2020 Styrian motorcycle Grand Prix

  2020 Styrian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 15 races in the 2020 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	23 August 2020
Official name	BMW M Grand Prix of Styria [1] [2]
Location	Red Bull Ring Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.318 km (2.683 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position Rider Pol Espargaró KTM Time 1:23.580 Fastest lap Rider Pol Espargaró KTM Time 1:23.877 on lap 4 Podium First Miguel Oliveira KTM Second Jack Miller Ducati Third Pol Espargaró KTM
Moto2
Pole position Rider Arón Canet Speed Up Time 1:28.787 Fastest lap Rider Marco Bezzecchi Kalex Time 1:28.687 on lap 4 Podium First Marco Bezzecchi Kalex Second Jorge Martín Kalex Third Remy Gardner Kalex
Moto3
Pole position Rider Gabriel Rodrigo Honda Time 1:36.470 Fastest lap Rider Ayumu Sasaki KTM Time 1:36.103 on lap 7 Podium First Celestino Vietti KTM Second Tony Arbolino Honda Third Ai Ogura Honda

The 2020 Styrian motorcycle Grand Prix (officially known as the BMW M Grand Prix of Styria) was a Grand Prix motorcycle racing race held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on 23 August 2020. It was the sixth round of the 2020 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season and the fifth round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship. It was the first running of the Styrian motorcycle Grand Prix, and was held exactly one week after the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix on the same track, due to the rescheduling of the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The race was also the 900th premier class race.

In a dramatic race, Miguel Oliveira of Red Bull KTM Tech3 won from Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) at the final corner, on the final lap to win his and his team's first MotoGP race. Oliveira is also the first Portuguese rider to win a Grand Prix race in the premier class. Oliveira's victory meant that ending the winning streaks for Ducati on Red Bull Ring - which is Ducati has won there 5 times.

For the first time since the 2016 Dutch TT, all classes were won by a first time winner in that class.

Background

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

See also: 2020 MotoGP season § Calendar changes as a reaction to COVID-19 pandemic, and COVID-19 pandemic in Austria

The opening rounds of the 2020 championship were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the aborted opening round in Qatar, prompting the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme to draft a new calendar. However, the Austrian Grand Prix was not impacted by this change and kept its original date.

Organisers of the race signed a contract with Dorna Sports, the sport's commercial rights holder, to host a second round at the circuit on 23 August (a week after the first race) to be known as the "Styrian Grand Prix". The race was named for Styria, the state of Austria that the Red Bull Ring is located in. The race was also the second time in the sport's history that the same venue and circuit layout hosted back-to-back World Championship races.

MotoGP Championship standings before the race

After the fourth round at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, Fabio Quartararo on 67 points, leads the championship by 11 points over Andrea Dovizioso with Maverick Viñales a further 19 points behind.

In Teams' Championship, Petronas Yamaha SRT with 98 points, lead the championship from Monster Energy Yamaha, who have 86. Ducati Team sit 10 points behind the factory Yamaha in third, and are 16 points ahead of fourth-placed KTM Factory Racing, who have 42 points, while Team Suzuki Ecstar sit 5th on 50 points.

MotoGP Entrants

Further information: 2020 MotoGP season § Rider changes

• Stefan Bradl replaced Marc Márquez from the Czech Republic round onwards while he recovered from injuries sustained in his opening round crash. ^{[3] [4]}
• Ducati test rider Michele Pirro replaced Francesco Bagnaia in Austria while he recovered from injuries sustained in a crash during practice at the Czech round.

Free practice

The first practice session ended with Jack Miller fastest for Pramac Racing ahead of Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso and Tech3's Miguel Oliveira. The second practice session ended with Pol Espargaró fastest, followed by Nakagami and Joan Mir.

Combined Free Practice 1-2-3

The top ten drivers (written in bold) qualified in Q2.

