MotoGP: Rins secures first Suzuki win of 2020 as Mir claims championship lead

Round 10 of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship took place in MotorLand Aragon for the Grand Prix of Aragon. Fabio Quartararo started from pole position as he looked to strengthen his championship lead.

It was a Yamaha 1-2-3 off the line and into the first turns. Franco Morbidelli took a dubious holeshot, making it to the first turn ahead of the rest but also running off track on the exit. Maverick Vinales took the biggest advantage from this to lead into turn two and into the opening lap.

Behind the Yamahas, Alex Rins somehow managed to make it an inline-four top four, as he fired his Suzuki from 10th to fourth by turn five ahead of Jack Miller and Joan Mir who held station in sixth.

The first lap belonged to Maverick Vinales, though, as he led by almost one second over the line from Quartararo who was coming under pressure from Morbidelli behind.

Morbidelli was soon replaced by Rins, who passed the Italian into turn one on the third lap. It was at this point that the problems started for the Yamaha riders, as they lost out to the more powerful bikes on Aragon’s fast straights before and after the final double left-hander.

Quartararo then started his fall back through the pack. Rins picked him off in the middle of turns 16 and 17 as the Frenchman ran wide, and at this point the #42 had a clear shot at Vinales.

It took Rins all of one lap to close the 0.5 second-plus gap to Vinales, whilst at the same time his teammate, Joan Mir, was trying to close in on the two Petronas Yamaha riders and Alex Marquez had entered the top six after passing Jack Miller.

Things were made easier for Mir on lap seven when the two Petronas teammates engaged each other in turns 14 and 15. Morbidelli went down the inside of his teammate who fought back with inevitably better momentum and dragged alongside the #21 towards turn 16, where they both tried to out-brake each other, ran wide and allowed Mir down the inside of the pair of them. Morbidelli’s attack on Quartararo had been successful, but the real victor of the battle did not even send any troops as the #36 Suzuki of Mir took third place.

Precisely a lap after Mir took third place, his teammate took the lead, Rins making almost the same move on Vinales as he had previously made on Quartararo, sliding down the inside between 16 and 17 – Vinales was forced to sit up, preventing a retaliation at turn one.

The threats were never-ending for the Yamaha riders. As Vinales lost out to Rins, Quartararo almost simultaneously dropped behind Alex Marquez who by this point was looking as good in the dry in MotorLand as he had in the wet in Le Mans; and Joan Mir had his sights firmly set on Vinales.

Over the past few years we have seen many times Marc Marquez make the Honda RC213V turn as though it is an inline-four, not a V4. The absent World Champion has been a master of managing front and rear slides mid-corner on the Michelins with lean angles that no one else comes near to. It is the #93’s solution to matching the likes of Yamaha and Suzuki in the areas where those bikes are strong. The way in which Alex Marquez passed Franco Morbidelli on lap nine of this year’s Aragon MotoGP between turns 16 and 17 would suggest he has learned, or at least is learning, his brother’s technique. He cut underneath Morbidelli in one of the most edge-grip-demanding corners on the calendar as though the Italian were on a cumbersome Ducati, not a smooth, nimble, balanced Yamaha. Marquez made waves in Le Mans but in Aragon he announced himself as a true MotoGP rider and proved he is there on merit, not surname.

One lap after he took Morbidelli, Marquez watched Joan Mir pass Maverick Vinales in similar fashion. Whilst it is true that the moved from the Suzuki riders and Marquez were impressive, it is notable that all three Yamaha riders were struggling to hold the line in the final two turns consistently. In any case, Vinales braked early into turn one – very early, in fact – and that allowed Marquez to pass on the inside. Vinales was back to fourth, the Yamahas had gone from a podium lockout to a podium miss-out in the space of 14 laps. 

With five laps to go it was quite clear that the winner would be decided between Alex Rins, Alex Marquez – who had by now passed Joan Mir for second – and that #36 Suzuki of Joan Mir, although falling behind Marquez limited his chances. 

Indeed, by lap 20 Mir was dropping off the back of the front two as the pressure from Marquez increased on Rins. The Suzuki rider was able to stand firm, though, and two mistakes from Marquez – one in the final corner and another in turn one a few seconds later – allowed Rins to break slightly more free and gave him enough of an advantage to be safe until the end. 

It was Rins’ first win since Silverstone 2019 and his second podium of the season, as the #42 moved to within 36 points of the championship lead. In Moto3, Jaume Masia is the same distance away from the top spot and also won in Aragon to take his first win of 2020. Masia is considered within championship contention so it is probably fair that Rins, who lies seventh in the standings now, is also considered a part of the fight.

The reference now in the championship has moved courtesy of a poor day for Fabio Quartararo and the third place of Joan Mir who now takes control of the championship. It is the first time a Suzuki rider has led the championship since Kenny Roberts Jr. won in 2000, so the omens are good for the #36, despite his continued winless status.

Perhaps the star of the day, though, was once again Alex Marquez who proved last weekend’s wet podium in Le Mans was no fluke and in fact he is perfectly capable of delivering top results in any condition. Lucio Cecchinello should be happy about the recent performances of the rider who will join him next season, as it should mean a few more HRC technicians in the chamelic box of the Italian independent team.

Indeed, it was LCR who picked up the top independent honours in Aragon courtesy of Takaaki Nakagami whose fifth place moved him into fifth in the championship, 29 points down on Mir. 

Separating Mir in third and Nakagami in fifth was Maverick Vinales, who in reality did well to hold onto fourth and even challenge for third at the end as Mir faded. The Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider handled the conditions the best of any Yamaha rider and, although he missed out on the podium in MotorLand for the second year running, the #12’s deficit in the championship remains bearable at 12 points. 

Behind Nakagami in sixth was Franco Morbidelli who lost out to the #30 towards the end. Even for Morbidelli, Aragon was not a disaster in the points, as he now sits 34 adrift of Mir, two points in front of Rins.

The same could be said for Andrea Dovizioso, who finished seventh in Aragon yet closed in by three points in the championship, reducing his deficit from 18 points to 15, although he did lose a spot in the standings to Vinales. 

Behind Dovizioso was Cal Crutchlow, whose race was ruined by a slipping clutch – similar to Vinales in the restart in Austria – as he recovered to eighth at the flag, finishing ahead of Jack Miller and Johann Zarco who rounded out the top 10. 

Brad Binder was 11th and top KTM, ahead of Pol Espargaro who might regret choosing the soft rear tyre having looked quite promising on the medium in FP4. Behind the two factory KTMs was Aleix Espargaro, unable to repeat his top seven form of the last three years in MotorLand, finishing 13th ahead of Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci who took the final point in 15th. 

Miguel Oliveira was 16th, ahead of Stefan Bradl, Fabio Quartararo who once again suffered badly with front tyre pressure problems. Nineteenth over the stripe was Bradley Smith, who won out in the ‘battle for not-last’ with Tito Rabat, who was last of the 20 finishers. 

Of the 21 starters, only Francesco Bagnaia retired, crashing out on lap three with no consequences other than an early bath.