Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) was the alleged loser in the first race of Losail with 5th place, but after that there were two victories in a row and this in completely different conditions and routes. As a double winner in Jerez in 2020, he is of course the absolute top favorite (© MotoGP).

Round 3 in Portugal is history – it will soon continue in Andalusia

In contrast to Portimão, the Circuito de Jerez is not an uphill and downhill course, and it also has a very short straight with 607 meters compared to the Autodromo do Algarve and even more Losail. With two almost 180 degree bends, the Andalusian course also has completely different characteristics than most other routes. What particularly hurts us at Jerez this season is that it’s one of the most spectator-friendly courses on the calendar. Apart from the approach, perhaps with which there is almost only one main direction to bad traffic jams in the morning and evening of the race. Two years ago we mentioned an insider tip to avoid it without any problems, which will be completely unnecessary for 2021. In return, our advantage are the hotel prices, which this time is downright ridiculous compared to the usual MotoGP weekends. As was often the case, for example, for the Czech GP in Brno, a normal hotel could hardly be found for less than 600 euros (for 3 nights) within an hour’s drive.

Turn 3 is the curve of fate, which in training 1999 meant the end of the career of Repsol Honda Dominator “Quick Mick” Doohan. Twenty-one years later it was Marc Marquez’s undoing, who is a due to his early comeback only 4 days after the operation on his broken upper arm is not the same as 9 months later.
Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha) before his second start in 2020 in the double race in Jerez – he retired in the first race with an engine failure that was to cause Yamaha a lot of trouble during the course of the season. For Rossi, however, the second race in Andalusia was a success, and it would be his last podium in MotoGP so far (© MotoGP).

The best riders on the Circuito de Jerez – Valentino Rossi with as many wins as titles

While Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo have “only” won three times in Jerez de la Frontera, Mick Doohan has already won four times and Valentino Rossi is the lone leader with 7 wins in the premier class. The old master even won twice in the smaller classes. He has celebrated exactly as many triumphs in Andalusia as there were world championships in his career. In contrast to Losail, for which a lot of nonsense was claimed before the start of the season, such as that it was a Ducati track (in fact, Yamaha is well ahead in the statistics before 2021), Jerez is a course for every make. If we leave KTM aside, Suzuki has already shown good results here, as Alex Rins’ 2nd place in 2019 proves. The favorites for this season are apparently clear, but we will probably only know more details on Saturday afternoon. Most of the speculations by various experts went badly in the pants.

The injured: Jorge Martin is replaced by Tito Rabat

Last year, Alex Rins and Cal Crutchlow were the two disabled before the first race. This time, Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin, the surprise man of the 2nd race in Losail, will definitely not be at the start. But he will not be replaced by Ducati test driver Michele Pirro, but Tito Rabat will be at the start for the compatriot. As Pramac Ducati informed us on April 21st, they decided on the WorldSBK rookie and last year’s Esponsorama Ducati rider. The jeweler son can be trusted to make it into the points. We will see from Friday in FP1 whether Marc Marquez is doing his demonstrative arm exercises again. He is of course to be expected at the very front in Jerez, the public is not so easily deceived this time around by possible diversionary maneuvers with regard to alleged problems.

The young Tito Rabat and Marc Marquez – when the two were still teenagers and competed together in the Red Bull Rookies Cup. The man on the left will compete in WorldSBK in 2021 and has been considered a “marathon man” for years when it comes to his training laps. He has ridden a lot this year in Jerez, but of course not on a MotoGP bike, but he already knows the older Ducati very well. The Catalan can certainly be trusted to “kick the asses” of some regular drivers at the Andalusian Grand Prix, as Scotty Redding likes to put it.
Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha) – Together with his team-mate Fabio Quartararo, he was the big favorite for the Jerez weekend, although he once again had to complain about one of his notorious slacks at the Portuguese Grand Prix. It is very likely that there will be some riders this time who can put up a tough fight against the two Yamaha aces (© MotoGP).