Pos.	No.	Bikers	Constructor	Free practice times
				FP1	FP2	FP3
1	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1:23.961	1:23.907	1:23.456
2	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1:24.381	1:24.643	1:23.607
3	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1:23.950	1:23.904	1:23.610
4	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1:23.863	1:24.774	1:23.610
5	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	1:24.324	1:24.060	1:23.617
6	44	Pol Espargaró	KTM	1:24.397	1:23.638	1:23.660
7	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1:23.898	1:24.118	1:23.725
8	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1:24.198	1:24.187	1:23.727
9	42	Álex Rins	Suzuki	1:24.628	1:24.009	1:23.754
10	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1:23.859	1:24.925	1:23.795
11	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1:24.251	1:24.427	1:23.798
12	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	No time	No time	1:23.879
13	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1:24.517	1:24.985	1:23.881
14	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	1:24.301	1:24.429	1:23.889
15	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1:24.699	1:24.378	1:23.950
16	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1:24.764	1:24.560	1:24.126
17	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	1:24.623	1:25.025	1:24.136
18	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1:24.508	1:24.807	1:24.296
19	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia	1:24.808	1:24.336	1:24.423
20	73	Álex Márquez	Honda	1:24.690	1:24.463	1:24.742
21	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	1:24.914	1:25.057	1:24.617
22	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1:24.806	1:25.221	1:25.047
OFFICIAL MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 1 REPORT
OFFICIAL MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 2 REPORT
OFFICIAL MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 3 REPORT

Fastest session lap

Personal Best lap

Free Practice 4

The first three positions of the session were as follows.

Pos.	No.	Rider	Constructor	FP4 Time
1	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1:24.450
2	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1:24.460
3	44	Pol Espargaró	KTM	1:24.523
OFFICIAL MOTOGP FREE PRACTICE 4 REPORT

Qualifying

MotoGP

Pos.	No.	Rider	Constructor	Qualifying times		Final grid
				Q1	Q2
1	44	Pol Espargaró	KTM	Qualified in Q2	1:23.580	1
2	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	Qualified in Q2	1:23.602	2
3	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1:23.609	1:23.632	PL 1
4	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	Qualified in Q2	1:23.678	3
5	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	Qualified in Q2	1:23.700	4
6	12	Maverick Viñales	Yamaha	Qualified in Q2	1:23.778	5
7	42	Álex Rins	Suzuki	Qualified in Q2	1:23.782	6
8	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	Qualified in Q2	1:23.797	7
9	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Qualified in Q2	1:23.849	8
10	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	Qualified in Q2	1:23.866	9
11	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	Qualified in Q2	1:24.021	10
12	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1:23.772	1:24.174	11
13	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	1:23.928	N/A	12
14	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1:23.932	N/A	13
15	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1:24.127	N/A	14
16	51	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1:24.273	N/A	15
17	73	Álex Márquez	Honda	1:24.370	N/A	16
18	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1:24.401	N/A	17
19	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia	1:24.416	N/A	18
20	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia	1:24.429	N/A	19
21	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	1:24.667	N/A	20
22	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	1:24.916	N/A	21
OFFICIAL MOTOGP QUALIFYING Nr. 1 REPORT
OFFICIAL MOTOGP QUALIFYING Nr. 2 REPORT

Notes

• ^1 – Johann Zarco received a pit lane start penalty for his involvement in an accident with Franco Morbidelli in the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix.

Warm Up

MotoGP

The first three positions of the session are as follows.

Pos.	No.	Rider	Constructor	Warm up times
1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1:24.126
2	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1:24.312
3	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1:24.353
OFFICIAL MOTOGP WARM UP REPORT

Race

Race Report (MotoGP)

Initial Race

The race was run in dry conditions despite the clouds looming. On the opening lap, Joan Mir got a fantastic launch from P3 to the lead the race from polesitter Pol Espargaro, with Miller also getting a great start from fourth on the grid. The Australian got past Espargaro by going up the inside at Turn 2. After running wide and gaining an advantage at Turn 1 on the opening lap Mir was forced to drop a position, thus Miller inherited the race lead. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo made a poor start, and dropped to P14 after running wide at Turn 1. Andrea Dovizioso made a solid start and was up to sixth on Lap 2. Takaaki Nakagami got past Pol Espargaro and the top three slowly pulling clear of the chasing pack.

