Fabio Quartararo Andalusian Grand Prix Champion, Valentino Rossi Finish In Third Position

JAKARTA - Petronas Yamaha team racer Fabio Quartararo won his second victory in MotoGP after appearing dominant at the Grand Prix of Andalusia, at the Jerez Circuit, Spain, Sunday, July 26. The French rider converted his second pole position of the season to an easy win when defending champion Marc Marquez canceled his appearance due to injury.

Quartararo finished 4.495 seconds ahead of the Yamaha factory pair Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, who took the podium again after finishing runner-up in Texas last year, according to the official MotoGP website. Yamaha also swept the podium that day, a feat the Japanese manufacturer last celebrated on the 2014 Phillip Island podium.

Antara reported, Quartararo underwent the second series of the 2020 season without significant resistance because he had not been overtaken by his rivals since the start. At the age of 21 years 97 days Quartararo became the second youngest racer to win two consecutive premier class series after Marc Marquez (20 years and 154 days), then in Germany and the United States series in 2013.

This man will take some stopping in 2020! 😎 @ FabioQ20 does the double in Jerez! 🥇🥇 # AndaluciaGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/cD995DZDIl

- MotoGP ™ 🏁 (@MotoGP) July 26, 2020

The drama took place after the start when Miguel Oliveira (KTM Tech 3), who won his best starting position in P5, failed to survive the first corner because he was involved with rookie KTM Factory Racing team Brad Binder, causing the Portuguese racer to knock off his bike. Bradley Smith was also forced to avoid the incident.

Vinales tried to steal the lead but went wide towards the end of the first lap until Rossi who was behind him took the gap for P2. The first five laps of Quartararo were able to keep quite a distance, 3 seconds ahead leaving Rossi and Vinales and a large group of rivals.

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Slowly The Doctor was able to widen the distance, while Vinales was threatened by the Pramac Racing team duet. With 15 laps remaining Francesco Bagnaia launched his attack to overtake Vinales, one lap later his team-mate, Jack Miller again beat the Yamaha rider who quickly lost his position.

Congratulations from @ ValeYellow46 to the podium men! 🤝Astonishingly, that is Rossi's 199th premier class podium! 🤯 # AndaluciaGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/n3bzpnhG63

- MotoGP ™ 🏁 (@MotoGP) July 26, 2020

Vinales looked overwhelmed with his Yamaha M1 when the satellite Yamaha team rider Franco Morbidelli easily passed him. Unfortunately for Miller, however, he fell at Turn 9 when Bagnaia was one lap later overtaking Rossi when his former mentor went wide.

The reliability of the Yamaha engine became a problem when Morbidelli, who was stalking Rossi for the podium, ran into a technical problem and stopped his bike nine laps from the end. Rossi and Vinales fought each other for third place seven laps before finishing, when in P2 the Bagnaia motorbike seemed to be emitting smoke from its exhaust.

The Ducati rider numbered 63 finally gave up on the sidelines to miss his first podium opportunity. A double failure for the Pramac Racing team. Rossi endured all out to block Vinales who loomed behind. But in the last two laps, Vinales found a gap when Rossi went wide to take P2 to finish ahead of his team-mate.

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