2020 MotoGP reached the fourteenth of fifteen rounds with the second outing in a week at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia. For the second time in seven days gentle Spanish sunshine graced race day and the 23-lap sprint.
Friday and Saturday produced varied weather conditions with showers and a damp track for qualification. Romano Fenati and Alonso Lopez filled 14th and 21st positions respectively on the grid after Q1 and Q2 sessions yesterday. On Sunday morning Lopez made a typically rapid start and gathered places to circulate on the fringe of the top ten. The young Spaniard was then hit by bad luck as he crashed on the final corner with Gabriel Rodrigo.
Fenati filled part of the fourth group. The Italian had a busy race trying to keep at the front of the tussle for 12th and finally emerged triumphant for those 4 points. He is 11th in the championship standings and can still mathematically rise to 9th spot with a maximum of 25 points left to win.
The 2020 series comes to a conclusion with the very first visit to the undulating and technical circuit of Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal next weekend.
Romano Fenati: “I couldn’t find the same speed as I did in Free Practice and Qualifying and we don’t know why at the moment. It is something we need to look at because the set-up was good but we missed something on the start straight and it was hard to overtake. We have to be focused on Portimao now and give our best there.”
Alonso Lopez: “I was stronger today than I was on Friday or Saturday. That’s encouraging because we improved and we were looking at the top ten until I had some contact with Rodrigo on the last turn. I’m sorry for the team. We could have taken some points today but it wasn’t to be.”
Max Biaggi, Team Principal: “We lost some potential because of the qualification and we knew it would be difficult to come back to the front group. We had an issue with Romano and although he got some points we were expecting a bit more while Alonso had a crash. We have one more chance to finish 2020 in a positive way.”
Results – 2020 Moto3 FIM World Championship, Round 14
1. Tony Arbolino (Honda) 38:17.462, 2. Sergio Garcia (Honda) +1.142, 3. Raul Fernandez (KTM)+1.297, 12. Romano Fenati (Husqvarna) +14.513, DNF. Alonso Lopez (Husqvarna)
Championship standings – After round 14
1. Albert Arenas (KTM) 170pts; 2. Ai Ogura (Honda) 162pts; 3. Tony Arbolino (Honda) 159pts; 11. Romano Fenati (Husqvarna) 77 pts; 23. Alonso Lopez (Husqvarna) 21