2020 MotoGP Round Eleven – Aragon

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2020 continues to serve up a stunner of a MotoGP season, and there have now been eight different premier class winners. In the Gran Premio Michelin de Aragon, it was Alex Rins on the top step as the Suzuki rider took his first victory since Silverstone 2019, slicing up from tenth on the grid to fend off another late charge from rookie superstar Alex Marquez, who took second and the 850th premier class podium for Honda. Third place went to Joan Mir, the number 36 back on the rostrum and the new Championship leader after a tough day at the office for Fabio Quartararo.

MotoGP Rider Quotes

Alex Rins – P1

“I’m full of emotion! At the beginning of the season I really struggled a lot, and since then the team and I have worked so hard, and now we’ve won and it feels amazing! I was not sure that I could win from 10th on the grid, but I was able to do it! When I was chasing down the riders in front of me I could feel that I had good pace and the bike was working really well. I felt really relaxed despite having Marquez and Joan close behind, and I managed the pressure. It will be tricky to replicate this again next weekend, but for sure I will try my best! It feels super to be back on the top step!”

Alex Marquez – P2

“Honestly I didn’t expect to get a podium from starting in 11th but I was able to recover well. I found myself in a good position, so we did what we could! I knew I could take quite good care of my tyres for the end of the race. I enjoyed every overtake, but I was really on the limit with the front tyre. Even so, it’s great to be back on the podium and to do it in the dry, we really showed our potential all weekend. We still need to work on Qualifying, but we can enjoy what we achieved today. I want to again say thank you to the Repsol Honda Team for believing in me, supporting me, guiding me and never giving up. They gave me an amazing bike and I enjoyed the whole race.”

Joan Mir – P3

“I’m really happy! All the effort that we’re putting in every race weekend has paid off and I’m now leading the championship. In a way it doesn’t mean a lot because there are still four races to go and a lot can still happen, but it’s a nice situation to be in at the moment. I actually expected a little bit more from today’s race because at the beginning my pace was really good and I maintained everything well, but in the last few laps I started to struggle a bit with the front tyre. I had plenty of grip on the rear tyre but in the end it was better to take 3rd than to take a risk. I’m really looking forward to next weekend and hopefully I’ll be able to get an even better result.”

Maverick Vinales – P4

“I‘m so happy I had a good start. I was ahead of the group by 0.7s after the first lap. That gives me a lot of confidence. I was very happy with my opening lap. The soft front also gave me a good confidence this weekend. My problem was the rear. After five or six laps it had a big drop on the left side. I was losing time in sectors with a lot of left corners, but in the right handers I was quite fast, which was good. We got the maximum out of the bike today. We need to work for next weekend. Our bike has its strong points and weak points. We can’t make its weak points stronger, but we can make its strong points even stronger by working in the direction that suits the Yamaha. The goal is to start at the front again next week and then put in a faster rhythm than today. At the end of the race, I was able to put in the fast laps again though. I rode those laps with my eyes closed. I was pushing that hard, because I wanted to have the opportunity to push Joan. I honestly tried, and it was good because now I know I have something extra to give in the last laps if I need to in the next few races.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P5

“I’m pretty happy to finish as the top independent, it’s nice to stay in Parc Ferme for this race. It was a tough race and it was difficult to manage the tyres, but we did our best and congrats Alex (Marquez, who finished second) he did pretty well today and his performance was good. We’ll do our best to fight for the podium in the next race here in Aragon, but I’m happy with this race. I want to say thanks to my team, they did a great job all weekend and it’s good to finish in P5.”

Franco Morbidelli – P6

“I did struggle to fight with people at the beginning of the race, we had the medium front tyre, and I lost too much ground in the early stages, battling with some riders. Towards the end I was catching Maverick but I didn’t get close enough to attack him, he was maintaining the distance. Unfortunately, I lost out to Takaaki in the final corner as well. It was a good race though, especially the last twelve laps where I was able to maintain a really consistent pace. We are missing something, so we will try to sort that out for next weekend.”

Andrea Dovizioso – P7

“Today we managed to achieve the best possible result considering that we were starting just thirteenth on the grid. Unfortunately, we did not have the speed to fight with the front riders, and maybe, with the highest temperatures compared to the last few days, the medium tyre didn’t behave exactly as we expected. Surely, now we have some data to work on ahead of the next race weekend, which will always be here in Aragón. We hope that the weather conditions will allow us to start working consistently, starting immediately from the first free practice session on Friday.”

