2020 was an unbelievable year for MotoGP. We saw nine unique winners, including five riders who took their first ever premier class wins. We saw rookies on the podium. We saw the rise of KTM, continuous engine struggles for Yamaha, and late-race dominance from the Suzuki team. So it should come as no real surprise that the final race of 2020 was filled with surprises and unique storylines, as we said farewell to the most complicated season in recent memory.
Another reason for an eclectic finale was the location. Portimao is a circuit never before raced on by Grand Prix machines, and while there had been some testing previously and two day’s worth of data collected between practice sessions and qualifying, no-one could really say what was going to happen when the lights went out on Sunday afternoon. Would there be a tyre drop off? When would it occur? What was the correct tyre choice? Where were the optimal overtaking locations? Who would have the best pace?
That last question was answered almost instantly. Miguel Oliveira, local hero and satellite KTM sophomore, got an incredible launch from pole position to take the lead early doors and proceeded to disappear into the sunset. The Portugese rider had unbelievable pace all race, maintaining a steady lead over his pursuers and never really looking in doubt for the win. Unlike his first MotoGP win in Styria. where he snatched victory in the final corner after a desperate lunge from Jack Miller, this was a dominating win the likes of which we usually see from Marc Marquez. It was an incredible display of consistency and control, and showed real maturity on Oliveira’s part.
The only riders who came remotely close to challenging him were Miller and Morbidelli, who took the remaining spots on the podium. Miller finally extracted his revenge after missing out on the win in Valencia by snatching second place from the Italian in the dying moments of the race, and finished his 3-season stint with Pramac Ducati with back-to-back podiums. Morbidelli’s third place was enough to secure second place in the championship, and though he did lose the battle with Miller he should still be commended as far and away the best Yamaha rider of the weekend. They may have been eclipsed somewhat by the sheer dominance of Oliveira, but both riders had an exceptional race.
Morbidelli’s challengers for the runner-up position surrendered rather meekly come race day. Suzuki’s Alex Rins was the main opposition, and he struggled for form all race and came across the line a peculiar fifteenth. Quartararo and Vinales once again failed to impress compared to the 2019 model Yamaha of Morbidelli, finishing fourteenth and eleventh respectively. The only one of Morbidelli’s threats who did particularly well was Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, who finished sixth in what may be his last race as a full time MotoGP rider. The Italian took just his sixth top 6 result of the season, and said farewell to the factory Ducati team ahead of his sabbatical in 2021.
There were other titles to be won outside of the rider’s championship. Brad Binder took the rookie of the year award despite crashing out on the fifth lap, with Alex Marquez unable to claw back enough points to take the trophy. The manufacturer’s championship was taken by Ducati thanks to a poor final round for Suzuki and the penalties awarded to Yamaha a few weeks prior. For a season as dramatic as 2020, it was a surprise to see so many titles decided with a whimper rather than a bang, but credit must be given where credit is due, and all of the award winners in the premier class were deserving of their accolades.
It was a rough weekend for Suzuki. After winning the world championship in Valencia, Mir spent his first week as champion struggling to match the pace of his cohort. He qualified in twentieth, got a poor start, and was forced to pit after an early collision with Bagnaia. In addition to this, as mentioned previously, his teammate Rins scored one of his worst results of the season in fourteenth. For a bike that has been described as the best bike of the 2020 grid, and for the winning team of this year’s team championship, it was a thoroughly underwhelming result, and one they will hope to quickly forget as we move into the testing phase for 2021.
For Yamaha, it was yet another case of the many versus the one. Morbidelli was on fire all weekend and continued to prove his strength on the 2019 model. Rossi, Vinales and Quartararo all struggled to find any real form on the 2020 bike and scored a combined eleven points. This is a big warning sign for the Japanese factory ahead of their off-season testing: they need to bring a more competitive bike for next year, or the other factories are going to wipe the floor with them. The fact that Morbidelli has been the most consistent rider of their line-up despite being on a year-old bike should be ringing plenty of alarm bells, and hopefully their issues are resolved by the time 2021 kicks off.
I cannot even begin to express how impressed I have been with the meteoric rise of the KTM factory this year. With three wins and eight podiums, plus three pole positions, this has been far and away the best season for the Austrian manufacturer since they joined the class back in 2017. The bike they have produced is consistently strong, with incredible cornering and with horsepower to keep pace with the heavy hitters like Honda and Ducati. 2021 will be an important year for them as they lose Pol Espargaro, who has spent the past four years helping turn the bike into the weapon it is today, but with two young stars on the factory team and the introduction of Danilo Petrucci to the Tech 3 satellite team, they should still have enough for a strong campaign, and potentially even a title challenge.
I could go into more detail on the other manufacturers, but I think I will save all that for a future blog post examining the season as a whole. For now, I simply want to end the season by saying farewell to both Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso. The two of them are old dogs of the sport, respected for their lengthy careers and consistent performances, and I think the paddock will sorely miss both riders. While we will likely see them both back at some point or another, Cal with his test role at Yamaha and Andrea attempting a return to full-time racing in 2022, it will be a quieter place without their larger-than-life characters on the grid.
The 2020 season is finished. No more races, no more practice session times to comb through, no more interviews and press conferences. In an unbelievable year, we managed to get fourteen races done despite the constant threat of a super virus, and it was an incredibly entertaining season at that. As for me, I already can’t wait for 2021 to kick off.
Solomon Talks Bikes 