2020 European motorcycle Grand Prix

The 2020 European motorcycle Grand Prix (officially known as the Gran Premio de Europa) was the thirteenth round of the 2020 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season and the twelfth round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship. It was held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste on 8 November 2020.

  2020 European Grand Prix

Race details
Race 13 of 15 races in the 2020 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	8 November 2020
Official name	Gran Premio de Europa
Location	Circuit Ricardo Tormo Cheste, Valencia, Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.005 km (2.489 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position Rider Pol Espargaró KTM Time 1:40.434 Fastest lap Rider Brad Binder KTM Time 1:31.884 on lap 22 Podium First Joan Mir Suzuki Second Álex Rins Suzuki Third Pol Espargaró KTM
Moto2
Pole position Rider Xavi Vierge Kalex Time 1:38.936 Fastest lap Rider Héctor Garzó Kalex Time 1:35.584 on lap 4 Podium First Marco Bezzecchi Kalex Second Jorge Martín Kalex Third Remy Gardner Kalex
Moto3
Pole position Rider John McPhee Honda Time 1:52.252 Fastest lap Rider Albert Arenas KTM Time 1:39.030 on lap 7 Podium First Raúl Fernández KTM Second Sergio García Honda Third Ai Ogura Honda

Background

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The opening rounds of the 2020 championship have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix have been cancelled or postponed following the interruption of the opening round in Qatar, prompting the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme to draft a new calendar. A new calendar based exclusively in Europe was announced on 11 June. The organizers of the Valencian Community Grand Prix have signed a contract with Dorna Sports, owner of the commercial rights of the sport, to host a double stage at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, becoming the fifth circuit to host two consecutive races of the World Championship, and is the third time it takes place in Spain. But unlike the other double events of the season, the original Grand Prix will be preceded by the round introduced by the new calendar. The name chosen is that of the European Grand Prix, which returns to the world championship for the first time since 1995.

MotoGP Championship standings before the race

After the eleventh round at the Teruel Grand Prix, Joan Mir leads the drivers' standings with 137 points, 14 more than Fabio Quartararo and 19 more than Maverick Viñales. Franco Morbidelli, after the victory in the Teruel stage, gains two positions and is fourth with 112 points and has three points against Andrea Dovizioso, now fifth.

In the constructors' classification, following the 50-point penalty imposed on Yamaha for failing to comply with the protocol that requires unanimous approval from the Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association (MSMA) for technical modifications (Yamaha would have changed valve specifications between the freezing of the homologation just before the abandoned round in Qatar and the opening round at Jerez), Ducati is the new leader with 171 points, followed by Suzuki at 163 points and Yamaha, which has lost the championship lead and now third at 158 points. Honda and KTM are fourth and fifth respectively at 143 and 117 points, while Aprilia closes the standings with 36 points.

In the team standings, Team Suzuki Ecstar leads with 242 points. Petronas Yamaha SRT and Monster Energy Yamaha, following the penalties of 37 and 20 points for technical modifications on their bikes, are respectively second (with 198 points) and fifth (with 156 points), the latter relegated by one position and overtaken by KTM Factory Racing by only one point. Ducati Team is third with 180 points.

MotoGP Entrants

• Stefan Bradl replaced Marc Márquez for the tenth straight race while the latter recovered from injuries sustained in his opening round crash.[1][2]

• Aprilia test rider and former World Superbike rider Lorenzo Savadori has been announced to replace Bradley Smith for the final three rounds in Valencia and Portugal, subsequently excluding Andrea Iannone from a start in 2020.

• Iker Lecuona is forced to miss the European Grand Prix due to Andorran quarantine rules, after his brother and assistant both tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Tech3 elected not to replace him on such short notice.

• After delays to Valentino Rossi's SARS-CoV-2 recovery, Yamaha World Superbike rider Garrett Gerloff was announced initially to replace Rossi at the European Grand Prix. Gerloff completed the Friday sessions of free practice, before two subsequent negative tests from Rossi allowed him to return to the paddock beginning with the third practice session on Saturday.

