MotoGP 2020: Miguel Oliveira wins Portugal Grand Prix

Miguel Oliveira produced a fairy tale end to his 2020 MotoGP season with a dominant Portuguese Grand Prix victory as World Champion Joan Mir retired after a disastrous race. Tech3 rider Oliveira had never led a lap in MotoGP until dominating all 25 at the Algarve Circuit on Sunday to sign off his career with the French outfit with his second victory ahead of his factory KTM debut in 2021.

A podium for Pramac's Jack Miller secured Ducati its first constructors' championship since 2007, capitalising on a miserable day for Suzuki. Oliveira grabbed the holeshot from pole position ahead of Franco Morbidelli and Miller, while world champion Mir was involved in a collision with Francesco Bagnaia.

Pol Espargaro ended his KTM career in fourth, which vaulted him to fifth in the riders' championship, with LCR's Takaaki Nakagami the top Honda runner at the chequered flag in sixth. Andrea Dovizioso recovered from 12th on the grid to end his final Ducati appearance in sixth, with Honda's Stefan Bradl heading Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia and the sister works Honda of Alex Marquez.

Johann Zarco completed the top 10 following his early contact with Mir, with Maverick Vinales the top 2020 Yamaha rider in 11th on a woeful day for the Japanese marque outside of Morbidelli podium. Valentino Rossi signed off his factory Yamaha career in 12th, heading Cal Crutchlow as he bids farewell to MotoGP as a full-time racer on his LCR Honda.

MotoGP 2020: Franco Morbidelli wins Valencia Grand Prix

Joan Mir has clinched the 2020 MotoGP championship, ending a 20-year wait for Suzuki as Franco Morbidelli won a last-lap Valencia Grand Prix thriller from Jack Miller. Mir is the first new MotoGP champion since Marc Marquez in 2013 and becomes the first rider to win the world crown in Moto3 and the premier class, after coming home a safe seventh place in the Valencia GP.

Miller got the better run into Turn 1 off the line but ran wide and allowed Morbidelli to come back through, while his SRT team-mate Fabio Quartararo went off at Turn 2 after running out of room in the braking zone.

This dropped Quartararo down the order, with his race lasting until lap nine when he crashed at Turn 6 having once again dropped out of the points, completely ending his championship hopes. Mir navigated the opening lap safely, putting his Suzuki into 10th while Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins had leaped up from 14th to seventh.

Alex Rins was fourth on his Suzuki, but it wasn't enough to delay Mir's coronation. Rins beat Brad Binder (KTM) and the Tech3 of Miguel Oliveira. Mir pipped Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso to seventh, with Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro and Yamaha's Maverick Vinales rounding out the top 10.

MotoGP 2020: Joan Mir wins European Grand Prix

 Joan Mir claimed his maiden MotoGP race win at the European Grand Prix to strengthen his position at the top of the championship standings. Having gone into the weekend with a 14-point lead over Fabio Quartararo, the Spaniard extended his advantage as he finally ended his wait for success in the premier class.

The Suzuki Ecstar rider ducked inside team-mate Alex Rins with 11 laps remaining and went on to pull clear in the closing stages, allowing him to coast over the finishing line. His triumph, coupled with a disastrous outing for Quartararo, could be pivotal in the title race. Mir now sits 37 points clear of the Frenchman, who is tied with Rins, with just two rounds remaining.

Quartararo's hopes of closing the gap disappeared when he came off his bike at Turn 8 - the same spot where Mir would later claim the lead. While able to get going again, the Petronas Yamaha rider finished up in 14th place to pick up just two points. Mir is the ninth different race winner in a 2020 season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and also without reigning champion Marc Marquez, who remains sidelined through injury. 

