Category: MotoGp

Round 13 of the 2020 MotoGP Championship took place on the 14-15 November at the Ricardo Circuit, Spain.

This race could see a new World Champion – Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) has a 45 point lead in the Championship ahead of joint second place riders Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team).

Qualifying was action packed including a huge highside by A.Marquez but thankfully he was able to walk away. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) was fastest once again and took pole position followed by Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) making up the front row.

The starting grid for the race looked like this:

Row 1 : Morbidelli : Miller : Nakagami Row 2 : Zarco : P.Espargaro : Vinales

Row 3 : A.Espargaro: Bagnaia : Binder Row 4 : Oliveria : Quartararo : Mir

Row 5 : Crutchlow : Rins : Petrucci Row 6 : Rossi : Dovisiozo : Bradl

Row 7 : Rabat : A.Marquez : Rabat

With 27 laps of racing ahead, the penultimate race of the season got under way with Miller off to a great start and is first into Turn 1 but then runs wide allowing

and P.Espargaro to sweep past knocking him back to 3rd position. Turn 2 sees Quartararo nearly coming together with Vinales causing Quartararo to run really wide off the track and he re joins at the back of the grid. The Championship leader, Mir, has made up two places and is in 10th position and Miller has passed P.Espargaro into 2nd place.

Going into lap 2 the top six are Morbidelli; Miller; P.Espargaro; Nakagami; Oliveria and Zarco. By lap 3 Quartararo has made up five places and is now in 17th.

Oliveria passes Nakagami on lap 5 and moves up to 4th place with Zarco now hot on the heels of Nakagami looking for an opportunity to get past which he finds on Turn 1 on the following lap and he goes on the inside to take the place but then goes down and slides into the gravel having been narrowly missed by Nakagami on his slide!

By lap 7 Morbidelli has a 0.7 second lead over Miller and lap 9 Nakagami receives a track limits warning for going onto the green on the track too often! Quartararo goes down at Turn 6 into the gravel along with his Championship hopes.

Nakagami took his place back from Oliveria on the last turn coming into lap 11 quickly followed by Rins pushing Oliveria down to 6th. On the last turn coming into lap 12 Mir passes A.Espargaro and moves up to 8th. Morbidelli has a 1 second lead over Miller but Nakagami puts in the fastest lap and is chasing in on P.Espargaro.

It looks like Miller has found some extra race pace on lap 17 and closes the gap on Morbidelli by 0.3 seconds. Into Lap 19, Nakagami has also closed the gap on P.Espargaro and goes for the inside coming into Turn 14 but he has a wobble, loses it, goes down and slides into the gravel and out of the race with P.Espargaro narrowly missing him.

By lap 22 Miller has reduced the gap on Morbidelli to just 0.4 seconds, Miller is on it, but can he get past the leader in the next 5 laps?

The Championship leader, Mir, is keeping it steady down in 7th place and just has to keep doing what he’s doing to win the title.

By the penultimate lap the gap between Miller and Morbidelli is just 0.2 seconds – can Morbidelli hold the lead for the next two laps??

On the last lap at Turn 1 Miller takes the lead, by Turn 2 Morbidelli has taken it back, Turn 3 Miller goes back past but by the next turn he’s back in second. The two riders are absolutely on it, at every opportunity Miller is looking to get past and coming out of the last turn down to the start finish line it is a horsepower race to the chequered flag. Morbidelli just manages to hold off Miller and take the win. P.Espargaro, Rins, Binder and Oliveria complete the top six.

Absolutely fantastic racing, nail biting to the very end.

Mir passes the chequered flag in 7th place and seals the 2020 MotoGP Championship. Absolutely fantastic result for both Joan Mir and Suzuki (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – the first time in 20 years Suzuki has taken the driver’s Championship, the last winner being Kenny Roberts Jnr.

The last race of the season takes place next weekend, 21-22 November, in Portimao – don’t forget to set your alarms – it’s going to be a great weekend of racing.

Karen Bristow

Featured Image courtesy of Suzuki Racin

Round 13 of the 2020 MotoGP Championship took place on the 7-8 November at the Ricardo Circuit, Spain.

Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) took his 2nd pole position of 2020 in what can only be described as wet conditions just 0.041 seconds ahead of Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) followed by Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in a truly thrilling qualifying shoot out.