Lap 5 saw Mir lead the race with Miller and Nakagami half a second clear of Pol Espargaro and Alex Rins and that gap kept climbing as the race went ahead. On Lap 8 the leading trio were 1.4 clear, with the Yamahas dropping down the field. With 14 laps to go, Viñales slowed down and held his hand up to suggest something was wrong with his YZR-M1. Viñales continued but the Spaniard jumped off his Yamaha at Turn 1 in what looked like a brake failure. His machine smashed into the air-fence at Turn 1 and going up in flames. Viñales was able to walk away and brought the red flags out as the race came to a halt, with a 12-laps to go.

Restart

The race began for a second time and Mir lead from pole, with Miller falling down from third. Pol Espargaro powered away from the line well but ran slightly wide into Turn 1, allowing Miller to regain position into Turn 2. Miller was leading Mir fought back on the exit but the Ducati rider held the inside line for Turn 6, with Nakagami dropping to seventh. With eight laps to go, Pol Espargaro set the fastest lap of the race. The KTM rider then made his move on Mir at Turn 3. Pol then attempted a pass up into Turn 1 but was wide, allowing Miller to pass and Oliveira and Mir to close in. Mir was then wide at Turn 4, allowing Dovizioso to grab fourth as Miller and Oliveira . The top five were close, however Mir and Dovizioso were about to drop off the pace slightly with Doviziosio running wide again at Turn 9.

Heading onto the last lap, this was between two KTMs and a Ducati. Pol led onto the last lap and got a good run out of the first corner but braked too much defensively. This compromised his exit and Miller made the move stick into the downhill right-hander. Miller held firm through the left-handers but Pol got the run up the hill and swerved to the inside and got underneath Miller. Miller braked late and dived underneath Pol. The duo went wide though and Oliveira, on his normal line, Oliveira got past Miller and Pol to seal a historic victory. Miller held onto second to pick up his second podium of the season, with Pol claiming P3.

Classification

MotoGP

The race, scheduled to be run for 28 laps, was red-flagged after 16 full laps due to an accident involving Maverick Viñales. The race was later restarted over 12 laps with the starting grid determined by the classification of the first part.

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	88	Miguel Oliveira	Red Bull KTM Tech3	KTM	12	16:56.025	7	25
2	43	Jack Miller	Pramac Racing	Ducati	12	+0.316	4	20
3	44	Pol Espargaró	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	12	+0.540	1	16
4	36	Joan Mir	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	12	+0.641	3	13
5	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	Ducati	12	+1.414	8	11
6	42	Álex Rins	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	12	+1.450	6	10
7	30	Takaaki Nakagami	LCR Honda Idemitsu	Honda	12	+1.864	2	9
8	33	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	12	+4.150	13	8
9	46	Valentino Rossi	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	12	+4.517	14	7
10	27	Iker Lecuona	Red Bull KTM Tech3	KTM	12	+5.068	12	6
11	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati Team	Ducati	12	+5.918	11	5
12	41	Aleix Espargaró	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	12	+6.411	19	4
13	20	Fabio Quartararo	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	12	+7.406	9	3
14	5	Johann Zarco	Esponsorama Racing	Ducati	12	+7.454	PL	2
15	21	Franco Morbidelli	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	12	+10.191	10	1
16	73	Álex Márquez	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	12	+10.524	16
17	35	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda Castrol	Honda	12	+11.447	17
18	6	Stefan Bradl	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	12	+11.943	20
19	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	12	+12.732	18
20	51	Michele Pirro	Pramac Racing	Ducati	12	+14.349	15
21	53	Tito Rabat	Esponsorama Racing	Ducati	12	+14.548	21
Ret	12	Maverick Viñales	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0	Did not restart	5
Fastest lap: Pol Espargaró (KTM) – 1:23.877 (lap 4)
Sources: [5] [6] [7]

