The lightweight class will begin Saturday’s proceedings at 09:00 local time, with MotoGP™ FP3 and Moto2™ FP3 following at the same time they do on Friday. 12:35 is the time to tune in for qualifying as the Moto3™ riders head out for Q1, with their Q2 going green at 13:00. MotoGP™ FP4 takes place at 13:30 ahead of qualifying, Q1 for the premier class fires into life at 14:10, with the battle for pole position at the Italian GP getting underway at 14:35. Moto2™ qualifying starts at 15:05.
Last year’s Mugello round of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup was a stunner. Aren’t they all? – You say. Well yes, but what a stage, what a race, what a finish! It was Yuki Kunii who took victory by 0.031 seconds from eventual Cup Champion Can Öncü and less than a full second covered the top eleven across the line.
And this is also one of the reasons why Mugello is on MotoGP™ fans’ bucket lists. Other reasons? Well, Tuscany hosts fascinating cities, stunning mountains and lakes, breathtaking coastline, great weather, excellent wine, amazing cuisine, thousands of years of history and classic architecture… What more could you want from a holiday destination?
MotoGP™’s newest destination, the KymiRing, is edging ever closer to completion. Ticket sales have already started for the test in Finland on August 19th and 20th with work continuing at a rapid rate, whilst at the same time being environmentally friendly.
For the partisan crowd though, there’s more: Ducati were the ones who took the baton from the Rossi winning streak when they won with Casey Stoner in 2009, but they have won the last two too: in 2017 with Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) and last year with Jorge Lorenzo. It’s a venue the bike works well at, and it’s one that would provide the perfect stage for ‘DesmoDovi’ to fight back against Marquez. The Italian has a lot more points at this stage in the season than he had last year and the year before, so Marquez’s form aside, it makes for good reading. Can he cut his seven point deficit to the number 93’s Championship-topping 95 points? And can and will teammate Danilo Petrucci, on the podium in factory colours for the first time in France, get in the battle too?
The men with some momentum after Le Mans, however, are winner Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), newcomer to the front Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40), and Jorge Navarro (MB Conveyors Speed Up). Navarro has three podiums in a row now, and he’s chomping at the bit to go one better. Putting all the pieces together to perfection so far, a win can’t be too far away.
Records broken, five riders wide into Turn 1, thousandths deciding the podium…that’s what Moto3™ have to expect from the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley. Every season, it’s one of the most spectacular events on the calendar as the long, long main straight sees the masters of slipstreaming shuffle the order lap after lap.
Part of Dorna’s Road to MotoGP™ programme, the British Talent Cup will become the sole British Moto3™ Championship class. There will be two races at each event, nine supporting the British Superbike Championship (BSB) and a season highlight racing at the British Grand Prix. The provisional 2020 BTC calendar will start with a pre-season test in Spain in March, ahead of visits to ten different circuit configurations; Assen, Brands Hatch GP, Donington Park National and GP, Knockhill, Oulton Park, Silverstone National and GP, Snetterton and Thruxton.
Irishman Rhys Irwin, who had a tough race on Sunday, completed the top ten and headed a gaggle of seven more riders who crossed the line within a couple of seconds of each other: Ross Maguire, Corey Tinker, Zak Shelton, Torin Collins, Osian Jones, Harry Leigh and Jamie Davis.
After domination from Fenton Seabright in qualifying, it looked like Race 1 could be his to lose but it became a classic group fight at the front in Round 2 of the British Talent Cup, with Cameron Horsman taking to the top step in another solid performance from the now-points leader. Key rival and previous Championship leader Scott Ogden wasn’t far behind, however, and he made serious gains through the field after a tough qualifying to cross the line second. Seabright, after a tougher Round 1 at Silverstone, took his first podium of the year from pole.
