GP of Andalusia – Report of the GP of Andalusia: Quarta-Haro on the title! –

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Andalusia GP report: Quarta-Haro on the title !

GP of Andalusia - Report of the GP of Andalusia: Quarta-Haro on the title! -

He did it: Fabio Quartararo won his first double in MotoGP after an authoritarian breakaway at the Andalusian GP, ​​second round of 2020! The 21-year-old from Nice – the first Frenchman to win twice in a row in the premier class – poses as a serious candidate for the title, while Marc Marquez heals his wounds… Yamaha is also celebrating its hat-trick since 2014 with Viñales and Rossi on the Jerez podium. Report and results.

In the noticeable absence of Marc Marquez (forfeit for the first time since 2013), only 21 pilots take their place on the grid of the first Andalusian Grand Prix in history, which also marks an unprecedented "double" on the same circuit: it is here in Jerez (Spain) that Fabio Quartararo became the fourth French driver to win in the premier class last Sunday ! 

  • MNC of July 26, 2020:
  • MNC of July 22, 2020: 
  • MNC file : 

From the middle of the week, everything suggests that the Yamaha SRT rider is able to do it again given his pace during practice and his new pole position, the second in eight days. When the lights go out, "El Diablo" immediately applies the purity of its style and its superiority in terms of speed: the Yamaha n ° 20 takes the lead in front of Viñales, Rossi, Miller and Bagnaia. We won’t see her again !

Maverick Vinales – one of the few who can worry Fabio – tries to go and thwart his plans in the first round, to no avail: the 21-year-old from Nice easily thwarts the Spaniard’s attack, while Rossi takes advantage to steal second place from him. The excellent "French 20" then leaves the two official Yamaha on the spot: Fabio turns in a small 1’37, a few tenths from the race record, and forges a two second lead in just five laps !

Maverick Viñales, aware of the breakaway of his future team-mate, seeks the opening on Rossi to resume the leader’s wake. But the attempts of the Spanish stumble on the brakes of trapper of the Italian, who gives a good half a second in the lap to the French.

GP of Andalusia - Report of the GP of Andalusia: Quarta-Haro on the title! -

"Mack", less and less incisive, even ended up losing steam behind the n ° 46: Rossi in turn left a small margin on Viñales, Miller and Bagnaia, under the interested eye of Franco Morbidelli. The n ° 12, in loss of speed, yields successively to the attacks of Peco Bagnaia, Jack Miller and Franco Morbidelli.

While Quartararo passed the bar four seconds ahead of Rossi, Jack Miller lost the front of his Desmosedici GP20 Pramac! Without a doubt, the Australian has forced too much to follow his young teammate Francesco Bagnaia, who manages to come back and pass Valentino Rossi with 13 laps to go! Danilo Petrucci also finishes in the carpet on his official Ducati, just like Brad Binder.

Two successive breakdowns on the M1: there is fire at Yamaha !

To this hecatomb is added the high side of Miguel Oliveira in the first lap, then the loss of Iker Lecuona’s forward 19 laps from the finish: Pol Espargaro, 7th at 17.5 sec, will ultimately be the only one. KTM rider to cross the finish line! Bad operation also for Ducati, which sees successively Danilo Petrucci go to the mat then Francesco Bagnaia withdraw due to mechanical failure…

A real disappointment for "Pecco", who had qualified in third place. Miller’s teammate had a fantastic run in second place before his Ducati Pramac’s V4 emitted a sinister white smoke, heralding a similarly colored result.

Yamaha can also review its copy in terms of reliability: like Rossi last week, Franco Morbidelli had to give up due to a technical problem. The Italian-Brazilian, vying for the Top 5 before his failure nine laps from the finish, suddenly saw himself deprived of power and had to stop along the wall of the straight line. The scenario is in all points similar to that experienced by n ° 46 seven days before: something to worry about at Yam ‘…

Eight pilots "out" in Jerez: the Andalusian hecatomb !

Added to the fall of Aleix Espargaro on Aprilia, all his withdrawals bring to eight the number of abandons in the furnace of Jerez (36 ° C in the air and 59 ° C on the ground). Cal Crutchlow, who made a brave comeback despite his broken left wrist, also came close to retirement due to a problem with his Honda. The Briton finally saves 13th place after a brief stop in the LCR box: hats off to the artist! Ditto for Alex Rins, impressive 10th despite his dislocated shoulder.

GP of Andalusia - Report of the GP of Andalusia: Quarta-Haro on the title! -

Never worried during his breakaway, Fabio Quartararo for his part cut the finish line with 4.495 sec ahead of Maverick Viñales, victim of a mysterious "slack" in the middle of the race followed by a superb end of the race . The Spaniard managed to join and overtake Valentino Rossi in the last laps to steal second place on the podium, like last Sunday !

Yamaha thus records its first "hat-trick" since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, when Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Bradley Smith joined on the Phillip Island podium. An image that we had tended to forget these last three seasons, because of the recurring problems of traction and top speed of the M1.

The point (s) in the championship

 Thanks to his two victories in a row, Fabio Quartararo takes the reins of the provisional championship with ten points ahead of Maverick Viñales (50 pts against 40) … who must ask himself questions about his future cohabitation with "El Diablo" l next year ! 

