Motorland Aragon in Aragon, Spain, the autonomous community of the country, and it is located in Alcaniz, on the banks of the Guadalope River, in the province of Teruel. This is the setting for the tenth race of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, and will be the home of MotoGP for the next two races in the championship. This is the first of two races that will run at Motorland Aragon, including one, next weekend as well. Fabio Quartararo heats the brakes on his Petronas Yamaha, starting from pole position for the tenth time this season. Alex Rins did very well in a race simulation in Free Practice 4. He will be another one to watch as we are ready to get underway. Could it also be Suzuki and Joan Mir's day to finally win a MotoGP race? We are about to find out.
Who will master Motorland? Turn up the volume, and enjoy, MotoGP at Aragon, in Spain. Red lights, on. Red lights, out! Away we go! Cal Crutchlow gets a good launch and Jack Miller is scything his way up to the sharp end as we speak. 23 laps scheduled around Motorland Aragon for today's race. Franco Morbidelli, meanwhile, is the man who will lead this motorcycle race into the first corner. Morbidelli moves past team mate Fabio Quartararo. Morbidelli tries to hold the lead but runs wide, look. So, someone is going to challenge him right from lights out, here at Motorland.
It is a Yamaha 1-2-3 as Maverick Vinales also gets a flyer from the start of this motorcycle race. Vinales leads as Alex Rins slices his way past another rider. Rins has gained six spots in the opening lap, alone! Holy mackerel! He was shot out of a cannon and goes from tenth place to fourth. Joan Mir has lost spots on the Suzuki as he scraps with Takaaki Nakagami on the LCR Idemitsu Honda. Andrea Dovizioso has also had a good start aboard the factory Ducati. Joan Mir runs sixth and Jack Miller on one of the other Ducati's, the second of the Pramac bikes, is losing places.
Miller cannot get by Rins as they enter the Reverse Corkscrew for the first time. This corner is set up very much like the famous Corkscrew at Laguna Seca Raceway in California in the United States, but goes in the opposite direction. Lap two now and Andrea Dovizioso is challenging Alex Marquez on the inside, gets in the corner a little too hot, and Alex Marquez says "I'll have some of that, thank you very much, mate", and takes the spot right back from the Italian. Alex Rins moves past Franco Morbidelli and now he has Alex Marquez to deal with as well. The younger Marquez is showing his worth of being a MotoGP rider, just as his older brother, World Champion, Marc Marquez, is, although Marc Marquez continues to recover from injury that he suffered earlier in the season.
Rins moves to third on lap three. You never know what to xpect from Alex Rins except for the fact that the Spaniard is really fast. Fabio Quartararo registers the first fastest lap of the motorcycle race, uncorking a 1:48.606. Quartararo meanwhile, is catching Maverick Vinales who is leading the race on the factory Yamaha. But, it is game over for Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia. It has been an unmitigated disaster for the Italian on the #63 Pramac Racing Ducati. "Pecco" was scrapping with Miguel Oliveira for 16th spot, Oliveira on the #88 KTM for Red Bull KTM Tech3. He was caught out at corner number five.
Meantime, we look back to the front of the pack in this motorcycle race, and it remains a battle between Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez. Marquez has gone around Andrea Dovizioso and left him eating the Repsol Honda rider's dust. Lap six now, and Alex Marquez still has his hands full, this time, another Ducati, reeling in Marquez, and the man doing the chasing, look, is the Aussie, Jack Miller. Miller on the second of the Pramac Racing Ducati's, bike #43. He has the inside line, but Alex Marquez, he's a terrier, and he is going to nip at Miller's heels and say, "you don't have anything, sunshine. I'm coming right back by."
Takaaki Nakagami, the Japanese rider aboard the Idemitsu Honda, is going to try and make a move as well. Meantime, Maverick Vinales continues in the lead and gets pit board information, not that he could probably read it at 200 miles an hour plus while trying to control the motorcycle. But, he has Alex Rins right on his six, right on his rear wheel. Lap seven, and from the time split, we can see that Rins is actually quicker than Vinales, by 6/10ths of a second. 1:49.225 for Vinales, while Rins clocks in at 1:48.601. A ways to go yet. Still 17 laps left on the board. Anything can happen.
Rins is still chasing Vinales, and meanwhile, Franco Morbidelli has moved by Fabio Quartararo. Quartaro and Morbidelli both run wide on the pair of Petronas SRT Yamaha's, and in going wide, as they both do, Joan Mir on the Suzuki, picks up the bish bash bosh bonus, and gets two for the price of one! Hardy har har. Mir moves up to third, has his cake, and eats it as well, rubbing whipped cream in the collective faces of the SRT Petronas Yamaha boys. Our live championship points are displayed. Now, we have 16 laps to go. If the race, by surprise, ended now, we'd see this. Fabio Quartaro on 126 points leads the championship cup, but by five only, over Maverick Vinales on 121 and Joan Mir, tied on the same amount of points.