Cal Crutchlow – P8

“Obviously, this is not the result we expected today. On the warm-up lap, we had a problem in the back straight with the clutch slipping on the bike a lot. So when I came to the grid I wasn’t sure how much to push the clutch off the start line because if I’d have really pushed the clutch I’d have been in a lot more trouble in the race. I had a lot of clutch slipping in the first laps until about lap three and then it continued less until lap six. But at that point I was in 12th position and I had to battle back through. The best result I could do was eighth place which I’m pleased with after the difficult moments at the start. I think we did a good job, now we have to look forward to next week and take some positives from today.”

Jack Miller – P9

“That wasn’t what you’d call an ideal race, let’s say. Everything was more or less going how I wanted it to, and I’d saved my tyres for the end so I could make a charge. I’d deliberately used the medium tyres because I felt the guys using the soft rear were going to drop off near the end, but that didn’t seem to happen. The only guy who seemed to have a problem was (Fabio) Quartararo, but the rest didn’t. So, ninth it was – not great, not terrible. I guess it’s back to the drawing board and time to do some homework if we’re going to make any headway next week here in Aragon.

“My pace wasn’t too bad really, I was only nine seconds off the win so it wasn’t like we were miles off. I was pretty happy with how I rode for the most part, but I can’t help but wonder what my race would have been like if I’d used the soft tyres like I often do. I don’t reckon that would have had me winning the thing, but maybe finishing a few places further up. We need to analyse now how the race went and then to make next week’s race here better. (Johann) Zarco was the interesting one for me because he used the soft rear tyre and seemed to have some decent pace and he’s on a Ducati, so there’s some relevant data to dig through there. Sunday was the warmest it’d been here all week and the track was over 30 degrees for the race, so there might be something in that we can learn from.

“I was pretty happy to qualify fifth and the fastest of the Ducatis after I had to come through Q1, which I didn’t think I was going to have to do. I’d got up inside the top 10 in the last practice and then lost my lap time because of the yellow flags when Fabio crashed, which let’s say I wasn’t that impressed about. I didn’t see the yellow flag, but I did see the cloud of dust where he’d gone off and I slowed down, but I still improved my lap time and that should have been Q2 for me, but then my lap got cancelled. So yeah, was pretty annoyed to put it mildly but just had to get on with it and go the long way around … I mean, nobody’s going to be sorry for me, right?

“So I ended up back in 17th and in Q1, so it was looking a bit dicey, but I got through and gave it a good shake in Q2 and ended up on the second row, which was a lot better than I was thinking Saturday would go. Shame that didn’t carry on to Sunday, I guess.

“How strange is this season going? I equal my worst finish of a race this year (with Brno) and I’m somehow a point closer to the championship leader (Joan Mir). He’s not won a race yet, and eight other guys have. I’m 39 points off the lead but back in eighth … anything can happen this year, and a bit more craziness in my favour would be pretty handy right now. There’s still a lot to play for with four races left and it’s too close to call, who knows where this year will end up.

“The championship was a long shot anyway after we gave away a load of points in Le Mans (and Misano too with that tear-off), so all I’m trying to do now is get back on the podium and get as many points by the end of the season, and try to give the guys at Pramac a nice gift before I leave. That’s the realistic option, and that’s where my focus is. Whatever that leads to, we’ll have to see. It’s been a long time since I won a race, so I’ve got four more chances to do that.”

Johann Zarco – P10

“I am very happy with the race, a top-10 is a good position, especially after the difficult weekend we had.  I have ridden a large part of the race with a group of several riders in which I have been able to see what my weak points are and what my strengths are for the next weekend.”

Brad Binder – P11

“A challenging weekend in general. We had some good sessions but also some where it did not really work out for us. The whole team worked really hard and we tried different things but we couldn’t find the solution. Today I rode my best and tried my hardest from lap one until the end. It was easy to fold the front end today and we lacked some feeling there. It was hard to stay calm and not over-attack the corners. We’ve got the whole week to analyze and come back stronger next weekend.”

