MotoGP: Quartararo clinches Catalan win as Dovizioso, Rossi crash out

Round eight of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship took place in Barcelona at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Catalan Grand Prix. Andrea Dovizioso led the championship coming into this race, but started from 17th whilst Franco Morbidelli started from his first MotoGP pole position.

It was a perfect start for Morbidelli, who converted his first MotoGP pole into a holeshot ahead of his Jack Miller who jumped Fabio Quartararo and Valentino Rossi into turn one using the power of the Ducati. 

Rossi then went round the outside of Quartararo for third place at turn two, and was able to use that line to hold the inside at turn three. The #46 was on the move again at turn five and established a Yamaha 1-2 by passing Miller.

There was then a mistake from Miller, braking into turn 10. He did well to avoid Rossi, but was unable to prevent Quartararo from passing him on the exit and on the short run to turn 11.

Quartararo then started to click into his pace, and he closed up to the back of Rossi who had not been able to make much of an impression on Morbidelli in the early stages. On lap six, the #20 was able to pass the man he will swap places with next year into turn one, taking second place and making it a Petronas Yamaha SRT 1-2.

Three laps later and Quartararo hit the front with an identical move on Morbidelli to the one he previously put on Rossi. Things then stayed the same for a while, until Morbidelli made a mistake at turn one on lap 14, allowing Rossi through into second and giving Quartararo some breathing space.

Rossi’s ability to stay with Quartararo was immediately tested as the Frenchman started to put some time into the Italian. This continued until the beginning of lap 16 when Rossi crashed at turn two, losing one of his best chances to take a win in recent times, as well as his championship hopes. 

That promoted Morbidelli back into second place, although by now Quartararo was out of reach, and three seconds clear. 

Instead, Morbidelli’s attentions had to be turned rearwards, as the Suzukis were on the move. 

Joan Mir made a great start, he went from eighth the fifth in the first few corners, but from there was unable to progress in the first half of the race. Similarly, Alex Rins went from 13th to sixth on lap one, but then got sucked into a battle with the likes of Danilo Petrucci and Pol Espargaro that left him with work to do once he cleared them. But with 10 laps to go, the Suzuki’s ability to extract more grip from used tyres than the other bikes started to play out, and the GSX-RRs were on the move and aiming at the podium.

Less than one lap after Rossi crashed, Mir was past Miller for third place and setting his sights on Morbidelli. Miller’s troubles were not over, as he had Rins for company soon after.

On lap 18, Mir was half a second faster than Morbidelli and by lap 20 the gap between the two was down to 0.6 seconds, as Alex Rins was all over the back of Jack Miller.

Rins was able to make the move on Miller for fourth place as Morbidelli was responding to the threat of Mir. But the Suzukis were only a few tenths apart themselves and the #21 would soon have two ‘Hamamatsu Hammers’ to deal with.

A ‘mapping 3’ instruction on Mir’s dashboard seemed to give him what he needed to go after Morbidelli with more enthusiasm. The #36 was able to pass Morbidelli at the beginning of the penultimate lap at turn one, and by turn 10 the podium had slipped from the #21’s grasp as Rins went through with an excellent late braking move into the slowest corner on the track. 

When Mir passed Morbidelli for second, he was 2.5 seconds behind Quartararo. By the end of the penultimate lap that gap was under two seconds and by the end of the race it was down to 0.9 seconds. 

The race was 24 laps. Had it been 25 Quartararo probably would have been passed by Mir, 26 and he might have been demoted to third. But it was 24, and in that respect the Frenchman managed the race perfectly to take his third win of the season and continue his 100% record on Spanish tracks in 2020. The championship lead also came with this victory, and Quartararo’s advantage is eight points over Joan Mir who is the only rider within 10 points of the #20. The championship has no been this spread out since Jerez, and it is perhaps not a coincidence that Quartararo and Mir are the ones standing above the rest. 

Suzuki once again paid for their poor qualifying but once again their ability to maintain grip was far superior compared to their competitors. Other riders who had similar pace to Rins and Mir had either started slowly or dropped their pace in the middle of the race to save for the end, like Takaaki Nakagami or Jack Miller. The Suzuki riders seem to be able to ride at a more consistent level from start to finish, and that is how Mir and Rins arrived on the podium in Barcelona. 

Second place was Mir’s fourth podium in five races and his consistency goes unrivalled in the premier class – no one else has four podiums across the whole season. For Rins, third place represented his first podium since his dramatic win in Silverstone last year, and a strong response to his difficult weekend in Emilia Romagna. 

Franco Morbidelli was unfortunate to miss out on the podium, and if he did not make the mistake at turn one then he probably would have hung on. That, or Mir and Rins would have had a better shot at the win as they wouldn’t have had to spend time behind the Italian. The #21 is now 31 points down in the championship, and sits in fifth place. 

Jack Miller was caught by Francesco Bagnaia and Takaaki Nakagami by the end of the race, but the Australian was able to hold on ahead of the pair behind, as Bagnaia was able to keep Nakagami at bay. 

Danilo Petrucci had arguably his best ride since he was fourth in the Sachsenring last season as he finished eighth after fighting with Pol Espargaro for much of the race. 

Maverick Vinales was seven seconds behind Petrucci at the line, far adrift in ninth place after a poor start that dropped him to 15th and an inability to overtake, at least in part due to that lack of speed in the Yamaha. The polarisation of this weekend compared to last weekend when he won in Misano represents why it is hard to view the #12 as a true championship contender. He now sits third in the championship, but 18 points behind Quartararo.

The top 10 was rounded out by Cal Crutchlow, 0.8 seconds behind Vinales in spite of his various ailments of the current moment, including torn ligaments and a damaged right arm. Behind the Brit, Brad Binder was 11th, ahead of Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez, Iker Lecuona and Tito Rabat who took the final point in 15th.

16th went to Bradley Smith, and Stefan Bradl was the final classified finisher in 17th on the factory Honda. 

One of the most dramatic moments of the race was in the second corner. Danilo Petrucci lost the front on his Ducati. He recovered but it caused a reaction from Johann Zarco that saw the Frenchman fold the front himself and slide into Andrea Dovizioso, taking them both down. It was a shame for Dovizioso, especially, who had recovered some ground on the start, but the DNF makes the championship look quite difficult from here, with Quartararo and Mir so strong and a deficit for the Italian of 24 points. 

Aside from Dovizioso, Zarco and Rossi, the only retirements were for Pol Espargaro, who crashed at half-distance, and Miguel Oliveira who suffered the same fate as Rossi in turn two three laps after the Italian went down.