MotoGP Race And Practice Results

A sunny Aragon welcomed the lightweight class from their lunch break and the wind seemed to cause some trouble for riders trying to break into the combined top 14. Jeremy Alcoba did not have any such issues, the Spaniard picking up the lead at the end of the final time attack, one tenth of a second faster than compatriot Raul Fernandez. Gabriel Rodrigo made it a bittersweet session for the Gresini squad, the Argentine rider climbing up to third but crashing out at turn 12 in the closing stages of FP2.

Darryn Binder also finished within two tenths of the leader, while Ai Ogura was the early leader after a low key morning session, although he got demoted to fifth towards the end of the session. John McPhee kept close in sixth, half a second off the lead and ahead of Dennis Foggia, Filip Salac and Tatsuki Suzuki. Championship leader Albert Arenas rounded out the top ten, seven tenths off top spot.

Meanwhile, FP1 leader Jaume Masia dropped to 19th position but remained the fastest man of the day courtesy of his morning time. Despite missing out on the top ten of the session, the likes of Tony Arbolino, Romano Fenati and Deniz Oncu remained inside the combined top 14.

Results:

Motorland Aragon welcomed back the premier class with a clearer sky and warmer asphalt than last time out and the Hondas seemed to be thriving in the not-so-early morning. Alex Marquez started the session at the top of the timesheets and after an interruption from colleague Takaaki Nakagami, Marquez reclaimed top spot for the final couple of minutes. That final time attack put him over four tenths ahead of his rivals and the Spaniard looked on course to increase that advantage when the front end gave way at the final turn on his final flying lap. Although not many were tempted by a late time attack, the top four featured three Hondas, Nakagami in second and Stefan Bradl in fourth sandwiching Joan Mir in third. While Bradl was a touch more inconsistent, the top three showed good consistent pace throughout the session.

Franco Morbidelli was the fastest Yamaha in fifth, seven hundredths of a second ahead of Maverick Vinales, while Jack Miller was once again the leading Ducati in seventh position. Alex Espargaro and Pol Espargaro finished within half a tenth of each other and over one second off top spot, while Cal Crutchlow rounded out the top ten despite ending his session on the service road.

Last weeks’ victor Alex Rins finished the morning session in 12th spot, with Andrea Dovizioso 16th and Fabio Quartararo another place back, not being tempted by a late time attack.

Results:

The last race of the year, 21 laps of Estoril, would determine the manufacturer's championship, with Kawasaki leading Ducati by eighteen points, leaving both in with a chance of taking it. 

Toprak Razgatlioglu led Garrett Gerloff, Michael van der Mark and Chaz Davies into turn one, but Davies passed both Gerloff and van der Mark to slot into second place behind the race one winner. At turn nine, Jonathan Rea and Michael van der Mark clashed, with Scott Redding sneaking under both of them as they clashed, but Rea took to the outside of turn thirteen and took fourth place off Redding as Chaz Davies took the lead into turn one. 

As Jonathan Rea set three fastest laps in succession, Garrett Gerloff hit one of only two proper left handers, turn four, with a cold tyre and slid his bike into the gravel. Jonathan Rea caught up the lead two, building a gap of over a second over Scott Redding. Rea set the fastest lap again on lap six and, on lap eight, passed Toprak Razgatlioglu down the straight, but the Yamaha rider was able to outbreak the world champion to retain second place. Chaz Davies broke free from the pair fighting behind him, and Rea saw his chance of a win escaping if he couldn't pass Razgatlioglu. Rea saw his chance and went for a gap that then closed, Rea carrying a little too much speed. Rea's front tyre gave up and Rea went down, gently tapping Razgatlioglu's Yamaha on its way off the track. Razgatlioglu stayed on and only lost three quarters of a second to Redding. Kawasaki now had to hope Alex Lowes, in a comfortable fifth place, or Xavi Fores, fighting in eighth place with Leon Haslam and Michael Ruben Rinaldi either side of him, finished higher than ninth place if they were to take the manufacturers title. Jonathan Rea rejoined in sixteenth place but not at the same pace he had before his off. 

Chaz Davies, halfway through the race, set the fastest lap of 1'36.806 as he bolted off in the distance as Scott Redding started to close the two second gap a few tenths a lap. On lap fourteen, Loris Baz, having caught up with the seventh place battle, started having braking issues and eventually took to the escape road to retire, only to find Jonas Folger blindly followed him. Baz gesticulated to Folger that his bike was broken and Folger returned to the race three places down.

On lap sixteen, Alex Lowes crashed out at turn seven, turning all Kawasaki eyes to Xavi Fores in the hope that he could net them the manufacturer's title. Fores was in the middle of a battle for seventh place, constantly swapping places with Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Leon Haslam.

Five laps from the end, Scott Redding had caught Toprak Razgatlioglu, the pair three seconds behind Chaz Davies, and Redding started to look for a way past. On lap nineteen of twenty one, Scott Redding passed Toprak Razgatlioglu into turn one but he had to fight the Turkish rider's constant attention as Razgatlioglu tried to take second place back and thwart Ducati's chance of a one-two finish. 