The starting grid for the race looked like this:

Row 1 : P.Espargaro : Rins : Nakagami Row 2 : Zarco : Mir : A.Espargaro

Row 3 : Miller : Oliveira : Morbidelli Row 4 : Binder : Quartararo : Dovizioso

Row 5 : Bradl : A.Marquez : Crutchlow Row 6 : Bagnaia : Rossi : Petrucci

Row 7 : Savadori : Rabat :

Maverick Vinales started from the pit lane as a result of penalties issued to Yamaha for engine valve issues.

With 27 laps of racing, the red lights go out and the racing begins with the pole sitter, P.Espargaro getting off to a great start going first into Turn 1 followed by Rins and Nakagami. By Turn 3 Mir has taken Nakagami into 3rd place and at Turn 8 A.Espargaro and Quartararo both have a synchronised crash into the gravel. Quartararo manages to re-join the race but A.Espargaro was not so lucky.

Oliveira passes Nakagami on lap 2 pushing him up to 4th place and Rins took P.Espargaro on the inside in a smooth pass taking the lead. Mir is having a sneaky peak too but was not able to make a pass. Savadori crashes on Turn 14 on the following lap but manages to re-join the track.

Lap 4 and we see Mir pass P.Espargaro on the inside into 2nd place with Suzuki now in first and second place. The following lap Rossi comes to a stop on the track with what looks like engine issues and an early end to his return after being absent for the last two races (due to testing positive for Covid-19).

By lap 6 Vinales is up into 16th place from his pit lane start, Bagnaia goes down at Turn 2 and then Crutchlow at Turn 8, not a good season for either of them so far. A.Marquez takes Dovizioso into 9th place on lap 7 and Mir is right on the heels of Rins – can the Championship leader win his first race of the season today?

By lap 11 the gap between P.Espargaro and Mir is just 0.4 seconds, the KTM rider is not letting Mir out of his clutches. Morbidelli passes Dovizioso on the following lap into 9th place and now has his sights set on 8th place A.Marquez.

On lap 14 Vinales is now up into 14th place and Rabat heads into the pits and retires from the race. Nakagami has passed Olivieria into 4th place and is starting to close the gap on P.Espargaro.

Lap 17 sees Rins goes wide and Mir take full advantage of this and passes him on the inside taking the lead and by the following lap the gap between the two is 0.3 seconds.

Miller passes Zarco on lap 20 into 6th position. Mir is now pulling out a lead ahead of Rins of 0.6 seconds by the following lap and Nakagami has closed the gap on P.Espargaro to 1.8 seconds.

By lap 23 P.Espargaro is closing the gap on Rins and Dovizioso is all over A.Marquez looking to pass and on the start/finish straight on lap 24, Dovizioso makes the pass going into Turn 1 but leaves nowhere for A.Marquez to go except into a wet patch on the track and he goes down slides off into the gravel.

Mir now has a 1.3 second lead over Rins and Nakagami is closing the gap on P.Espargaro but with only two laps to go can he close the gap enough to make a pass? Dovizioso has moved up into 7th place having taken Zarco and Vinales has moved up to 13th place.

By the last lap Mir has a comfortable lead over Rins and takes his first MotoGP win ahead of Rins in 2nd place, P.Espargaro in 3rd and Nakagami in 4th place.

Mir now has a 37 point lead in the Championship ahead of Dovizioso followed by Rins in 3rd place and Vinales in 4th. There are 50 points up for grabs at the next two races – can Mir secure the Championship next weekend at Valencia or will it go down to the wire in Portimao the following weekend?????

Featured Image Courtesy of Suzuki Racing

Round 12 of the 2020 MotoGP Championship took place on the 24-25 October at Aragon, Spain.

Takaaki Nakagami’s (LCR Honda Idemitsu) claimed a stunning first MotoGP pole, the first time since Makoto Tamada in the 2004 Valencia GP a Japanese rider has started from pole position. Nakagami was quicker than 2nd place rider Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) by just 0.063 seconds and claiming his first front row of the season in 3rd place is Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

The starting grid for the race looked like this:

Row 1 : Nakagami : Morbidelli : Rins Row 2 : Vinales : Zarco : Quartararo

Row 3 : Crutchlow : Oliveira : P.Espargaro Row 4 : A.Marquez : Lecuona : Mir

Row 5 : A.Espargaro: Miller : Binder Row 6 : Bradl : Dovizioso : Bagnaia

Row 7 : Petrucci : Rabat : Smith

With 23 laps of racing, the red lights go out and the racing begins with the pole sitter, Nakagami getting off to a great start going first into Turn 1 followed by Morbidelli, Rins and Zarco. Turn 2 sees Binder and Miller touch with both riders going down and out into the gravel putting a very early end to their races. Nakagami then runs wide at Turn 5 and goes off into the gravel, ending his race and hopes of a podium finish.

