Welcome back to Austria...I mean Styria. Just like F1 had a double header at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, MotoGP’s fifth round of the 2020 season is being held a week after the Austrian Grand Prix. It is the Styrian Grand Prix this weekend and just like the previous round, unpredictability is the name of the game. MotoGP’s qualifying superstar and current championship leader Fabio Quartararo faltered badly.
Pol is on pole
Yeah, that is a very bad, but also an obvious pun as factory KTM rider Pol Espargaro took pole position for the Styrian GP. It wasn’t an entirely unexpected outcome given how much KTM has improved the RC16 and the bike’s straight line speed and brake performance makes it well suited to the Red Bull Ring. However, given his two consecutive crashes in the last two races, there was a lot of pressure on the Spaniard. Especially as his teammate Brad Binder scored KTM’s first ever MotoGP win at Brno and was fourth in last week’s Austrian GP.
The real pacesetters?
KTM taking pole at the Austrian manufacturer’s home circuit is obviously big news. However, one would do well to keep an eye on the riders classified fourth and seventh. The Suzukis of Joan Mir and Alex Rins were setting consistently fast times in the fourth practice session when riders focus on race pace. Given Mir’s second place finish last week, he could become a factor late in the race for the Styrian GP too. Not to mention, with Johann Zarco’s pit lane start penalty, Mir will start the race from third. Alex Rins’ heroics after his opening round injury could give Suzuki a strong double points finish if he makes it to the end of the race. He was fourth in Brno and had set the fastest lap of the race last week before he crashed out.
Take a bow Taka
Takaaki Nakagami, while riding a year old Honda RC213V, has really stepped up for Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) in Marc Marquez’s absence. Marquez is still recovering after his opening round crash, but Nagakami is sixth in the championship with 37 points. That is 30 points behind the championship leader but just 11 points behind Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales who is third. Nakagami fell 0.022 seconds short of stealing pole position from Espargaro and giving HRC something to cheer about in an otherwise miserable season so far.
Leaders under the radar
The two championship leaders will start the race eighth and ninth after qualifying ninth and tenth. Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo qualified just tenth, breaking his streak of 12 consecutive front row starts in MotoGP. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, who is just 11 points behind Quartararo in the standings, qualified just ninth. Ducati has won every MotoGP premier class race held at the Red Bull Ring since the track was first used in MotoGP in 2016. The ‘Bologna bullet’ is very well suited to the high speed blast and heavy braking, but there are a lot of obstacles between Dovizioso and victory. He won last week thanks to some luck while Quartararo was only eighth. Depending on how riders deal with tyre degradation in the hot conditions, the championship standings could be shaken up a bit more.
from ZigWheels https://ift.tt/2CNuEKm
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