Free practice

MotoGP

The first session, held in wet conditions, Jack Miller was the fastest ahead of Franco Morbidelli and Stefan Bradl.[3] In the second session, on a dry track, Miller confirmed his leadership in the standings ahead of Aleix Espargaró and Morbidelli.[4] The third session, held in wet conditions, Johann Zarco set the best time ahead of Maverick Viñales and Takaaki Nakagami.[5]

Combined Free Practice 1-2-3

The top ten riders (written in bold) qualified in Q2.

Pos.	No.	Bikers	Constructor	Free practice times
				FP1[6]	FP2[7]	FP3[8]
1	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1:42.063	1:32.528
2	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia	1:43.461	1:32.620	1:42.957
3	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1:42.530	1:32.804	1:42.831
4	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1:43.230	1:32.866	1:41.071
5	44	Pol Espargaró	KTM	1:42.841	1:32.952	1:42.506
6	42	Álex Rins	Suzuki	1:43.521	1:33.157	1:41.779
7	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1:42.584	1:33.259	1:43.534
8	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1:42.959	1:33.292	1:42.009
9	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1:44.791	1:33.337	1:43.234
10	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1:43.728	1:33.405	1:41.864
11	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1:43.009	1:33.410	1:40.743
12	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1:43.925	1:33.463	1:41.285
13	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1:42.877	1:33.483	1:41.352
14	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	1:42.566	1:33.504	1:41.884
15	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1:43.572	1:33.515	1:41.193
16	73	Álex Márquez	Honda	1:42.654	1:33.570	1:41.589
17	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1:42.639	1:33.739	1:40.007
18	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1:42.700	1:33.775	1:42.824
19	32	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	1:44.527	1:35.661	1:42.301
20	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1:44.448	1:36.690	1:42.547
21	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha			1:41.642
OFFICIAL MOTOGP COMBINED FREE PRACTICE TIMES REPORT

Fastest session lap

Personal Best lap

Notes

• Garrett Gerloff participated in the first two sessions having been initially chosen by Yamaha as a replacement for Valentino Rossi (his best times were in FP1 1:43.645, in FP2 1:34.107).

In the fourth session Miguel Oliveira was the fastest ahead of Joan Mir and Miller.[9]

Qualifying

MotoGP

Pos.	No.	Biker	Constructor	Qualifying times		Final grid	Row
				Q1[10]	Q2[11]
1	44	Pol Espargaró	KTM	Qualified in Q2	1:40.434	1	1
2	42	Álex Rins	Suzuki	Qualified in Q2	1:40.475	2
3	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	Qualified in Q2	1:40.530	3
4	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1:40.821	1:40.577	4	2
5	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	Qualified in Q2	1:40.704	5
6	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia	Qualified in Q2	1:40.893^1	9^2	3
7	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	Qualified in Q2	1:40.893^1	6	2
8	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1:40.771	1:41.328	7	3
9	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	Qualified in Q2	1:41.557	8
10	33	Brad Binder	KTM	Qualified in Q2	1:41.781	10	4
11	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	Qualified in Q2	1:41.943	11
12	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Qualified in Q2	1:42.249	12
13	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	1:41.010	N/A	13	5
14	73	Álex Márquez	Honda	1:41.276	N/A	14
15	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1:41.310	N/A	Pit lane^3
16	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1:41.311	N/A	15	5
17	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1:41.395	N/A	16	6
18	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1:42.039	N/A	17
19	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1:42.244	N/A	18
20	32	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	1:42.532	N/A	19	7
21	53	Esteve Rabat	Ducati	1:43.030	N/A	20
OFFICIAL MOTOGP QUALIFYING RESULTS

Notes

• ^1 – Aleix Espargaró and Jack Miller set identical times in Q2; Aleix Espargaró was classified ahead as he set his lap time before Miller.
• ^2 – Aleix Espargaró received a 3-place grid penalty for ignoring blue flags.
• ^3 – Maverick Viñales received a penalty for the start of the pit lane for changing the engine and mounting the sixth of the season.