Rins had passed polesitter Pol Espargaro in the early stages but was runner-up for a second successive race, giving Suzuki their first 1-2 result since 1982. Espargaro had to settle for third, putting him on the podium for the fourth time this year, with Takaaki Nakagami in fourth. As for Valentino Rossi, his return was cut short by a technical issue. The Italian was cleared to race again on Saturday having missed the previous two races after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

MotoGP 2020: Alex Rins wins Aragon MotoGP

Suzuki’s GSX-RR may be down on top speed at Aragon but the bike is the current master of Michelin’s MotoGP tyres. Plus Fabio Quartararo’s pressure disaster and Alex Marquez’s insight into the mysteries of Honda’s RC213V.

Suzuki's Rins became the eighth winner in this season's ten races as the vacuum created by the early season injury to reigning champion Marc Marquez has created a volatile and unpredictable title race. This is the third victory for the 24-year-old Rins who won twice last year but was injured at the beginning of this season.

The other Suzuki factory rider Mir takes over the championship lead even though he has not won a MotoGP race. He has 121 points in the championship ahead of Quartararo (115), Spaniard Maverick Vinales (109), and Italian Andrea Dovizioso (106).

Frenchman Quartararo, who started from pole, struggled and finished down in 18th place. One of the riders attempting to fill the void left by Marquez is his younger brother and Honda teammate Alex Marquez who, after a slow start to his rookie season, has finished second in two straight races. Six-time champion Marc Marquez was overjoyed.

Meanwhile, seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi's quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 means he will also have to miss next weekend's Grand Prix of Teruel at the same Aragon circuit.

MotoGP 2020: Miguel Oliveira wins Styria Grand Prix

Oliveira and Tech3 KTM take a shock victory in a 12-lap Styrian MotoGP sprint at the Red Bull Ring, Oliveira sweeping past both the Ducati of Miller and KTM of Espargaro as they fought at the final corner.

Miller held Espargaro at bay for a second, with Mir fourth at the chequered flag ahead of Andrea Dovizioso - the Ducati rider dropping out of podium contention after running wide on the last lap.

Alex Rins was sixth on the Suzuki, while Nakagami's podium hopes faded in the second race and he was seventh in the end, with Brad Binder (KTM), Valentino Rossi on the Yamaha and Tech3's Iker Lecuona completing the top 10.

Danilo Petrucci grabbed 11th on the works team Ducati ahead of Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, while a struggling Fabio Quartararo on the Petronas SRT Yamaha maintains a slender three-point lead over Dovizioso after finishing 13th.

Johann Zarco came from the pitlane in the first race to score two points with 14th on the Avintia Ducati, with Franco Morbidelli completing the top 15 on the SRT Yamaha.

MotoGP 2020: Andrea Dovizioso wins Austrian Grand Prix

Andrea Dovizioso won an eventful Austrian MotoGP for Ducati just 24 hours after revealing he would leave the Italian team at the end of the season. Spain’s Joan Mir on a Suzuki robbed Ducati of a one-two by clinching the second spot from Australian Jack Miller with a single corner to spare. 

In a two way tangle on lap eight at the empty Spielberg circuit, Yamaha's Morbidelli and Zarco hit the deck at high speed. Zarco's Ducati carried on without him, cut a corner and narrowly missed the veteran Valentino Rossi, who was clearly shaken by the close shave and who went on to take fifth. The riderless bike exploded into pieces at a safety barrier scattering debris through the air as the race was red-flagged.

This was Ducati's fifth consecutive MotoGP success at Spielberg and their 50th in the elite division. The MotoGP standings continue to be led by Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha's satellite SRT team rider and winner of the coronavirus-curtailed season's first two races in Jerez. The Frenchman finished eighth in this fourth leg of the campaign.

 

The day's big loser was Maverick Vinales, who had started from pole on his Yamaha only to trail in 10th and lose his second position in the championship to Dovizioso. South African Brad Binder, who celebrated his breakthrough MotoGP win last weekend in Brno, took fourth for home team KTM. Defending champion Marc Marquez was missing for the third race in a row following surgery on a broken arm sustained in a crash in the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix.

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.