“Oh my god: it was the race of my life!” Exclaims the young French winner as he dismounts his motorcycle. "I’m really happy because I managed to apply my pace the whole race, changing the maps and managing the tires well thanks to the hard work of the whole team. It was difficult, arguably the hardest race ever. my life. It’s amazing! "

"I couldn’t have done better, my tire was destroyed," said Maverick Viñales, who threw all his strength into the final battle to regain 2nd place from Rossi. The Spaniard is out of breath when the microphone is handed to him for his comments.

"I’m really, really happy," said Valentino Rossi, who is back on the podium for the first time since the GP of the Americas 2019. "The weekend got off to a much better start than last week and everything went smoothly. is then well chained: it is not like a victory, but not far ", estimates the man with 115 successes in Grand Prix. Remember that 20 years separate the Italian from the winner Fabio Quartararo !

The "Doctor" – who signs his 199th podium in the premier category – returns to sixth place in the provisional classification thanks to this third place which partly erases his sad performance last Sunday (retirement due to a mechanical problem). The Italian is preceded in the championship by Andrea Dovizioso (discreet 6th), Takaaki Nakagami (excellent 4th) and Pol Espargaro.

GP of Andalusia - Report of the GP of Andalusia: Quarta-Haro on the title! -

Johann Zarco appears in 9th place in the provisional standings, the same position as this Sunday in Jerez: the Frenchman can be delighted to have recovered from his distant 15th place on the grid, but must also be worried about his significant gap of 23.523 sec on the winner.

By way of comparison, the Cannes driver finished in 11th place last Sunday on the same circuit, 25.100 seconds behind his compatriot: the improvement is modest to say the least, and in any event insufficient. Not to mention that Johann again benefits from the many retirements in front of him to join the Top 10…

For Marquez, the 2020 title retains all its value in his absence

Finally, a word about the great absentee from this second race of the 2020 season: Marc Marquez, of course! The reigning champion finally surrendered to the pain and lack of strength in his right arm, after stealing everyone by getting back on the handlebars on Saturday, just four days after his operation for a fractured humerus !

 GP of Andalusia - Report of the GP of Andalusia: Quarta-Haro on the title! -

The Honda official – who suffered a 26G shock in his violent crash! – records his first "double zero" since his arrival in the premier class in 2013: "tonight I will sleep well because I tried and now I know what my body cannot achieve", commented the n ° 93 to DAZN, as the HRC announced its withdrawal after a few laps in qualifying.

"In my first run in Free Practice 3, I felt good: my pace on worn tires was even quite surprising, but when I got out, immediately I felt a big weakness in my elbow," he describes. "It was a nerve or something that immediately made me lose my strength, and now it gets dangerous".

“I did what I had been doing all week: follow my body. And my body at that point told me to stop. I stopped at the pit, I told Honda that I was going to try in qualifying Q1, but that if I had the same feelings I was going to give up. That’s what we did ".

40 push-ups with a fractured shoulder !

His demonstration of courage will nevertheless remain in the annals: Thursday afternoon, the wearer of the crown performed 40 push-ups in front of the circuit doctors during the medical check-up aimed at defining his ability to take the handlebars again. 40 push-ups with an arm fracture operated on just 48 hours before: respect.

Another quality to be attributed to Marc Marquez: his sportiness in difficulty. The Catalan was keen to make things clear about his absence and his impact on the championship, as HRC team manager Alberto Puig multiplied statements bordering on insulting about his superiority and the supposed lack of value of a security in its absence… 

"If you are a world champion, it is because you have done something better than the others," recalls Marc Marquez with common sense, aware of having played a game last Sunday. "As a competitor, you always like to fight against all your opponents and win a championship with each of them on the track. But if one of them gets injured, it’s not the fault of the champion and the value of his title is the same anyway ".

The next MotoGP race, the Czech Republic GP in Brno, is scheduled for August 7-9: stay tuned !

Andalusia MotoGP Grand Prix 2020 results

  1. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 41’22.666
  2. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha +4.495
  3. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha +5.546
  4. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda +6.113
  5. Joan MIR Suzuki +7.693
  6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati +12.554
  7. Pol ESPARGARO KTM +17.488
  8. Alex MARQUEZ Honda +19.357
  9. Johann ZARCO Ducati +23.523
  10. Alex RINS Suzuki +27.091
  11. Tito RABAT Ducati +33.628
  12. Bradley SMITH Aprilia +36.306
  13. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 1 Tour

Not classified

  • Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 6 Laps
  • Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 9 Tours
  • Brad BINDER KTM 13 Laps
  • Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 14 Laps
  • Jack MILLER Ducati 15 Tours
  • Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 17 Tours
  • Iker LECUONA KTM 20 Tours
  • Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 0 Lap

Provisional MotoGP classification 2020 

  1. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 50
  2. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 40
  3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 26
  4. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 19
  5. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 19
  6. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 16
  7. Jack MILLER Ducati 13
  8. Alex MARQUEZ Honda 12
  9. Johann ZARCO Ducati 12
  10. Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 11
  11. Joan MIR Suzuki 11
  12. Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 9
  13. Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 8
  14. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 7
  15. Tito RABAT Ducati 7
  16. Alex RINS Suzuki 6
  17. Bradley SMITH Aprilia 5
  18. Brad BINDER KTM 3
  19. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 3

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