima, Martin, Lowes and Canet.
Despite waiting over four months for the championship to continue we saw a polished race worthy of its wait. Whilst lacking the drama of the MotoGP race or the Moto3 race, it certainly wasn’t a filler race. Despite obtaining a second place, Nagashima maintains behind championship leader after the win at Qatar. Baldassarri second with Jerez’s race winner a worthy third. The long list of title contenders still have every chance given the nature of the intermediate round. That said, Nagashima is a surprise contender. Next up is the Gran Premio Red Bull de Andalucía or Jerez to you and me.
