The 2020 MotoGP World Championship comes to an end this weekend (20-22 November) with the Portuguese MotoGP, which returns to the calendar after an eight-year absence. The host town, however, has changed from Estoril, where the competition was held until 2012, to Portimao. 

At the Portuguese event, Joan Mir will race his debut GP as World Champion after having been proclaimed this season’s victor last Sunday at the Valencia GP. The circuit at Portimao is 4.6 kilometres long with numerous slopes and blind turns and boasts a total of 15 bends (9 left and 6 right), all of which make it one of the most challenging tracks in the calendar. 

The fight for second place: ‘Morbydo’ vs Rins

Second place remains up for grabs with two candidates up head-to-head to fight for the honour, Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT), who is second in the standings with 142 points, and Alex Rins, who won at AragonGP (Suzuki), currently third, with four points less than the Italian. Both rivals are in a great state of form and have proved so by taking several victories and podiums over the last few races so it would be too risky to speak of a favourite. 

Suzuki wants the Triple Crown 

Besides the individual titles, the constructor’s championship is still at stake. After conquering the driver and team’s titles, Suzuki is on a mission to take this last honour thus achieving the coveted Triple Crown. Currently, they are tied with Ducati at 201 points in the standings.  

Best Rookie of the year  

The other title remaining to be awarded is that of “Best rookie of the year”. With 20 points more than Spaniard Alex Marquez (Honda HRC), the South African Brad Binder (KTM) has virtually one hand on the prize…unexpected surprises aside. 

Portuguese MotoGP: Suzuki.