42 ALEX RINS
1ST MOTOGP
"At the beginning of the season I really
struggled a lot, and since then the team and
I have worked so hard, and now we've won
and it feels amazing!" Rins said. "When I
was chasing down the riders in front of me, I
could feel that I had good pace and the bike
was working really well. I felt really relaxed
despite having Marquez and Joan close be-
hind, and I managed the pressure. It will be
tricky to replicate this again next weekend,
but for sure I will try my best!"
Running the medium front tire and soft rear, Mar-
quez was electric in the final half of the race. The
younger Marquez hunted down everyone except
Rins, using his far superior edge grip, especially in
the final corner, to ride past the world's best like he
belonged there. He very nearly got Rins with two
laps to go at the final bend, only to lose the rear and
nearly fling himself over the high side.
Mir, still without a race win in MotoGP, is now in
the title lead following his third place and a straight
up disaster for previous championship leader, Fabio
Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha).
After qualifying on pole, the bruised and battered
Frenchman (following two huge practice crashes),
Quartararo went on to finish 18th, his worst-ever Mo-
toGP result, after a mystery front tire pressure issue
saw him drop first out of the leading pack and then
out of the points entirely in 18th. "[I] couldn't brake,
couldn't turn, couldn't lean the bike. So, that's the
reason why I was going so wide and couldn't stop
the bike," he said.
Fourth in Aragon went to Vinales, just ahead of
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Idemitsu Honda), the first in-
dependent rider home. Rounding out the top 10 was
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha) in sixth, Andrea
Dovizioso (Ducati Team) in seventh, Cal Crutchlow
(LCR Castrol Honda), Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati)
and Johann Zarco (Esponsarama Ducati).
In the title chase, Mir now leads Quartararo 121-115,
Vinales is third with 109 and Dovi is fourth with 106.
They will be back at it again at Aragon, for the
Teruel MotoGP, next week.
MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 11 / OCTOBER 16-18, 2020
MOTORL AND ARAGON / TERUEL, SPAIN
P72
IIIMY OWN RACE:
Franco Morbidelli (21) fired
it up inside at turn one but
ran wide on the exit. He was
fourth by turn two.