So, the two blokes in second place would be tied, and then, we see a further 22 point gap from the leader, Quartararo, to fourth place points man, Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso. It was a battle of who would be the king of the late brakers between the Petronas Yamaha boys. Sweeping down the back straight, Cal Crutchlow passes Danilo Petrucci for tenth spot. Rins is moving up and Alex Marquez is catching Fabio Quartararo hand over fist. Alex Rins, look, moves right past Maverick Vinales for the lead of this motorcycle race.
Joan Mir also continues closing up. So, we might just have a Suzuki 1-2 before long. Alex Marquez has moved past Fabio Quartararo who continues to lead the World Championship but by even less now. More gray hairs, and no nails for Davide Brivio, Suzuki team boss. Suzuki had to wait 13 years until last time out, to have two bikes on the podium, after they last did so in 2007 at Misano. Marquez moves to the inside of Franco Morbidelli. The last time Suzuki has two bikes on a podium, in 2007, the riders were Australian Chris Vermuellen and American John Hopkins.
Morbidelli gerts dusted by Alex Marquez moving into fourth. Cal Crutchlow also wants by Fabio Quartararo. He will be in pain and his championship nwi;ll be throbbing as well. Quatararo, as it stands now, will be only a single point ahead of Joan Mir, 122-121, with Maverick Vinales six markers adrift at 116, and 17 points in-arrears, at 105, will be Andrea Dovizioso. 11 laps left in this motorcycle race at Aragon. Alex Marquez is a transformed rider, and the Honda as a motorcycle is getting better and better in 2020.
Honda has been one of the most amazing factory teams in MotoGP history. But, Suzuki is also a top contender. Here comes Vinales, sweeping around Mir, but Mir tries to go back around. He has the inside line, but Vinales slams the door in his face, however, Mir comes back. Mir makes it a Suzuki 1-2. Can Vinales hold on? The Yamaha is turning into an evil handling motorcycle right now. Can Maverick Vinales keep up the pressure? Alex Marquez is going to make a move on Vinales. Live points again, now show Mir at 125, four markers ahead of Quatararo at 121. Vinales is third on 112, 13 points adrift, and fourth is Dovizioso, on 105, 20 points out of the lead.
Alex Marquez dive bombs Vinales into the corner, but the Yamaha's are having a horrid time. Johann Zarco of all people, has just passed Fabio Quartararo. Remember the tear he went on earlier in the season? Well, the wheels may be coming off the wagon now. Alex Marquez looks to the inside of Joan Mir. We are on lap 18. Just five laps remain here at Motorland Aragon. Alex Marquez could still win this race. There's still time for him to make a convincing move on the Suzuki duo. In low grip conditions like we have here at Motorland Aragon, we are aware that the Honda does do a number on it's tires. Will the tires on that motorcycle hold out for the last six laps of the race?
Again, Suzuki boss Davide Brivio is getting nervous. He can barely watch what is going on with the race at the moment. Can Alex Marquez pounce on the Suzuki's? Will he? Through he goes there, look. Like a hot knife through butter, he makes the pass. The medium compound Michelin front tire will be doing much better in these conditions than the soft compound Michelin. There's no question of that. Marc Marquez has won at Motorland Aragon the last three years. Alex Marquez wants to keep his family's reputation going here at the Spanish circuit.
Their dad, Julian, can barely watch. Marc Marquez, recovering, at home in Severa, has to be keeping an eye on how his brother is doing. Down the back straight wre go, and with three laps left, it is Honda vs. Suzuki. Marquez is closing on Alex Rins. He's coming after Rins now, and he wiggles! He almost throws the motorcycle on the deck, but stays in the saddle! Unbelievable! It's the Alex and Alex show with two laps left here at Motorland Aragon. Marquez spun up the rear tire. We will have an eighth different race winner in MotoGP. It's crunch time. Alex Marquez is not giving up. Joan Mir will be the points leader, but Mir is in trouble and Maverick Vinales is closing for third spot.
Alex Marquez is coming in a hurry. Downhill into the reverse corkscrew for the final time. Alex Marquez will have to get close enough to get a slipstream on the Suzuki if he wants a chance at winning this race. Mir and Vinales are 3/10ths of a second apart. There will be a close finish for third spot, too. But as they come out of the last turn, can Alex Marquez drive far enough? Marquez wants it. He might not be close enough. Rins might just have this and he does! Alex Rins wins the race with Marquez second and Joan Mir rounding out the podium.
Maverick Vinales and Takaaki Nakagami round out the top five. Six through tenth, it is Franco Morbidelli, Andrea Dovizioso, Cal Crutchlow, Jack Miller, and Johann Zarco. Alex Rins takes Suzuki's first win of 2020.
#42 Alex Rins ESP. Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki GSX RR
We do it all again, here at Aragon, next weekend, for the Teruel Grand Prix. Joins us then, for the 11th of 14 races in MotoGP 2020. See you next weekend, for more from MotoGP. Bye for now.
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