MotoGP™ – Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) maiden MotoGP™ win.

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We may have been forced to wait until the middle of July to see MotoGP™ bikes tearing around a racetrack competitively in 2020, but boy has it been worth the wait. Before Sunday at the Gran Premio de Europa, eight winners had emerged from 12 races. Now, Championship leader Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) has made it nine to equal 2016’s tremendous tally.

It’s been a fascinating year in so many ways on track, and it began with Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) doing the double in Jerez. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) then sprung an almighty surprise in Brno to hand himself and KTM their first MotoGP™ win before Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) continued Ducati’s 100% win record in Austria. That soon went though, Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) became the first Portuguese premier class winner and gave Tech3 their first MotoGP™ victory in an epic last corner, last lap battle at the Red Bull Ring.

The MotoGP™ circus then headed to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli as two more winners stood tall. The first of those was Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) as the Italian landed his dream MotoGP™ win on home soil, with Yamaha counterpart Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) getting the business done a week later. That made it six winners in the opening seven races and after Quartararo’s Barcelona brilliance, Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) made a welcome return to the top step in MotoGP™’s first wet race since Valencia 2018 at Le Mans.

Two encounters at MotorLand Aragon came immediately after and seven days post-Petrucci’s victory, number eight came along. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) fought off Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) for home glory, bringing the Suzuki rider back into the title frame. Morbidelli then secured a phenomenal second win of the season as MotoGP™ descended into the final three races of 2020, with the title hanging in the balance.

However, Mir’s Sunday performance at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo was nothing short of spectacular. A title-winning worthy performance as the premier class sophomore brushed the monkey off his back to win his first MotoGP™ race, extending his Championship lead to 37 points with just two races remaining. One hand on the trophy? You bet.

Nine winners in 12 races is simply staggering. Back in 2016, we were treated to nine different winners as Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Iannone, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Viñales and Jack Miller all stood on the top step. In 2016 we had four first-time winners – we’ve gone one better than that this year. Anyone thinking that could have been repeated this before Jerez season was either lying or has a crystal ball no one knows about. 2020 has been staggering and the best part about it is, we could genuinely have a 10th and 11th before we pack up on Sunday in Portimao.

Valencia podium finisher Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Pramac Racing’s Miller and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) are the riders you could probably argue strongest for when picking a 10th winner, but there’s more. Alex Marquez has claimed two podiums this year, Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) has a podium this season, Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) too and the likes of Rossi and Crutchlow already have Grand Prix wins to their name. If Marc Marquez comes back, there’s another phenomenal candidate for a race win.

We’ve run out of superlatives to describe the 2020 season. Nine different winners on four different types of machinery is testament to how competitive every rider and every factory is in this day and age of pinnacle two-wheel Grand Prix racing. Mir is on cloud nine and now has the chance to wrap the title up before the Portuguese Grand Prix in next weekend’s second Valencia helping. Will a 10th winner in 13 races rise highest though? It’s impossible to predict, but it’s absolutely possible.

GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA

MotoGP Race Classification 2020.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	155.8	41’37.297
2	20	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	155.8	+0.651
3	16	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	155.8	+1.203
4	13	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	155.7	+2.194
5	11	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	155.3	+8.046
6	10	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	155.3	+8.755
7	9	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	155.2	+10.137
8	8	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	155.2	+10.801
9	7	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Esponsorama Racing	Ducati	155.1	+11.550
10	6	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	154.8	+16.803
11	5	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	154.7	+17.617
12	4	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	154.3	+24.350
13	3	12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	154.3	+25.403
14	2	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	153.4	+39.639
Not Classified
		32	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	145.6	2 Laps
		73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	155.1	4 Laps
		53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Esponsorama Racing	Ducati	151.0	14 Laps
		63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	152.6	22 Laps
		35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	151.9	22 Laps
		46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	151.3	23 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia		0 Lap

MotoGP World Standing 2020.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Joan MIR	Suzuki	SPA	162
2	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	FRA	125
3	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	125
4	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	121
5	Franco MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	ITA	117
6	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	117
7	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	106
8	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	105
9	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	92
10	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	90
11	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	77
12	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	76
13	Johann ZARCO	Ducati	FRA	71
14	Alex MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	67
15	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	58
16	Francesco BAGNAIA	Ducati	ITA	42
17	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	27
18	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	27
19	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	26
20	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	16
21	Bradley SMITH	Aprilia	GBR	12
22	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	10
23	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	4
24	Lorenzo SAVADORI		ITA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

MotoGP™ – Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) maiden MotoGP™ win.

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GRAN PREMIO DE EUROPA

MotoGP World Standing 2020.

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