As the last lap started, Chaz Davies was almost three seconds clear in the lead with Scott Redding finally breaking free from Toprak Razgatlioglu. Michael van der Mark was a further six seconds behind with Alvaro Bautista five seconds behind him. The fight for sixth place, between Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Leon Haslam, Xavi Fores and Federico Caricasulo was a further six seconds behind Bautista. 

As Chaz Davies won his last race for Ducati, they held out his pinboard reading "Thanks for the great emotions". Scott Redding finished second behind his exiting teammate and said he was happier that Davies won than he would have been if he'd taken the victory himself. Toprak Razgatlioglu took his third podium of the weekend and held on to fourth place in the championship. Xavi Fores finished in eighth place, while Jonathan Rea ended up scoring two points in fourteenth place. Fores and Rea were pulled off track by Kawasaki and given t-shirts commemorating their manufacturer's title and Rea dropped to his knees to thank Fores for saving their title. A very strange end to a very strange year.

In other battles, Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam finished on the exact same number of points, leaving the Honda tamales to determine who came out on top by their best result, giving Bautista the honour of ninth place. Chaz Davies, third in the championship and winner of two races this year, has not got a ride for 2021.

Results:

With King Marquez’s Aragon crown up for grabs, many gladiators turned up to the battle but the home favourites proved their worth and the crown almost stayed in the family. Alex Rins and Alex Marquez might have started on the fourth row of the grid but the old rivals made fantastic comebacks to dispute victory to the final corner, where Rins became the eighth different winner of the season. The youngest Marquez came within three tenths of a second of victory, with Joan Mir completing a perfect podium for the virtual home crowd, while also becoming favourite in the world championship battle.

The start told a somewhat different story, with Maverick Vinales fastest off the line, ahead of poleman Fabio Quartararo and with Franco Morbidelli joining his teammates at the front. Front row starter Cal Crutchlow dropped like a stone in the first few turns, out of the top ten and in opposing fortunes to Rins, who went from 10th to 4th in only a couple of corners. Having started 13th, Andrea Dovizioso headed straight into the top eight and once again battling rookie Marquez in the early stages.

Vinales avenged every other start he made this year, stretching a gap of seven tenths by the end of lap one, with the Petronas duo pushing to catch up but under assault from Rins by lap three. The Spaniard demoted Morbidelli for third and reeled in Quartararo, while the Italian was dropping into the clutches of Mir, Jack Miller and a fast charging Alex Marquez, who had quickly disposed of Takaaki Nakagami and Dovizioso.

Quartararo struggled to bring the gap to Vinales under half a second and Rins was sniffing around him until the end of lap 5, when the Frenchman left the door wide open at turn 16 and Rins picked up the chase, immediately reeling Vinales in. Quartararo dropped a few tenths back and got caught up by Morbidelli and Mir, the trio soon engaging in battle and Mir sweeping past the Petronas men by the end of lap 7. Alex Marquez took a few laps to get past Miller, dropping a second on the victory battle ahead but the home favourite pushed to remedy that and was soon hounding Quartararo for fifth place.

Back at the front, Rins finally attacked for the lead at the final turn, entering lap nine in charge of proceedings, while Vinales had another Suzuki nightmare coming, with Mir only half a second behind. Another second behind the podium positions, Alex Marquez made quick work of both Petronas men on lap nine while demonstrating the hottest pace amongst the leaders. The Spaniard soon got a one second gap on the duo and kept pushing to join the leading trio. Meanwhile, Quartararo was about to get in trouble with a big group hoping to claim his sixth spot, Nakagami in prime position and getting the move done at the final turn on lap 11. Dovizioso seemed stuck at the bottom of the top ten, with Miller and Crutchlow for company, but the group was quickly catching up with his main championship rival.

At the halfway point, the victory battle looked like becoming a foursome, Vinales, Mir and Marquez quickly closing in on Rins. Mir and Vinales provided some of the entertainment on lap 13 and it ended with Vinales getting pushed off the podium by Mir and Marquez and seemingly losing touch with the leaders. Morbidelli was in a lonely fifth, while Quartararo was getting swallowed by the chasing pack. The Frenchman left the top ten with 10 laps remaining and continued to lose positions at an alarming rate, out of point scoring places just one lap later.

Against all odds but not uncharacteristic for this crazy 2020, the Suzukis entered the remaining eight laps defending a 1-2 from Alex Marquez, with Vinales two seconds back. The leading trio played nice for the next few laps, Rins keeping a safe half second gap on his teammate as the race entered unknown territory in terms of tyre wear. Marquez eventually attacked Mir at turn 16 with six laps remaining and immediately brought the gap to Rins to under half a second, while leaving Mir in his shadow.

The former Moto3 teammates started the final four laps separated by less than two tenths of a second but a major moment at the final turn with three laps left slowed down Marquez’s charge a bit. However, the rookie did not give up the fight and started the final lap right behind Rins, but the Suzuki man kept him at bay until the finish line to secure victory by only two tenths from his old rival. Vinales was closing in on Mir on the final lap but the Suzuki defended to the line and snatched the championship lead. Nakagami crossed the line fifth, ahead of Morbidelli and Dovizioso and with Crutchlow, Miller and Zarco rounding out the top ten.

A bruised and struggling Quartararo finished 18th, relinquishing the world championship lead to Mir by 6 points, with Vinales 12 points down and Dovizioso saved by the bell once more, only 15 points behind the leader.

Results: