MotoGP™: Morbidelli becomes 2020’s fifth different winner as records tumble in Italy

The Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, Round 7 of the 2020 MotoGPTM World Championship in Italy, was won by Franco Morbidelli. The Petronas Yamaha SRT rider celebrated his maiden premier-class victory on the Misano podium with Francesco Bagnaia (2nd, Pramac Racing) and Joan Mir (3rd, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR). The day’s top three featured three different tyre pairings and as many different bikemakers to provide an eloquent illustration of the MICHELIN Power Slick range’s outstanding versatility.  

With his Yamaha sitting on hard and medium MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear, Morbidelli got away well from second on the grid and took advantage of his tyres’ excellent grip to defend top spot all the way to the chequered flag. He laid the foundations for his maiden MotoGPTM success with a sequence of quick, consistent laps and posted his best effort on the 15th of the race’s 27 laps (1m32.748s) before crossing the line in a total time of 42m2.272s, three seconds faster than the previous record for the circuit established in 2018 by Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (42m5.426s).

Morbidelli is the fifth different rider to have won one of this season’s six grands prix to date and the fourth to have claimed his first-ever victory at this level after Petronas Yamaha SRT team-mate Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Racing Factory) and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3).

Second in Italy was Bagnaia (hard and soft MICHELIN Power Slicks front and rear) who scored his first top-three finish of the year just five weeks after suffering a fractured tibia in the Czech Republic. Having qualified sixth, he clocked his best time on Lap 8 (1m32.706s) and eased past Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) to go second with seven laps remaining.

Rossi (medium MICHELIN Power Slicks) showed good form all weekend and fed off the support of the 10,000 spectators authorised to attend the race to put third-placed Mir under pressure during the last lap but ultimately had to settle for fourth.

Alex Rins (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) rounded out the top five, chased by pole-sitter Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) – who established a new track lap record in qualifying (1m31.411s) – and Dovizioso. 

Five of the seven Michelin tyre specs available at Misano were selected for the race, with numerous riders changing their minds at the last minute as the track temperature soared to 42°C for the start. Only the soft and asymmetric hard variants weren’t employed but the exceptional grip provided by the other options saw several riders record their fastest time late into the race.

With Fabio Quartararo failing to finish, Dovizioso (76 points) has moved to the top of the provisional championship order, ahead of the French youngster (70) and Jack Miller (64).

Next round: Gran Premio TISSOT dell'Emilia Romagna e della Riviera di Rimini, Misano, Italy (September 18-20).