MotoGP – 2020 Andalucia GP – RACE

After the great return of the MotoGP series with a great race at Jerez, the expectancy for the 2nd part of this historic double header was skyhigh. And now it could be say that it did fulfilled those expectatives with a chaotic and etretaining race with incidents, heavy battles and a lot of drama that could give a taste of what next races could be.

Ganador

Lights went of as Poleman Mantain the lead ahead of Viñales, Rossi and Pramac riders Miller and Bagnaia closing the top 5; at the middle of the pack, Brad Binder missed his braking point, taking out Miguel Oliveira on a racing incident that took no futher action for race control. Eventually the lap ended with Viñales going a little wide as a late attempt on Quartararo and demoting him to 3rd place behind veteran teammate, Valentino Rossi, with “El Diablo” assembling a strong pace compared to the other riders.

As laps passed, Viñales was struggling to make a move against Rossi, as Miller and Bagnaia were getting closer for a podium step. Maverick eventually would lose some places as he was passed by the Pramacs and Franco Morbidelli. More incidents happened on track, with Iker Leucona and Aleix Espargaro went to the gravel at laps 7 and 9 respectively.

Drama was on track as the problems were now at the front spots, as Jack Miller, Danilo Petrucci and Brad Binder also fell from their bikes. Now having Rossi dealing with two riders from his academy of riders, as “The Doctor” was between Morbidelli and Bagnaia at 3rd place; the last one mentioned going at high 1:38s and even a similar pace with the  leader, although Quartararo had a comfortable +4 seconds gap.

Race intensified as the last 10 laps were reached, now with riders having to abandon because of reliability issues on the bikes, as Morbidelli had a same issue as Rossi did last week; And even worse, Bagnaia having an oil leak with 6 laps to go; A shame considering he was on a spectacular race for the Italian rider.

The final 5 laps gave us a remarkable battle between teammates, as Viñales paciently waiting for a right moment for making a move, with Rossi doing a usual defensive masterclass, with no gap or space gave to the Spaniard. Eventually the pressure of Maverick gave its fruits as a late move was made on the penultimate lap, closing a historic 1-2-3 for Yamaha. Rossi returns to the podium as he last did on United States on 2019, Viñales gained a hard fought 2nd place and Quartararo gets a back to back win with another dominant performance. Takaaki Nakagami with a carrer high 4th place and Joan Mir closing the top five.

Andalucia

Race results:

1. Fabio Quartararo  // 2. Maverick Viñales  //3. Valentino Rossi
4. Takaaki Nakagami // 5. Joan Mir  // 6. Andrea Dovizioso
7. Pol Espargaro  // 8. Alex Marquez  // 9. Johann Zarco
10. Alex Rins  // 11. Tito Rabat  // 12. Bradley Smith
13. Cal Crutchlow

DFN: Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Danilo Petrucci, Jack Miller, Aleix Espargaro, Iker Leucona, Miguel Oliveira

Fantastic and exiting races at the “Angel Nieto circuit” with Quartararo starting to gaining some space with the competition at the championship standings. As the calendar goes to Brno, for the Czech Republic GP on two weeks, can someone cut the gap to “El Diablo”?