MotoGP 2020: Fabio Quartararo wins Catalan MotoGP

France’s Fabio Quartararo produced a thrilling and perfect ride to claim a resounding victory at the Catalan MotoGP, his third of the season which sends him top of the World Championships standings. Joan Mir came through to take second and is now eight points behind Quartararo in the standings while Alex Rins completed the podium.

The race began in dramatic fashion with Andrea Dovizioso, who led the title race by a single point from the Frenchman and Maverick Vinales, taken out in the opening lap after tangling with Johann Zarcho.

Quartararo, on a Yamaha, won the opening two races of the season but has struggled since then, failing to reach the podium in the last five races. But the Frenchman, who showed signs of a return to form in the last race at Emilia Romagna when he came fourth, was back to his best in Barcelona.

Starting from pole, alongside the fellow Yamahas of Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi, he set a fierce pace which put the pressure on the field, especially those trying to close him down. One who suffered was Rossi who had taken advantage of a wobble by Morbidelli with 11 laps to go to move into second spot. Two laps later, however, trying to make up ground on the flying Quartararo, the 41-year-old slid into the gravel on turn two, his race over.

Morbidelli, who won in San Marino two races ago, looked good to take second but could not hold off Mir who swept past him with two laps to go. He then lost a place on the podium as Rins, who started down in 13th, put the gloss on an excellent race. Quartararo heads the standings with 108 points, eight clear of Mir.

MotoGP 2020: Fabio Quartararo wins Andalusia Grand Prix

Fabio Quartararo earned a dominant pole-to-flag victory to make it two wins from two to start the MotoGP World Championship season. A week on from securing a maiden premier class win, Quartararo doubled up in Jerez to earn maximum points at a swelteringly hot Andalusia Grand Prix, in a race where the action all took place behind the runaway leader.

 

With world champion Marc Marquez unable to race despite attempting to qualify a week on from sustaining a broken arm, the brilliant Francesco Bagnaia appeared on course for a maiden podium. However, the Pramac Racing rider's bike smoked up with six laps to go, leaving Bagnaia visibly frustrated at the trackside.

Maverick Vinales ultimately took a scarcely deserved second-place finish for the second week running in an error-strewn display, with the great Valentino Rossi completing the podium.

 

Vinales would have started the day with hopes of victory but paid the price for being too aggressive at the final turn of the opening lap when chasing Quartararo, going wide and allowing Monster Energy Yamaha team-mate Rossi to pass. The Spaniard was frustrated in his bid to pass Rossi and another mistake when going wide at Turn 6 with 16 laps to go allowed Bagnaia to slip by.

MotoGP 2020: Fabio Quartararo wins Spanish Grand Prix

Fabio Quartararo finally turned pole into victory as Marc Marquez was injured in the process of making a couple of uncharacteristic errors at MotoGP delayed season opener in Jerez. Frenchman Quartararo was named rookie of the year in 2019 but failed to register a victory despite qualifying first on six occasions.

 

But the Petronas Yamaha rider finally earned a maiden premier class triumph at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, the first race of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It looked like being a familiar tale when Marquez passed race leader Maverick Vinales with 23 laps remaining after the duo thrillingly jostled for position.

However, the defending champion, racing on the brink as MotoGP fans have become accustomed to witnessing in his career, went far too wide at Turn 4 a couple of laps later and into the dirt - impressively holding the bike to continue in the race. The Spaniard valiantly fought back through the field and appeared on course to brilliantly finish second until losing the bike with a huge high side with four laps to go when chasing Vinales – his Repsol Honda smashing painfully into his arm. Images showed him on a stretcher later in the race.

 

Quartararo himself had made an inauspicious start, slipping from first to fifth in the opening laps as Vinales took ownership of top spot. Vinales had already made an error shortly prior to locking up at Turn 13 with 17 laps to go, though, and he ultimately had to settle for winning the battle for second.

 

Jack Miller of Pramac Racing had held a podium spot for much of the race but eventually slipped behind Andrea Dovizioso, who only underwent surgery on a broken collarbone last month. Valentino Rossi was among the retirees along with Joan Mir, whose team-mate Alex Rins did not race after sustaining a serious shoulder injury on Saturday. Cal Crutchlow was also inactive following a bad crash in Sunday's warm-up that left him with a concussion.

Valencia MotoGP 2019: Marc Marquez wins

Marc Marquez capped off his sixth title-winning MotoGP season with a dominant victory in the Valencia Grand Prix to secure the 2019 team title for the Repsol Honda squad. Petronas SRT Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo led for the first seven laps before being passed by a recovering Marquez and was unable to mount a challenge to retake the position over the remaining tours.

Poleman Quartararo had run side by side with Pramac's Jack Miller on the run to the first corner at the start but had to concede the lead to the Rocketship Ducati. He quickly disposed of Miller after a couple of corners and began to build up a small lead, while Marquez had to fight through from sixth after getting hung out at the first turn from second on the grid. Quartararo held a margin of seven-tenths of a second by the third lap, with Marquez soon up to second after snatching second from Miller at the final corner at the end of the previous tour.

