The 2020 Styrian motorcycle Grand Prix (officially known as the BMW M Grand Prix of Styria) was a Grand Prix motorcycle racing race held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on 23 August 2020. It was the sixth round of the 2020 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season and the fifth round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship. It was the first running of the Styrian motorcycle Grand Prix, and was held exactly one week after the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix on the same track, due to the rescheduling of the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The race was also the 900th premier class race.
In a dramatic race, Miguel Oliveira of Red Bull KTM Tech3 won from Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) at the final corner, on the final lap to win his and his team's first MotoGP race. Oliveira is also the first Portuguese rider to win a Grand Prix race in the premier class. Oliveira's victory meant that ending the winning streaks for Ducati on Red Bull Ring - which is Ducati has won there 5 times.
For the first time since the 2016 Dutch TT, all classes were won by a first time winner in that class.
Background
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The opening rounds of the 2020 championship were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. However, the Austrian Grand Prix was not impacted by this change and kept its original date.
Organisers of the race signed a contract with Dorna Sports, the sport's commercial rights holder, to host a second round at the circuit on 23 August (a week after the first race) to be known as the "Styrian Grand Prix". The race was named for Styria, the state of Austria that the Red Bull Ring is located in. The race was also the second time in the sport's history that the same venue and circuit layout hosted back-to-back World Championship races.
MotoGP Championship standings before the race
After the fourth round at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, Fabio Quartararo on 67 points, leads the championship by 11 points over Andrea Dovizioso with Maverick Viñales a further 19 points behind.
In Teams' Championship, Petronas Yamaha SRT with 98 points, lead the championship from Monster Energy Yamaha, who have 86. Ducati Team sit 10 points behind the factory Yamaha in third, and are 16 points ahead of fourth-placed KTM Factory Racing, who have 42 points, while Team Suzuki Ecstar sit 5th on 50 points.
MotoGP Entrants
Stefan Bradl replaced Marc Márquez from the Czech Republic round onwards while he recovered from injuries sustained in his opening round crash. Ducati test rider Michele Pirro replaced Francesco Bagnaia in Austria while he recovered from injuries sustained in a crash during practice at the Czech round.
Free practice
The first practice session ended with Jack Miller fastest for Pramac Racing ahead of Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso and Tech3's Miguel Oliveira. The second practice session ended with Pol Espargaró fastest, followed by Nakagami and Joan Mir.
Combined Free Practice 1-2-3
The top ten drivers (written in bold) qualified in Q2.
Personal Best lap
Free Practice 4
The first three positions of the session were as follows.
Qualifying
MotoGP
Notes
– Johann Zarco received a pit lane start penalty for his involvement in an accident with Franco Morbidelli in the Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix.
Warm Up
MotoGP
The first three positions of the session are as follows.
Race
Race Report (MotoGP)
Initial Race
The race was run in dry conditions despite the clouds looming. On the opening lap, Joan Mir got a fantastic launch from P3 to the lead the race from polesitter Pol Espargaro, with Miller also getting a great start from fourth on the grid. The Australian got past Espargaro by going up the inside at Turn 2. After running wide and gaining an advantage at Turn 1 on the opening lap Mir was forced to drop a position, thus Miller inherited the race lead. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo made a poor start, and dropped to P14 after running wide at Turn 1. Andrea Dovizioso made a solid start and was up to sixth on Lap 2. Takaaki Nakagami got past Pol Espargaro and the top three slowly pulling clear of the chasing pack.