Moto2

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	72	Marco Bezzecchi	Kalex	25	37:12.461	5	25
2 [N 1]	88	Jorge Martín	Kalex	25	-0.060	2	20
3	87	Remy Gardner	Kalex	25	+1.027	6	16
4	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	25	+1.974	3	13
5	12	Thomas Lüthi	Kalex	25	+3.230	7	11
6	97	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	25	+6.196	19	10
7	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	25	+8.634	12	9
8	96	Jake Dixon	Kalex	25	+9.005	13	8
9	40	Héctor Garzó	Kalex	25	+9.620	8	7
10	33	Enea Bastianini	Kalex	25	+10.051	15	6
11	23	Marcel Schrötter	Kalex	25	+10.238	21	5
12	16	Joe Roberts	Kalex	25	+14.857	14	4
13	11	Nicolò Bulega	Kalex	25	+17.968	10	3
14	62	Stefano Manzi	MV Agusta	25	+20.956	18	2
15	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	25	+21.189	23	1
16	42	Marcos Ramírez	Kalex	25	+21.497	17
17	19	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Kalex	25	+26.471	24
18	21	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Speed Up	25	+26.952	25
19	57	Edgar Pons	Kalex	25	+29.400 [N 2]	20
20	24	Simone Corsi	MV Agusta	25	+30.859	27
21	99	Kasma Daniel	Kalex	25	+43.828	30
22	5	Alejandro Medina	Speed Up	25	+55.353	29
23	27	Andi Farid Izdihar	Kalex	25	+1:00.005	22
24	64	Bo Bendsneyder	NTS	25	+1:10.576 [N 3]	26
Ret	77	Dominique Aegerter	NTS	19	Mechanical	28
Ret	37	Augusto Fernández	Kalex	14	Accident Damage	4
Ret	9	Jorge Navarro	Speed Up	2	Collision	9
Ret	35	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex	2	Collision	16
Ret	44	Arón Canet	Speed Up	1	Accident	1
DSQ	22	Sam Lowes	Kalex	4	Black flag	11
OFFICIAL MOTO2 RACE REPORT

• Sam Lowes was black flagged for riding in an irresponsible manner, after causing a collision with Jorge Navarro and Somkiat Chantra.

Moto3

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	13	Celestino Vietti	KTM	23	37:10.319	5	25
2	14	Tony Arbolino	Honda	23	+0.410	4	20
3	79	Ai Ogura	Honda	23	+0.938	8	16
4	2	Gabriel Rodrigo	Honda	23	+1.182	1	13
5	75	Albert Arenas	KTM	23	+1.380	9	11
6	40	Darryn Binder	KTM	23	+1.440	10	10
7	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	23	+1.478	3	9
8	25	Raúl Fernández	KTM	23	+4.265	2	8
9	82	Stefano Nepa	KTM	23	+6.937	16	7
10	11	Sergio García	Honda	23	+8.050	13	6
11	7	Dennis Foggia	Honda	23	+10.660	7	5
12 [N 4]	12	Filip Salač	Honda	23	+10.341	12	4
13	16	Andrea Migno	KTM	23	+14.381	22	3
14	5	Jaume Masiá	Honda	23	+14.421	18	2
15	6	Ryusei Yamanaka	Honda	23	+14.824	27	1
16	23	Niccolò Antonelli	Honda	23	+14.961	15
17	55	Romano Fenati	Husqvarna	23	+16.084	21
18	70	Barry Baltus	KTM	23	+17.553	30
19	50	Jason Dupasquier	KTM	23	+17.842	25
20	21	Alonso López	Husqvarna	23	+21.672	24
21	99	Carlos Tatay	KTM	23	+22.446	23
22	92	Yuki Kunii	Honda	23	+23.041	28
23	9	Davide Pizzoli	KTM	23	+27.533	26
24	73	Maximilian Kofler	KTM	23	+1:05.434	29
NC	27	Kaito Toba	KTM	23	+46.673 [N 5]	17
Ret	17	John McPhee	Honda	21	Accident	6
Ret	71	Ayumu Sasaki	KTM	18	Collision	19
Ret	53	Deniz Öncü	KTM	18	Collision	11
Ret	52	Jeremy Alcoba	Honda	13	Accident	14
Ret	54	Riccardo Rossi	KTM	2	Accident	20
OFFICIAL MOTO3 RACE REPORT

