- 2020-11-09
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ MotoGP European: Joan Mir Takes Maiden MotoGP Victory at Valencia
MotoGP European watched the Championship leader Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar) took his maiden MotoGP victory at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.
This result marks Joan Mir holds a 37 point advantage with just two races to go.
His teammate Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) was 2nd, which is back-to-back podium following Teruel GP. Pole sitter Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM) took 3rd, which is his fourth podium of 2020.
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) finished 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively.
Beginning of the race, Pol Espargaro led the race ahead of Alex Rins and Joan Mir. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha) crashed on the opening lap, but he re-joined the race quickly.
Alex Rins overtook Pol Espargaro at the Turn 11 on the 2nd lap. Followed by, Joan Mir passed Pol Espargaro on lap 4.
On lap 17, Joan Mir moved up to the 1st position when Alex Rins made a mistake on the run into Turn 11. Afterwards, Joan Mir kept the top position and received the chequered flag.
Fabio Quartararo finished 14th, and kept the 2nd position of the Championship with 125 points.
For Valentino Rossi (Monster Yamaha), his first race since returning from COVID-19 ended in lap five with a technical issue with his Yamaha.
Joan Mir said, “I'm super happy. This is what I was missing. I think that this came at the perfect moment. The team did an unbelievable job this weekend and I felt really good with the bike. I wanted to wait a bit to overtake him (Alex Rins). But you never know when is the best time and I seized the opportunity. That was the key to victory. We've had a very good weekend. Now we need to be more intelligent than ever. Even with this victory the championship is not over, but I'm in a much better position than Friday. If I'm not able to fight for the win, scoring points will be enough.”
Gran Premio de Europa Race Results- Joan Mir / Suzuki Ecstar / 41m 37.297s
- Alex Rins / Suzuki Ecstar / +0.651s
- Pol Espargaro / Red Bull KTM / +1.203s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / +2.194s
- Miguel Oliveira / Red Bull KTM Tech3 / +8.046s
- Jack Miller / Pramac Ducati / +8.755s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / +10.137s
- Andrea Dovizioso / Ducati Team / +10.801s
- Johann Zarco / Reale Avintia / +11.550s
- Danilo Petrucci / Ducati Team / +16.803s
- Franco Morbidelli / Petronas Yamaha / +17.617s
- Stefan Bradl / Repsol Honda / +24.350s
- Maverick Viñales / Monster Yamaha / +25.403s
- Fabio Quartararo / Petronas Yamaha / +39.639s
- source : MotoGP