Warm up

MotoGP

In the warm up, Joan Mir was the fastest ahead of Aleix Espargaró and Jack Miller.[12]

Race

MotoGP

Pos.	No.	Biker	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	27	41:37.297	5	25
2	42	Álex Rins	Suzuki	27	+0.651	2	20
3	44	Pol Espargaró	KTM	27	+1.203	1	16
4	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	27	+2.194	3	13
5	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	27	+8.046	7	11
6	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	27	+8.755	6	10
7	33	Brad Binder	KTM	27	+10.137	10	9
8	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	27	+10.801	12	8
9	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	27	+11.550	4	7
10	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	27	+16.803	18	6
11	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	27	+17.617	8	5
12	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	27	+24.350	13	4
13	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	27	+25.403	Pit lane	3
14	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	27	+39.639	11	2
Ret	32	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	25	Electronics	19
Ret	73	Álex Márquez	Honda	23	Accident	14
Ret	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	13	Mechanical	20
Ret	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	5	Accident	16
Ret	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	5	Accident	15
Ret	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	4	Engine	17
Ret	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia	0	Accident	9
Fastest lap: Brad Binder (KTM) – 1:31.884 (lap 22)
OFFICIAL MOTOGP RACE REPORT

Moto2

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	72	Marco Bezzecchi	Kalex	25	40:06.441	5	25
2	88	Jorge Martín	Kalex	25	+1.941	6	20
3	87	Remy Gardner	Kalex	25	+3.553	4	16
4	33	Enea Bastianini	Kalex	25	+4.494	15	13
5	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	25	+4.648	8	11
6	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	25	+5.142	7	10
7	40	Héctor Garzó	Kalex	25	+5.224	9	9
8	11	Nicolò Bulega	Kalex	25	+8.104	10	8
9	97	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	25	+8.746	1	7
10	9	Jorge Navarro	Speed Up	25	+11.930	19	6
11	44	Arón Canet	Speed Up	25	+12.451	20	5
12	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	25	+13.209	22	4
13	23	Marcel Schrötter	Kalex	25	+13.585	16	3
14	64	Bo Bendsneyder	NTS	25	+15.528	14	2
15	62	Stefano Manzi	MV Agusta	25	+19.284	21	1
16	42	Marcos Ramírez	Kalex	25	+20.085	27
17	57	Edgar Pons	Kalex	25	+21.512	23
18	27	Andi Farid Izdihar	Kalex	25	+22.965	12
19	12	Thomas Lüthi	Kalex	25	+24.769	13
20	19	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Kalex	25	+34.173	25
21	99	Kasma Daniel	Kalex	25	+44.355	24
22	74	Piotr Biesiekirski	NTS	25	+59.450	28
Ret	22	Sam Lowes	Kalex	18	Accident Damage	3
Ret	35	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex	9	Accident	26
Ret	24	Simone Corsi	MV Agusta	5	Accident	18
Ret	21	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Speed Up	2	Accident	11
Ret	16	Joe Roberts	Kalex	1	Accident	2
Ret	55	Hafizh Syahrin	Speed Up	1	Accident	17
DNS	37	Augusto Fernández	Kalex		Did not start
DNS	96	Jake Dixon	Kalex		Did not start
OFFICIAL MOTO2 RACE REPORT

• Augusto Fernández suffered a foot injury in a crash during practice and withdrew from the event.
• Jake Dixon suffered a fractured right wrist in a crash during practice and withdrew from the event.