Morbidelli is up in front ahead of Rins and Zarco. By lap 2 Mir is up to 5th, Quartararo 6th, Crutchlow 7th and A.Marquez is in 8th place. Lap 3, and Morbidelli has put in the fastest lap but Rins is right on his tail.

The following lap A.Marquez has passed both Crutchlow and Quartararo up into 6th position and is now closing the gap on Mir. Morbidelli is holding a steady lead and both he and Rins are pulling out ahead of third place rider Zarco. On lap 6, Mir passes Vinales and then two turns later A.Marquez follows by too and is now up to 5th place.

The gap between Rins in 2nd place and Zarco in 3rd is now 1.8 seconds and by lap 8 both Mir and A.Marquez are closing in on the 3rd place rider. Coming into Lap 10 sees P.Espargaro pass Quartararo very quickly followed by Oliveira but by the end of the lap Quartararo has claimed the place back from Oliveira.

Mir passes Zarco to take 3rd placed on lap 11 with A.Marquez also having a look too. By the end of the lap A.Marquez manages the pass but in Turn 1 on lap 12, Zarco takes the place back and three turns later A.Marquez passes again but this time he makes it stick and is now chasing down on Mir. Unfortunaely, two laps later at Turn 2, A.Marquez crashes out thus ending his race.

For the last few laps Quartararo and Oliveira have been having a great scrap in 7th and 8th and have swapped places several times with some brilliant racing going on between the two riders.

Lap 17 sees Dovizioso getting it very wrong in the corkscrew and dropping from 10th to 12th place. Morbidelli is still holding a steady lead by lap 18 with a 0.8 second lead, can he hold off the pressures from Rins for the last six laps?

On lap 20 P.Espargaro has passed Zarco up into 4th and Petrucci has passed Dovizioso up into 12th. Morbidelli has now pulled out a 1.3 second lead on Rins and the following lap sees A.Espargaro coming to a stop at the side of the track with what looks like mechanical issues.

Going into lap 23, Morbidelli now has a 1.3 second lead over Rins and is looking good to take the win having ridden a superb smooth and consistent race from the start and indeed takes the chequered flag to take his second win of the season followed by Rins in 2nd place and Mir in 3rd.

There are three rounds left of the MotoGP season, 1 in Portimao and 2 from Valencia with the Championship standings looking like this:

Mir : 137 points

Quartararo : 123 points

Vin : 118 points

Morbidelli : 112 points

Dovizioso : 109 points

Rins : 105 points

What a brilliant weekend of racing from Aragon. Don’t forget to set your alarms for the next round on the 7/8 November.

Karen Bristow

Featured Image courtesy of Suzuki Racing

Round 6 of the 2020 MotoGP Championship took place on the 17-18 October at Aragon, Spain.

The Championship leader, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) claimed his 10th pole position for Sunday’s race ahead by just 0.046 seconds of second fastest Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and claiming his first front row position since the 2019 Americas GP, is Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol).

The starting grid for the race looked like this:

Row 1 : Quartararo : Vinales : Crutchlow Row 2 : Morbidelli : Miller : Mir

Row 3 : Nakagami : Petrucci : A.Espargaro Row 4 : Rins : A.Marquez : P.Espargaro

Row 5 : Dovizioso : Binder : Lecuona Row 6 : Zarco : Bagnaia : Oliveira

Row 7 : Smith : Rabat : Bradl

With 23 laps of racing, the red lights go out and the racing begins with the pole sitter, Quartararo not getting off to a great start and is beaten to Turn 1 by Vinales with Morbidelli in 3rd place. Rins had a fantastic start and moved from 10th place up to 4th whilst Crutchlow had a terrible start and moved down 8 places to 12th on the grid.

By lap 3 Vinales has pulled out a 0.5 second lead. Bagnaia’s race ends early after he enters the gravel and A.Marquez moves up into 7th place. By the following lap, Rins has passed Morbidelli up into 3rd and is now pushing Quartararo and manages to take the championship leader on lap 6 up the inside.

The battle for 6th place is hotting up as Miller is looking to pass A.Marquez and by lap 8, Quartararo is passed by both Morbidelli and Mir and pushed down to 5th place.

Lap 9, Rins passes the leader, Vinales, on the inside into Turn 1 and now A.Marquez overtakes Quartararo and has his sights set on Mir. Surely Quartararo has an issue with his bike as Nakagami takes him on lap 11 and two laps later its the turn of Morbidelli and Miller and a lap later by Crutchlow pushing him down to 14th on the grid and nearly out of the points.

