Domestic Racing Returns While MotoGP Edges Closer To Crowning A Champion

Indian Motorsport

The 2020 MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship season finally resumed at the MMRT in Chennai. Arjun Balu continued from where he left off in Race 1 by taking his third consecutive win this season for Race Concepts, with Keith D’Souza and reigning champion Dhruv Mohite finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Race 2, however, saw Jeet Jhabakh take his first win of the season and Dhruv Mohite take a 1-2 for FB Motorsport. Arjun Balu limped home to 3rd with gearbox issues. The final race of the weekend saw Keith D’Souza take top honours with Arjun Balu second and Dhruv Mohite rounding off the podium.

Off-track, another racetrack for India is in the works in the form of the Pista Motor Raceway. Located at Dundigal in Telangana, the circuit, comprising a 3.7km layout and 16 corners, is slated to be completed by May 2023. This is the second of three new circuits planned for India.

Baja Portalegre

Hero MotoSports took top honours at the Baja Portalegre with Sebastian Buhler leading the charge. Teammate Joaquim Rodrigues followed Buhler home in 2nd to make it a Hero MotoSports 1 and 2 for the Baja Portalegre. This is Buhler’s second Baja win of the year and in the process, he’s also won the 2020 FIM Cross-Country BAJAs World Cup. Overall, it was a strong preparation for Dakar 2021 that is slated to be conducted from January 3-15, 2021, in Saudi Arabia.

MotoGP 

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The European Grand Prix at Valencia saw Suzuki’s Joan Mir finally take his long-anticipated maiden win in the premier class. And it was a closely contested one as the championship leader had a great getaway from 5th and immediately began chasing down teammate Alex Rinz for the win. A mistake from Rinz on Lap 11 saw Mir take the lead and hold onto it until the chequered flag to become the 9th different winner in the 2020 season. It was also Suzuki’s first 1-2 finish since 1982. Pole sitter Pol Espargaro took the final spot on the podium for KTM. 

With the Yamaha squad and Fabio Quartararo having yet another implosive weekend, it’s now a Suzuki 1-2 in the riders’ standings with Joan Mir holding a 37-point lead over Alex Rinz with only two rounds to go. MotoGP will return to Circuit Ricardo Tormo next week with the season concluding the following week at Portimao.

F1

 

While there wasn’t any on-track action, it has been announced that Saudi Arabia will be hosting a night street race at Jeddah for the 2021 Formula One Championship. There are also reports that the provisional 2021 calendar will consist of 23 races including the street race in Jeddah. Meanwhile, a series of changes to the race weekend format for the F2 and F3 championships were announced. The changes include each round being a three-race format with fewer race venues to save costs. This also means that F2 and F3 together may not be able to run alongside F1 during the race week.  

BRDC British F3

Last week also saw the 2020 BRDC British Formula 3 season come to a close at Silverstone with Kush Maini taking 2nd overall in the drivers’ standings for Hitech GP.  While the Indian driver kept a consistent form early on in the weekend by qualifying 2nd and finishing 3rd in Race 1, the Indian driver’s championship aspirations vanished in Race 2 as the Indian driver finished 17th and last. That said, the Indian driver did make up ground in the final race to finish 6th. But it wasn’t enough to overhaul the points gap to Kaylen Frederick and in the end, settling for the runners up spot. That said, it was a strong championship fight for Kush Maini all season long.