MotoGP 2020: Spanish Grand Prix Pre-Race Talking Points

It’s here, it’s finally here. MotoGP fans came so close and yet so far from seeing the premier class riders get their season underway in Qatar in March. But the COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas. Well, we are well and truly back to racing now. Fabio Quartararo took pole in the opening round of the 2020 MotoGP championship, the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. The Petronas Yamaha SRT rider was ahead of the factory Monster Energy Yamaha team bike of Maverick Vinales and the Repsol Honda bike of Marc Marquez. 

It gives us a lot to talk about, so here are some of the major talking points that emerged from the first qualifying session of the year.

The New Normal

Yes, we all are tired of hearing this term by now, but we seem to have gotten a very clear indicator of what the new normal will be in MotoGP for now and the immediate future. Fabio Quartararo will be headed to the factory Yamaha team next year to join Maverick Vinales, but the 21 year old Frenchman has already been given the same specification bike as Vinales and Valentino Rossi this year.

Yamaha are keen to have the strongest rider line up possible to break Marquez’s stranglehold on the MotoGP’s premier class. And the results of the qualifying session seems to indicate they are on the right track. Marquez versus Quartararo and Vinales appears to be the immediate future of MotoGP. The Honda is not the easiest bike to ride - just ask Jorge Lorenzo - and Alex Marquez is likely to agree. Alex was 1.5 seconds off Quartararo’s pole time while his more illustrious elder brother Marc was just 0.157 seconds off in third place. Honda appears to have taken the right decision to send Alex Marquez to the satellite LCR Honda team and drafting KTM’s Pol Espargaro.

The right choice

Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) have definitely made the right choice for 2021 by getting the aforementioned Pol Espargaro to partner Marc Marquez at Repsol Honda. Espargaro was seventh fastest in qualifying, over seven tenths slower than Quartararo but just 0.039 seconds slower than Cal Crutchlow’s LCR Honda. The experienced Crutchlow is the only rider other than Marquez who has a good handle on the Honda RC213V. Espargaro being this close to Crutchlow on a KTM RC16 that is nowhere near Yamaha and Honda is an encouraging sign for HRC. Putting all their eggs in Marc Marquez’s basket in order to win the manufacturer’s crown makes HRC vulnerable to Yamaha and possibly Ducati. Having two strong riders capable of podiums will make life much easier for them.

Nowhere to hide

With the season starting in Jerez, a track that the MotoGP teams know well, the form book that has emerged in qualifying and what will happen on race day is how things truly stand in MotoGP. Normally the season starts with ‘flyaway’ races outside of MotoGP’s European base that doesn’t give a true indicator of the pecking order. With the season starting in Jerez and staying there for next week, we will see riders and teams be ranked as per their true potential. The 13 rounds that have been planned for the season so far are all in Europe in order to maintain a COVID-19 free ‘bubble’ as much as possible. It will be a truly unique season.