The opening rounds of the 2020 championship have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aragon Grand Prix, scheduled in the original calendar on October 4 as the sixteenth race of the season, was brought forward by a week following the initial postponement of the Thailand Grand Prix (later cancelled on July 31) on the first Sunday in October (the Thailand stage was initially scheduled for 22 March as the second leg of the championship). Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the aborted opening round in Qatar, prompting the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme to draft a new calendar. A new calendar based exclusively in Europe was announced on 11 June. The race in Aragon was placed on 18 October as the tenth GP of the season.
In the manufacturers' standings, Yamaha leads with 170 points, ahead of Ducati with 151 points. KTM is third with 125 points, seven more than Suzuki. Honda is fifth with 99 points and Aprilia closes the standings with 32 points.
Stefan Bradl replaced Marc Márquez for the eighth straight race while he recovered from injuries sustained in his opening round crash.[1][2]
Valentino Rossi tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus on 15 October, requiring him to quarantine for a minimum of 10 days according to Italian law and forcing him to miss the Aragon and Teruel rounds. Yamaha confirmed that they would not field a replacement for Rossi at the Teruel round on 25 October.
As Rossi and Marc Márquez missed the race, it was the first time since the 1999 Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix that no current or former premier class champion lined up on the grid.[3]
Free practice
MotoGP
In the first session Maverick Viñales was the fastest ahead of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo.[4] The Spaniard confirmed his first position in the second session, while the Petronas Yamaha SRT bikers swapped positions.[5] In the third session Morbidelli was the fastest ahead of Cal Crutchlow and Pol Espargaró.[6]
^Yamaha scored 183 points as a manufacturer, but were deducted 50 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[13]
^Petronas Yamaha SRT riders scored 202 points, but the team was deducted 37 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[13]
^Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders scored 167 points, but the team was deducted 20 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[13]