The Honda rider slashed Quartararo's lead by a couple of tenths over the next three laps and made his decisive move on the eighth tour of the 27-lap race at the Turn 11 left-hander - squeezing Quartararo out to the edge of the circuit on the exit. Marquez immediately got his lead up to six tenths, though Quartararo was able to ensure this remained stagnant for a handful of laps. Then with nine laps to go, Marquez moved a second out of reach for the first time and would ease across the line for his 12th win of the year by over 1.5s.

Quartararo came under some threat from Miller after he was passed by Marquez on lap eight but was able to quash the Pramac rider's challenge and ended a sensational rookie season with his seventh podium. Miller's attention was soon turned to fending off Ducati stablemate Andrea Dovizioso for the final podium spot. He did so successfully and cruised to a fifth podium of the year ahead of Dovizioso and the Suzuki of Alex Rins.

Maverick Vinales' expected challenge for the victory never materialized, and he was consigned to sixth on the works Yamaha ahead of Joan Mir (Suzuki), his team-mate Valentino Rossi, and the Espargaro brothers - Aleix Aprilia ahead of KTM-mounted Pol. Jorge Lorenzo ended his career in MotoGP with his best result since June's Italian GP on 13th.

Japanese MotoGP 2019: Marc Marquez wins 2019 season

MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez won the Japanese Grand Prix with a pole-to-flag ride as Honda secured the constructor’s title at their home Motegi Circuit. The 26-year-old Spaniard had already made sure of his sixth MotoGP championship, and fourth in a row, a race earlier in Thailand on Oct 6.

The constructors' title was Honda's 25th, coming as the company celebrates 60 years in motorcycle racing. French rider Fabio Quartararo finished second for the non-works Petronas Yamaha team, 0.870 behind, to be sure of the MotoGP 'rookie of the year' accolade, with Italian Andrea Dovizioso third for Ducati.

The podium was Quartararo's sixth top-three finish of the season, but the 20-year-old is still awaiting a first win in the top category. His first lap attempt to get ahead of Marquez lasted only three corners. Marquez then led every lap as he made sure of his 54th victory in the top class, pulling him level in the all-time record books with retired Australian Mick Doohan.

Quartararo came under pressure at the finish on fading tyres, with Dovizioso closing the gap but running out of time to make a move. The Italian could still celebrate his 100th podium finish. Marquez has an unbeatable 350 points to Dovizioso's 231, with three races remaining in Australia, Malaysia and on home soil in Valencia. Honda have 356 points to Ducati's 270.

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales was fourth with Britain's Cal Cruchlow seizing fifth at the line for LCR Honda from Quartararo's team mate Franco Morbidelli. Yamaha's Italian great Valentino Rossi crashed four laps from the end while in 11th place, and Marquez's triple world champion team mate Jorge Lorenzo finished only 17th and 40 seconds behind the winner.

Thailand MotoGP 2019: Marc Marquez clinches title

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has sealed the 2019 MotoGP championship title, after beating Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo in a last lap battle in the Thailand Grand Prix. The Honda star needed to score at least two points more than Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso in the Thailand GP to secure the world title, his sixth premier-class title and eighth MotoGP title, with four races left in the season. Marquez is now just one premier class title away that of Valentino Rossi and two from Giacomo Agostini.

The Thailand GP started with Quartararo on pole position, his fourth this season, while Marquez qualified third on the grid, with Yamaha's Maverick Vinales in second place. Quartararo was quick off the line and maintained his lead while Marquez was quick to jump to second passing Vinales, but not before facing competition from the factory Yamaha rider on the opening lap. The rider though managed to retain his position on Turn 3 and then slip-streamed past Quartararo to take P1. However, a braking mistake soon after saw the Petronas rider regain the lead, while the Honda rider only managed to save himself from Vinales.

The top three riders ran close as the laps progressed and Marquez was hot on Quartararo's tail. The top riders though soon started to detach from the rest of the pack and Vinales was now three seconds off by the lead pair as the race entered Lap 11. Quartararo had built up pace by then and wasn't having Marquez have this one easy. The young rookie was over seven tenths in the following laps, only for Marquez to catch up as the race crossed Lap 13. It was a close battle between the riders as the Honda man-built pressure on the satellite rider as the laps progressed over the next 10 laps.

Coming in fifth was Alex Runs of Suzuki after battling it out with Dovizioso, while Petronas rider Franco Morbidelli showed impressive pace finishing sixth as defeated Suzuki's Joan Mir and Yamaha's Rossi for the position. The latter finished at P8 behind Mir, while Danilo Petrucci finished ninth on the second factory Ducati with LCR Honda's Takasaki Nakagami coming in tenth. Pramac Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia of Pramac Ducati finished 11th, while teammate Jack Miller was forced to start the race in the pitlane and recovered to 14th. LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow took P12, followed by Pol Espargaro of KTM at P13, followed by Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller at P24. Aprilia rider Andrea Iannone finished 15th taking the final point in the Thailand GP.

KTM's Miguel Oliveira finished in 16th place followed by Avintia Ducati's Tito Rabat. Honda's Jorge Lorenzo was placed 18th with Avintia's Karel Abraham in 19th place ahead of Tech3's Hafizh Syahrin. The Thailand GP had two retirements including Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia and Mika Kallio on the KTM.