Motorcycle Grand Prix Andalusia 2020: The fastest Viñales in the MotoGP qualification. But…

Fabio Quartararo (MotoGP), Marco Bezzecchi (Moto2) and Tatsuki Suzuki (Moto3) won pole positions in the Andalusian Grand Prix. Marc Márquez will not go.

The third race of this year’s World Motorcycle Championship series, like the second, takes place in Jerez, Spain. Respectively Andalusian, because the circuit and the city are located in this historic region in the south of the country. Thus, the race was logically named the Grand Prix of Andalusia. The company with this name has not yet figured in the history of the World Championship, however, due to the considerably modified calendar, it was necessary to call other races on the same circuits differently. He has to do without spectators again.

MotoGP

Marc Márquez is not missing in Andalusia. Together with Cal Crutchlow and Álex Rins, he received permission from the doctors to start. The operations of the two first-named broken men went quickly, the MotoGP riders are not out of cotton. However, the defending champion did not complete Friday’s program, he started today. The training was mastered by others.

The first belonged to Maverick Viñales (Yamaha), the second surprisingly to Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda). “Taka” flashed a lot and after a long time he drew considerable attention to himself. He was followed by Johann Zarco (Avintia Ducati) and Pol Espargaró (Aprilia), even though they encountered asphalt. Saturday morning’s free duel on the track was won by Maverick Viñales (Yamaha). The blue-silver suzuki with Álex Rins behind the handlebars did not appear on the track.

The fourth free practice lasts half an hour, following the Moto3 qualification. It’s nothing more, just looking for the optimal setting for qualification and testing combinations of soft, medium and hard tire compounds. Rins fought with a sore shoulder. he did not undergo the operation, he left, but only for a while. Tito Rabat had a technical problem with his ducati and did not leave until the middle of training. Nakagami proved that he is not fast in Jerez just by chance, six minutes before the end he found himself at the head and stayed on it! By the way, the asphalt had 55 degrees …

Marc Márquez gave up his first qualification, did not have any time in it and did not return to the track. He will not enter the race. Brother Álex fell at a higher speed and held his right arm, but he was not injured. In MotoGP, only the first pair advances to the Top 10 from training. Miguel Oliveira (Tech 3 KTM) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha) went on.

The battle for pole position was dominated by Viñales, Fabio Quartararo and the super-fast “Pecco” Bagnaia. Pol Espargaró fell in the second turn. Less than three minutes before the end, the fastest time was set by the French winner of the Spanish GP from the previous week. Nakagami got off the track in the last lap measured after an error. Maverick overcame Fabia, but the jury canceled his fastest lap due to non-compliance with the track limit, so the first Quartararo will start the race. Bagnaia will complete both opponents in the front row. The second is occupied by Valentino Rossi, Oliveira (!) And Morbidelli.

Moto2

Valentino Rossi’s team riders ruled for the first two mid-cubature trainings on Friday. First Marco Bezzecchi, then his teammate and winner of the Spanish GP Luca Marini. We don’t see fire in the top league of road motorcycle races so often. It was Bezzecchi who was caught by Kalex-Triumph after falling in a duck. Nevertheless, in FP2 he set the second time for “Vale “‘s half-brother. Saturday’s training was dominated by Jorge Martín.

The Moto2 qualification took place after MotoGP at the end of the program. Enea Bastianini, Xavi Vierge, Simone Corsi and Marcel Schrötter, from four, advanced from the first to the fourteen best in training. No big drama took place, only Somkiat Chantra drove off the track into the green zone before the finish and his motorcycle rippled decently.

In the battle for the highest rungs of the starting grid, Schrötter rode all the way to the barrier. Very soon the trio of Italians – Bezzecchi, Bastianini and Marini – fought for the fastest times. Three and a half minutes in front of the board, Sam Lowes managed to pull in, pushing himself into the middle of the front row. The former supersports world champion and champion of the British ones is once again a member of a top team with which he can ride in front. He won three GPs for Speed ​​Up and Gresini in the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Marco Bezzecchi won the qualification ahead of Lowes and Bastianini. Luca Marini takes off from the fifth place, overtaken by Jorge Navarro.

Moto3

Friday’s program traditionally began with training „Mototrojek” at nine in the morning. Our Filip Salač took third place in it, it was dominated by Raúl Fernández. The second free force measurement led to John McPhee, who had an incredible misfortune at the end of the race last week against aggressive opponents. Among the riders was already missing Alonso López, who ended up in the hospital due to health problems. He will not participate in the Grand Prix. Saturday morning’s training was dominated by Andrea Migno (VR46). Salač finally fell and came to the word stretcher due to a sore leg, her ligaments were torn at the knee. In the end, he did not advance directly to the second qualification.

But he took part in the first one. He moved to the tail, but in the end he advanced third in a brilliant conclusion with Carlos Tatay and the Japanese Yamanaka and Sasaki, who was the fastest of them all. Niccolò Antonelli watched the finals, led and thought he was very fast, so he drove to the garage. Bad luck, he finished sixth and didn’t go any further.

Filip set the fourth time in the pole position fight for the first time, but then dropped to the end of the top ten. The result list was dominated by this year’s probably the biggest surprise – Ai Ogura. The Tokyo native left nothing to chance and circled the circuit even when the others were resting before the end. Andrea Migno crashed dramatically in the last round. In the end, only Tatsuki Suzuki surpassed Oguru, who confirmed his current dominance in qualifiers, no one was better this year. The pair of Japanese will be joined in the first place by Gabriel Rodrigo. Salač finished fifteenth.

Sources: archive auto.cz, MotoGPsport.cz, Wikipedia, Nova Sport, MotoGP.com

Photo: Lukasz Swiderek