Lap 14,  A.Marquez brakes very late to pass Vinales, and he is now up to 3rd place with his sights very firmly set on Mir. With 8 laps to go, is Rins going to be able to hold off Mir and A.Marquez who have pulled out a 2.1 second gap ahead of 4th place Vinales.

A.Marquez is looking to pass Mir and has a couple of attempts at passing and at the start of lap 19 he takes Mir on the inside and now has his sights set on Rins. Will A.Marquez be able to get his first MotoGP win at Aragon?

By lap 20 A.Marquez has closed the gap on Rins to 0.17 seconds, is Rins going to be able to hold off the rookie for the last couple of laps? Lap 22 A.Marquez is right on the heels of Rins but suffers a huge wobble and thus losing valuable time allowing Rins to take a very well deserved first MotoGP win very closely followed by A.Marquez and then Mir in 3rd place.

What a brilliant weekend of racing from Aragon. Don’t forget to set your alarms for the next round at Aragon on the 24/25 October.

Featured image courtesy of Suzuki racing

Round 10 of the 2020 MotoGP Championship took place on the 9-11 October at Le Mans, France.

The Championship leader, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) claimed pole position for Sunday’s race having snatched the lead on the final lap of qualifying from Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) with Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) making up the front row of the grid.

The starting grid for the race looked like this:

Row 1 : Quartararo : Miller : Petrucci Row 2 : Crutchlow : Vinales : Dovizioso

Row 3 : Bagnaia : P.Espargaro : Zarco Row 4 : Rossi : Morbidelli : Oliveira

Row 5 : Nakagami : Mir : A.Espargaro Row 6 : Rins : Binder : A.Marquez

Row 7 : Smith : Lecuona : Bradl Row 8 : Rabat

With 26 laps of racing, the red lights go out and the racing begins with the pole sitter, Quartararo not getting off to a great start and by Turn 1 he is in third place behind the Ducati’s of Miller and Dovizioso with Petrucci in 4th place but then Petrucci takes Quartararo pushing him down into 5th place. At Turn 3 Rossi goes down and that is the end of what was an extremely short race for him.

By the end of a very busy lap 1, three Ducati’s are leading the race with Petrucci now in the lead. As we go into lap 2, P.Espargaro takes Quartararo but he manages to grab the place straight back.

Lap 3 sees Rins take Crutchlow and P.Espargaro has another go at taking Quartararo and this time he manages to make the place stick despite nearly taking Quartararo out in the process. Rins follows P.Esparagaro too and the following lap Crutchlow passes and another place is lost for Quartararo with Smith now having a look to get past and he makes his move down the inside and the pole sitter is now down in 8th position.

Just at the end of lap 4, Marquez goes down the outside of both Quartararo and Oliveira taking him up to 8th place and he is hunting down Smith and on lap 6 he makes a smooth pass up into 7th place.

Rins has put in the fastest lap and is closing the gap on the Ducati’s. Smith goes down in the gravel on lap 10 and we can see him crawling away from his bike.

By lap 12 the gap between Rins and third place Miller is now down to 0.5 seconds and the following lap Rins goes up the inside of Miller into 3rd but Miller fights back and takes the place back but Rins is not giving up and is right on the heels of Miller.

The following lap we see Rabat crash out thus ending his race and Marquez zips past Crutchlow into 6th place. On lap 15 Rins has another go at passing Miller and this time he makes the place stick but not for long as by the end of the lap Miller has the place back again. Marquez has put in the fastest lap and is closing the gap on P.Espargaro and by lap 17 he is right on his tail. Morbidelli crashes into the dirt at turn 4.

At the end of the start/finish straight on lap 18 Dovizioso makes his move on Petrucci and takes the lead and Rins takes Miller but Miller fights straight back and keeps hold of his 3rd place. Crutchlow crashes out ending his race. Just before the end of the lap, Dovizioso, Miller, Rins and Petrucci enter the corner pretty much all together, Dovizioso runs wide allowing Petrucci into 1st place with Rins 2nd and Miller 3rd.

Lap 19 Miller passes Rins into 2nd place but then something lets go on his bike and he pulls over to the side and retires from the race. Marquez has now taken P.Espargaro and is up in 4th place but the following lap Rins crashes at Turn 3 and Marquez is now up to 3rd place.

