Teruel GP Preview: The battle for the title continues in Spain

After an Aragon GP dominated by the Spaniards, the MotorLand Circuit will be hosting its second consecutive round of the World Championship; the Teruel GP.

It is hard to know what to expect for the eleventh round of the season. Most likely some sort of repetition of last week’s great show, when the Championship produced its eight different winner over ten races. 

Meanwhile, ‘The Fantastic Four’ continue in their fight to lead the standings. Joan Mir (Suzuki), Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Maverick Viñales (Yamaha) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) are separated by a mere 15 points ahead of Teruel GP. 

Suzuki: Favourites with Rins and Mir  

Given the circumstances, it is very hard to predict what is going to happen next Sunday. Suzuki’s show of force at the previous race, however, has positioned them as the strongest rivals. 

Álex Rins took an unexpected victory last week, coming back from tenth to first and onto sealing the third triumph of his MotoGP career. Third place went to his teammate, Joan Mir, who managed to dethrone Fabio Quartararo from the leadership of the standings. 

Honda and Alex Marquez  

Alex Marquez will also be under the spotlight this weekend at the Teruel GP. The # 73 faces the appointment determined to at least repeat the second place that he obtained in the same track a week ago. Remember that it could be his third podium after French GP & Aragon GP.

His progressive adaptation to the untameable RC213V has translated into a significant performance leap over the last few races. Meanwhile, his brother Marc continues with his convalescence and will be replaced once more by a grey Stefan Bradl. 

Yamaha: Hoping to make some ground in hostile territory 

Yamaha, for its part, must make up for the fiasco suffered in this same scenario last week. The fourth place of the official M1 of Maverick Viñales was their best result. 

At the Aragon GP, he started in second place and, although he managed to take the lead at the beginning, he then lost ground to finish off the podium. But at least he didn’t lose everything and currently stands at only twelve points behind the leader of the standings.The Catalan must improve at the Teruel GP. 

The outcome was much worse for Fabio Quartararo. The star from Petronas SRT’s low form was inexplicable. He started from pole and finished in eighteenth place, giving away the lead. 

It could have been even more damaging to the Frenchman, however. Thankfully for Quartararo, his great adversary – and favourite – for the title, Mir, was only third behind Rins and Marquez in the previous round. 

His partner in the Malaysian team, Fabio Morbidelli, had high expectations for the Aragon GP but these were frustrated with a highly unsatisfactory sixth place. The Italian will be thirsty for more this Sunday. 

Finally, the last pilot of the factory team, Valentino Rossi, continues on leave after catching COVID19 in what has been a season to forget for the star. 

Ducati & ‘Dovi’: Trying to keep their heads above the water 

Ducati rider, Andrea Dovizioso, closes the group of the four title hopefuls, all of which are just 15-points apart. Last week, the Italian and his bike were clearly struggling at MotoLand, a circuit neither Dovi nor Italian bike has ever been fond of. 

Despite this, he managed to stay afloat with a respectable seventh place, the best result for the red bullets. In any case, this is bound to be another difficult weekend for the rider from Forli and there is a chance he might lose the bid for the title at the Teruel GP. The Desmosedicies have only ever had one triumph in MotorLand in 2010 with Casey Stoner. 

Regarding Pramac Racing riders, Pecco Bagnaia and Jack Miller, neither of them showed signs of improving their performance at the Aragon GP. Last week, the Italian crashed out and the Australian finished ninth. 

Images of Teruel GP: Suzuki,

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