Points and top rookie honors for Alex Marquez as Marc Marquez’s miraculous comeback is canceled.
245 days after the 2019 Valencia GP, the MotoGP World Championship was brought back to life at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España as the premier class made a welcome return to racing. Temperatures were again the main talk of the grid, the 53 ° C stretch as ambient temperatures rose above 30 ° C.
The tension on the grid was palpable as the reduced field of 20 drivers waited for the lights to go out. Marc Marquez’s race got off to a lightning-fast start and he quickly took the lead until a moment on lap 5 nearly ended his race, except for another marvel from Marquez. Marc dropped the job, drove back on track at incredible speed and produced one of the most impressive drives of his career when he dropped from 16th to 9.3 seconds. The Honda RC213V consistently drove in the medium to low 1’38s while the front ones were in the high 1’38s, and with its superior pace quickly closed the gap to the podium. Marc stormed through the field and joined the fight for second place with five laps ahead of Viñales, who was only a few meters ahead of him. Unfortunately, a vicious high squad at Turn 3 would end the dream comeback and result in a broken right humerus.
Alex Marquez did well on his MotoGP debut. The rookie stayed cool during the frantic start of the race and steadily worked his way forward. A calm head enabled him to avoid major mistakes and to learn from the experienced drivers around him. His patience was rewarded with a 12th place and top rookie honors on his MotoGP debut, a satisfactory result for Moto2 and the former Moto3 world champion.
The Repsol Honda Team wishes Marc Marquez, Cal Crutchlow and Alex Rins a speedy recovery. Marquez and Crutchlow will travel to the Universitari Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona, where they will be met by Dr. Xavier Mir and his team are to be operated on. Marc suffered a transverse diaphyseal fracture on his right humerus while the LCR Honda Team Brit who crashed in Warm Up suffered a small fracture on his left scaphoid. He will undergo an arthroscopy to insert a small fixation pin.
The third round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, the Andalusia GP, will take place next week from July 24th to 26th.