Championship standings after the race

Below are the standings for the top five riders, constructors, and teams after the round. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

MotoGP

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Fabio Quartararo 70 2 Andrea Dovizioso 67 4 3 Jack Miller 56 4 Brad Binder 49 2 5 Maverick Viñales 48

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 1 Ducati 87 1 2 KTM 82 1 3 Suzuki 57 1 4 Honda 46 4 5 Yamaha 38 [lower-alpha 1]

Teams' Championship standings Pos. Team Points 2 1 Ducati Team 92 2 2 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 84 1 3 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 73 [lower-alpha 2] 1 4 Team Suzuki Ecstar 73 1 5 Pramac Racing 69

Moto2

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Luca Marini 87 2 Enea Bastianini 79 3 Jorge Martín 79 1 4 Tetsuta Nagashima 68 2 5 Marco Bezzecchi 65

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Kalex 150 2 Speed Up 48 3 MV Agusta 15 4 NTS 9

Teams' Championship standings Pos. Team Points 1 Sky Racing Team VR46 152 2 Red Bull KTM Ajo 147 3 EG 0,0 Marc VDS 84 4 Italtrans Racing Team 79 1 5 Liqui Moly Intact GP 72

Moto3

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Albert Arenas 106 1 2 Ai Ogura 81 1 3 John McPhee 67 2 4 Celestino Vietti 66 2 5 Tony Arbolino 60

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 KTM 136 2 Honda 130 3 Husqvarna 17

Teams' Championship standings Pos. Team Points 1 Valresa Aspar Team 126 5 2 Sky Racing Team VR46 88 2 3 Honda Team Asia 81 1 4 Sic58 Squadra Corse 80 3 5 Leopard Racing 78

Notes

1. 1-position penalty for exceeding track limits on the last lap.
2. 3-second penalty.
3. 29-second penalty.
4. 1-position penalty for irresponsible riding.
5. Not classified due to finishing the race through pits.

1. Yamaha scored 88 points as a manufacturer, but were deducted 50 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols. ^[11]
2. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders scored 93 points, but the team was deducted 20 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols. ^[11]

References

1. "2020 MotoGP Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes | The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". www.progcovers.com.
2. "Red Bull Ring | The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". www.progcovers.com.
3. "Stefan Bradl joins Alex Marquez in Brno while Marc Marquez recovers". Honda Racing Corporation. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
4. "Marc Marquez to miss another MotoGP". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
5. "2020 Styrian MotoGP | Motorsport Database".
6. S.L, Dorna. "motogp.com · GP RESULTS - 2020 GRAND PRIX OF STYRIA MotoGP RAC Classification". motogp.com. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
7. "OFFICIAL MOTOGP RACE REPORT" (PDF). Retrieved 24 March 2023.
8. "MotoGP Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 23 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
9. "Moto2 Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 23 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
10. "Moto3 Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 23 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
11. "Yamaha handed penalties, no effect on rider points". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 5 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.

External links

• "MotoGP Official Website". Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2020.

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