The problem children – will KTM and Honda finally make it out of supporting actors?
At KTM, the pressure on the three drivers Oliveira, Petrucci and Lecuona is increasing enormously, which is why a lot depends on whether they can catch up in practice and qualifying this time. Only Binder as the lucky fifth in Portimão, benefited by 3 failures before him, can start the Andalusia weekend a little more relaxed with the oranges. Apart from the team leader at Repsol Honda, Pol Espargaró is also to be expected, while the two LCR drivers are in a similar position to the 3 KTM problem children. The pressure on Takaaki Nakagami, Mister Konstanz last year and his LCR team-mate Alex Marquez is extremely high. The following current interim ranking list of MotoGP clearly illustrates these statements.

Safe or supposed favorites
In the second Corona year, we have become much more undemanding when it comes to forecasts. At the moment it is not even certain which paddock members will be admitted due to a negative test. There were surprising absences in the previous year and this may also be a scourge for some in 2021. At least one can say that the top 8 riders in the World Cup are among the hottest candidates. Also determined by “Morbido”, Miller, Pol and one or the other Marquez. After his podium last year, even Rossi might be wrong to write off too early. On the other hand, we catch ourselves that there is a good deal of wishful thinking at play here. But dreams are still allowed despite the pandemic.

Our photo 2 years ago with a view of the Tio Pepe Tower and to the right of it the relatively small start-finish grandstand – it was the Saturday of the qualifying and the weather forecast for the GP weekend 2021 is not quite optimal either. The prognosis has improved significantly compared to a few days ago, to the relief of all those involved. Instead of rain for the whole weekend, it should be between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius and at most a little damp on Friday..

The middle and smallest class

For Sam Lowes, the signs are clearly on damage control. After the unfortunate crash in the first corner of Portimão at the third Grand Prix of the year, the Englishman wants to get back on the podium. Of course, many others have the same plans, whereby the two Red Bull Ajo drivers Remy Gardner and local hero Raul Fernandez are definitely among the favorites. Marco Bezzecchi, Joe Roberts and some Spaniards like Canet, Augusto Fernandez and Vierge must definitely be on the bill. In Moto3, round 4 of the World Championship in Jerez will be something like the last chance race for John McPhee. The Scot must finally score after 3 zeros in a row, otherwise the train will have finally left for him. It is his job, together with Darryn Binder and the strongest Italians, to try to prevent a Spanish festival from attempting.

Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) after his crash in the first corner of the Grand Prix of Portugal – in Jerez it is imperative to wipe out this gap. Last year he was fourth twice and this time he definitely has to try to get on the podium (© MotoGP).

Provisions have been made for Marquez

One of his sponsors was already taking care that there was less pressure on the previous series winner via their portal. Provision has now been made to emphasize in large letters in advance that he had received a training ban from his doctors before the GP weekend. For most established stars, however, this is not even necessary because they usually no longer take any unnecessary risks with, for example, motocross training shortly before the Grand Prix. For some, this was even expressly forbidden by the teams, as someone told us directly from the paddock last year. Since this happened to Valentino Rossi himself, it is considered a “no-go” for the majority of MotoGP riders to get on their bikes too much during breaks, no matter where this is. The many “Andorrans” like Quartararo, Miller and the Espargarós have no way of doing real circuit training at their place of residence. At least the fans at Marquez now know that there is a reason or even an excuse for it if he misses the top 5 again.

A picture that went around the world – Marc Marquez in July 2020 taking off from his Repsol Honda after a highsider. Before that, he had already hit the gravel trap at almost the same point, but was able to get back on the track at P16 and started his race to catch up, which ended with this crash.

World Championship intermediate result of all classes

From left to right the current status of MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 with a few surprises regarding the lack of points for Bulega, Syahrin, McPhee and Artigas, for example. In the case of the Scot, two falls through no fault of his own and a kung-fu insert after his second crash in Losail were responsible for this. For the latter, he was punished with a start from the pit lane, 10 seconds behind the field, which meant he had no chance of scoring points in the third race. Some voices in the paddock said that if he was Spaniard, the race management would have punished him less harshly.

Team and manufacturer classification of MotoGP after round 3 in Portugal

In the column “chng” the changes compared to the preliminary round are listed.

Schedule and TV programs Jerez Grand Prix

At the time of our publication there was a bug on the official MotoGP page and the Q1 of Moto2 was given as a duration of 25 minutes, which is of course wrong. This has of course already been corrected in our timetable.

The provisional MotoGP calendar 2021

This page will be updated continuously until April 29th..