Pol Espargaro – P12

“It wasn’t an easy day. We already had a tough job from the grid and on the first laps other riders were touching each other and bits of bikes were flying around! I lost a few positions and was stuck behind some guys but didn’t really have the whole package performing as I needed to today. It’s disappointing but we know we need to work and come up with some ideas to be better for next weekend. We have another chance here at MotorLand and we’ll push for much more.”

Aleix Espargaro – P13

“Not an easy race. I started well, but then there was contact ahead of me that cost me several positions. My pace wasn’t bad, but not at the level I would have expected. Unfortunately, we were unable to work at our best on tyre management due to some problems in practice. I struggled particularly in acceleration. I wasn’t able to overtake and that limited me for the entire race.”

Iker Lecuona – P14

“I’m honestly really happy. This morning in warm wp I felt good and had a decent pace, so I knew it would be possible to fight close to the top 10. I lost some positions in the first laps of the race and it was very difficult to manage but later I was behind Miguel for many laps and tried so save my tires for the end of the race. It was a good idea, as Miguel pushed a lot and we could reduce the gap to the front. Finally, I passed him and pushed with this extra grip. I’m very satisfied with my race, as it was very consistent and strong.”

Danilo Petrucci – P15

“After a good first part of the race, in which I was in tenth place, I began to suffer the tyre drop. Unfortunately, a few laps from the end I had contact with Pol Espargaro and lost other positions, finishing fifteenth. Too bad because we lost important points for the Championship. Now we have some references to work on ahead of next race here in Aragón on Sunday.”

Miguel Oliveira – P16

“It was a tough race. At least I felt competitive in the first half. Later it was quite difficult for me to manage the tire. I finished it quite quick and started to lose time. For sure, I think our potential to improve is quite high. So, we will try to focus on that and just do our best for next weekend.”

Stefan Bradl – P17

“It was an exciting race, starting last was a disaster but we were able to make up some positions and have some good fights. We have been working with the geometry of the bike and we are improving, step by step. Our pace in Warm Up was not so bad but unfortunately it didn’t lead to a better result in terms of position. We’re making progress, so coming back next week is a positive thing to let us try and improve again. Congratulations again to Alex for another great podium, the Repsol Honda Team is doing a great job.”

Fabio Quartararo – P18

“It was a really strange race. We knew that our pace was not the best but we were not expecting to finish in this position. I was expecting to be further up the field, but we had an issue with the front tyre. It’s the first time we’ve used this tyre, it felt great to begin with in the opening three laps, but the pressure became too high. It was not possible to ride, I had no feeling in the front. I’m disappointed because without this problem I think we could have been able to fight for a better result. It isn’t easy to understand why but we’ll look and prepare for next weekend, when we are here again.”

Bradley Smith – P19

“My race was decided on the first lap. Because of a gear selection mistake, I found myself at the back of the group with a 4-5 second gap. At that point, it was rather difficult to recover, although I was able to maintain the pace I expected and that makes me see the glass as half full. Rear grip is still an aspect we need to improve. Racing again on the same circuit in a few days will give us a chance to try something completely different.”

Tito Rabat – P20

“I had a good start in which I managed to regain some positions.  It was a difficult race in which it was difficult for me to maintain the rhythm in the first laps, which has caused several riders to pass me.  I have not had a good feeling with the rear tire throughout the race, which has prevented me from following the race group.”

Pecco Bagnaia – DNF

“I’m sorry because I finally found the right feeling, I felt good and unfortunately crashing after only 3 laps is always bad, I’m sure we could have made a good recovery. When I crashed, the feeling was that someone had touched me but actually from the data it seems that the gear did not go well, we will try again next week.”

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Team Managers

Ken Kawauchi – Suzuki Technical Manager

“Of course, I’m very happy. Alex managed to win, which was really great. A few things have held him back this year, such as the injury, so it’s really nice to have him finally back on the top step of the podium. Joan also got another podium after a strong race and he’s now leading the championship, which is an incredible feeling. I want to say thank you very much to all the staff who work so hard on this project and thank you to both our riders.”

Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager

“This is a great day for us, really fantastic. We’ve been waiting to get a win this season, and finally we’ve managed it. It was great to watch Alex come up from 10th place, his recovery and fighting spirit were brilliant. Joan also did a very clever race, and despite struggling at the end he focused on the important thing which is the points and the championship. We’re leading the standings and we’ll keep fighting until the end. I want to say a big thank you to all our employees and all the fans, we appreciate them so much and their support always gives us an extra push.”

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“We didn‘t deliver a perfect race today. We wanted to be on the podium, so we definitely have work to do for next week, but at the same time there are positives to take away from this race. Maverick had a very good start and opening lap. It‘s a shame he couldn‘t hold on to the top 3 in the middle of the race. We had an expected drop of the rear tyre that remained constant until the end. Because of that, he lost contact with the front riders. Had he been just a little bit closer to the front riders, he would have been able to join the battle at the end, because his pace in the last five laps was really good. We think we can do better next weekend, but looking at the bigger picture, Maverick finished in front of two of his three key rivals in the championship today. Thanks to this he gained a position in the overall standings and is just 12 points from the top now. So, the championship fight is far from over. We will do whatever it takes to improve our performance for the next round.”

Razlan Razali – Petronas SRT Team Principal

“That wasn’t among the better race days for the team so we need to analyse what happened in the MotoGP race, that way we can figure out the best way to approach next weekend’s GP. It is at the same circuit so this is going to be really important to do. Franco still managed to finish today’s race sixth, which was a good effort from him. It is a shame that Fabio finished outside of the points, but he did have a big crash yesterday and a tyre pressure issue today. These things happen in racing, we just need to learn from it and come back better next weekend.”

Mike Leitner – Red Bull KTM Race Manager

“Firstly the positive aspect of today is that we had three riders in the points but, generally, we’re not so happy because we didn’t make the top ten and we could not make the most of the tires. We need to put our heads together to make better results and get better performance next weekend.”

Hervé Poncharal – Red Bull KTM Tech3 Team Manager

“We knew it was going to be a tough race for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 MotoGP team and it was a difficult one. On the grid, we decided to switch for a medium front and keep the soft rear. The grid positions were far from ideal, the start was average, so of course we were quite far back after the first laps. The four KTM’s were following each other and the pace was very similar in between the four guys, but we could never really close the gap to the guys in front, so we just managed to stay in between 11, 12 and 15. At the end of the race, Iker was 14th and Miguel 16th. This is not the result, we were hoping for, although Iker had a steady race. I think he was quite strong, the pace was interesting and he was following Miguel until Miguel’s rear tyre completely dropped. He was on the back of Aleix Espargaro and the two factory KTM’s, but he didn’t want to do anything stupid the last five, six laps and just brought the bike home in 14th position. But I think today he showed again, that he’s got the pace of a proper MotoGP rider. He learned a lot and I’m quite proud of Iker today. On the other side of the garage, it’s a shame, because Miguel is fast, he is working hard and is very focused and then we just couldn’t do anything the last 10 laps, because our rear tyre was completely gone. There was nothing he could do, just stay on track and see the chequered flag. It’s a weekend to forget, but I’m quite sure as we saw in Misano, KTM was quite far back and in the second round we were much more competitive and I’m pretty sure next week is going to be a different story. Let’s have a rest tonight, a steady Monday and Tuesday, thinking about what to do for the next weekend. I’m pretty sure, the race release of Aragon two will be happier and more positive than this current one.”

Piero Taramasso – Michelin

“The Michelin Grand Prix is a special event for us and today produced a great race and another winner, we have now had four different manufacturers win a race this season, which shows our tyres are producing results for many different types of motorcycle and rider. It has overall been a difficult weekend again due to the very cold temperatures. The asphalt was below 10°C on Friday morning and it is always a big demand for the riders to try to generate and keep heat in those conditions. We did advise how to use the tyres, but the organisers took the decision to delay all the sessions and today’s race, which was the best thing to do for all the classes. With the warmer afternoons it made tyre choice interesting today and we saw four of the six specifications used. They all performed well and despite all the difficulties faced this weekend – both on and off the track – we are pleased with the weekend from a racing point-of-view. We will now stay here for another race next weekend and the forecast seems to be better, so we plan to improve further and push for records.”

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 MotoGP Race Results

MotoGP World Championship Standings

2020 MotoGP Calendar

Source: MCNews.com.au