By lap 22 Petrucci has a 1.6 second lead over the Dovizioso in 2nd place and seems to have the race under control. Rins has managed to rejoin the race with the help of the marshals but he appears to have a marshals strap caught on the tail of his bike. He is flagged to pull over, he removes the strap and rejoins the race again.

On lap 24 Dovizioso runs wide allowing Marquez to go through into 2nd place, Dovizioso is desperately looking to regain the place but Marquez is holding him off for now. The penultimate lap P.Espargaro takes Dovizioso into 3rd place and Oliveria is having a look too and manages to get past but doesn’t keep the place and goes back down to 5th.

The final lap sees P.Espargaro closing the gap on Marquez but Marquez just needs to hold him for the remainder of the lap. Petrucci has control of the race and takes the chequered flag followed by a very jubilant Marquez in 2nd and P.Espargaro in 3rd.

Phew! That was an exciting and very busy race which unfortunately saw race retirements from Miller, Morbidelli, Crutchlow, Rabat, Smith and Rossi.

Makes sure you set your alarms for the next race which takes place in Aragon on the 16-18 October.

BK

Featured image courtesy of Ducati

This weekend’s MotoGP action came to us from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.

The track temperature were set to be HOT and indeed they were which resulted in an absolute cracker of a race. Ever since Marc Marquez suffered an injury and is currently recuperating, anyone can win this.

The riders have lined up on the grid ready to go and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) had a good start leading at the first corner.

Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) is going back down the field on the first lap and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is moving up the field.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) has lost 5 places on the first lap and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) has gone down to 3rd place. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had a cracking start to the race .

Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) has been racing well in the first couple of laps and staying up there with everyone.

This circuit has 7 right and 3 left hand corners and although it is a shorter track than most circuits, by the end of the race they will have covered 75 miles.

You can see that the Ducati’s are finding the windy part of the track hard to keep the bikes under control.

Rins is in 12th place now and it is like the Suzuki on rails going around this track , it is an absolute pleasure to watch.

Rossi’s front end went down then but he managed to keep it upright, the Championship leader is dead last right now after making a mistake on Turn 4 so it’s going to be a slow race for him now.

A chaos strewn incident causes a Red Flag

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) were side by on the straight coming down into Turn 3 and as they braked they made contact with each other and both bikes and riders went down.

In what can only be described as an absolutely terrifying few moments, both bikes hurtled towards Turn 4 at a tremendous rate of knots, both hitting the air-fence which slowed them down but then headed straight into the path of Vinales and Rossi with Morbidelli’s bike going through the gap between Vinales and Rossi and Zarco’s bike narrowly missing Vinales.

Thankfully Morbidelli and Zarco both got to their feet and after going to the medical centre for a check-up, both were declared fit.

This is the second red flagged race of the day, the first being in the Moto2 race.

The riders have been in the pits after the red flag whilst the marshals did a great job clearing up the debris and fixing the air-fence. After looking at a replay you can see Rossi’s bike was clipped in the incident.

Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) is getting instructions in the pit and Zarco is now out the race.

Rossi still looks in shock, we thought Rossi had seen everything except a bike coming though the air inches from his face. Now he has to get back on the bike and ride (there’s a song there somewhere).

All bikes that are in race condition are back out on track ready for a restart. The starting grid was decided on countback to the previous completed lap which meant that Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was on pole.

The Race Restart

Crutchlow starts near the back and it’s been a steady restart, Miller has a good start although he does go wide on the second corner but managed to keep the lead.

Rossi does not look on it right now since the red flag incident but Miller is pulling out a good lead of a second and everyone is behind him picking up the laps.

Dovizioso and Mir are closing in on Miller then Dovizioso carved past Miller into Turn 1 and at Turn 9 later in the lap, Rins followed Dovizioso through. Rins really was on a charge but then his race prematurely ended at Turn 6 when he went down and out. Barring a mistake on the part of Dovizioso, the win was his now.

The top three at at the chequered flag were as follows:

1st Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team)
2nd Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar)
3rd Jack Miller (Pramac Racing)

Great race today, and luckily we don’t have to wait long until the next race which is on the 21^st to 24^th of August,  back at the Red Bull Ring.

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.

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.

At the end of the first lap top 3 is as follows:

Fabio Quartararo : Yamaha
Valentino Rossi : Yamaha
Maverick Vinales : Yamaha

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.

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.

Featured Image courtesy of Yamaha racing

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

2 : Franco Mobidelli : Petrona Yamaha SRT : 1’37.512

3 : Cal Crutchlow : LCR Honda Castrol : 1’37.644

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

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.

It promises to be an interesting race tomorrow.