Moto3

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	25	Raúl Fernández	KTM	23	38:29.140	2	25
2	11	Sergio García	Honda	23	+0.703	7	20
3	79	Ai Ogura	Honda	23	+1.005	8	16
4	14	Tony Arbolino	Honda	23	+1.037	17	13
5	40	Darryn Binder	KTM	23	+13.392	9	11
6	99	Carlos Tatay	KTM	23	+13.424	13	10
7	82	Stefano Nepa	KTM	23	+16.719	24	9
8	52	Jeremy Alcoba	Honda	23	+16.824	29	8
9	12	Filip Salač	Honda	23	+16.964	15	7
10	71	Ayumu Sasaki	KTM	23	+17.088	26	6
11	54	Riccardo Rossi	KTM	23	+17.344	6	5
12	16	Andrea Migno	KTM	23	+17.467	11	4
13	55	Romano Fenati	Husqvarna	23	+17.589	16	3
14	53	Deniz Öncü	KTM	23	+18.191	27	2
15	2	Gabriel Rodrigo	Honda	23	+18.358	12	1
16	6	Ryusei Yamanaka	Honda	23	+18.441	30
17	92	Yuki Kunii	Honda	23	+19.128	18
18	50	Jason Dupasquier	KTM	23	+19.583	20
19	9	Davide Pizzoli	KTM	23	+27.457	23
20	70	Barry Baltus	KTM	23	+27.836	22
21	73	Maximilian Kofler	KTM	23	+31.328	21
22	89	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda	23	+31.661	25
23	13	Celestino Vietti	KTM	23	+1:20.533	3
Ret	23	Niccolò Antonelli	Honda	16	Accident	31
Ret	27	Kaito Toba	KTM	16	Power Loss	10
Ret	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	13	Accident	19
Ret	7	Dennis Foggia	Honda	13	Accident	14
Ret	5	Jaume Masiá	Honda	9	Accident	28
Ret	17	John McPhee	Honda	4	Accident	1
Ret	21	Alonso López	Husqvarna	2	Accident Damage	5
DSQ	75	Albert Arenas	KTM	10	Black flag	4
OFFICIAL MOTO3 RACE REPORT

• Albert Arenas was black flagged for irresponsible riding.

Championship standings after the race

Below are the standings for the top five riders, constructors, and teams after the round.[13][14][15]

MotoGP

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Joan Mir 162 2 Fabio Quartararo 125 3 3 Álex Rins 125 1 4 Maverick Viñales 121 1 5 Franco Morbidelli 117

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 1 Suzuki 188 1 2 Ducati 181 3 Yamaha 163[lower-alpha 1] 4 KTM 159 5 Honda 130

Teams' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Team Suzuki Ecstar 287 2 Petronas Yamaha SRT 205[lower-alpha 2] 3 Ducati Team 194 4 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 182 5 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 159[lower-alpha 3]

Moto2

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 1 Enea Bastianini 184 1 2 Sam Lowes 178 3 Luca Marini 165 4 Marco Bezzecchi 155 5 Jorge Martín 125

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Kalex 325 2 Speed Up 117 3 MV Agusta 32 4 NTS 11

Teams' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 SKY Racing Team VR46 320 2 EG 0,0 Marc VDS 240 3 Red Bull KTM Ajo 210 4 Italtrans Racing Team 189 5 Liqui Moly Intact GP 136

Moto3

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Albert Arenas 157 2 Ai Ogura 154 3 Celestino Vietti 137 2 4 Tony Arbolino 134 1 5 Jaume Masiá 133

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Honda 281 2 KTM 277 3 Husqvarna 82

Teams' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Leopard Racing 202 1 2 Valresa Aspar Team Moto3 192 1 3 SKY Racing Team VR46 188 4 Rivacold Snipers Team 164 2 5 Red Bull KTM Ajo 158

Notes

1. Yamaha scored 213 points as a manufacturer, but were deducted 50 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[16]
2. Petronas Yamaha SRT riders scored 242 points, but the team was deducted 37 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[16]
3. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders scored 179 points, but the team was deducted 20 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[16]

References

1. "Stefan Bradl joins Alex Marquez in Brno while Marc Marquez recovers". Honda Racing Corporation. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
2. "Marc Marquez to miss another MotoGP". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
3. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
4. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 2 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
5. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 3 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
6. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 1 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
7. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 2 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
8. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 3 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
9. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Free Practice Nr. 4 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
10. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 1 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
11. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
12. "GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA MotoGP Warm Up Classification 2020" (PDF). www.motogp.com.
13. "MotoGP Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 8 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
14. "Moto2 Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 8 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
15. "Moto3 Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 8 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
16. "Yamaha handed penalties, no effect on rider points". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2020-11-05.

External links

• "MotoGP Official Website". Retrieved 1 November 2020.