Five things to know from what happened in the world of sport. November 10-16, 2020.
- Moto Champions. Joan Mir (ESP, Suzuki) has sealed the MotoGP World Championship with one race to spare, by finishing seventh at the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix, which was won by current runner-up, Franco Morbidelli (ITA, Yamaha). Fabio Quartararo (FRA, Yamaha), who won the first two races this season, fell for the third time in four races and is fifth in the Championship. 2019 Champion, Marc Márquez (ESP, Honda) only partook in the first race of the season due to injury and will be back next year. In Enduro, Steven Holcombe (ENG) took an exciting E2 and Overall World Championship after Brad Freeman (ENG) ran out of fuel. Freeman did secure the E3 title. Andrea Verona (ITA) took the E1 title and Jane Daniels (ENG) took the women’s title (EnduroGP)
- Final year, first Championship. Hélio Castro-Neves (BRA) has won the Indy 500 three times but had never won a car racing Championship in his distinguished career. That changed in his final year as a Penske driver (20 years later), by taking the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with teammate Ricky Taylor (USA), who edged out his dad’s team’s divers Ryan Briscoe (AUS) and Renger van der Zande (NZL) by a single point. Then came Jonathan Bomarito (USA) and Harry Tincknell (ENG), who won the season-finale 12 Hours of Sebring, postponed form February. Patrick Kelly (USA) took the LMP2 race and Championship, Antonio García (ESP) and Jordan Taylor (USA, Ricky’s brother) won the GTLM Championship for Corvette -3rd time in four years for the Spaniard-, although Frédéric Makowiecki (FRA) and Nick Tandy (ENG) won the 12 Hours in the final IMSA GTLM race for Porsche, for now. Mario Farnbacher (GER) and Matt McMurry (USA) won the GTD Championship while Ryan Hardwick (USA) and Patrick Long (USA) took the season finale. In a very different form of motorsport, Masanori Kohashi (JAP) won his fourth D1GP drifting event, in Japan (Watch, D1GP).
- More Champions. Also in sportscars, Toyota took the FIA World Endurance Championship with José María López (ARG), Mike Conway (ENG) and Kamui Kobayashi (ENG) by beating their teammate car that won Le Mans while Marco Sørensen (DEN) and Nicki Thiim (DEN) took the GTE Championship in their Aston Martin. United Autosports won LMP2 with Filipe Albuquerque (POR), Philip Hanson (ENG) and Paul di Resta (SCO). Emmanuel Collard (FRA), Nicklas Nielsen (DEN) and François Perrodo (FRA) took the GTE AM Honors for the AF Corse Ferrari. AF Corse also won the 1000 km of Paul Ricard, final race of the GT World Challenge Europe, as Alessandro Pier Guidi (ITA) took the lead in the final hour to win the Endurance Championship. His race teammates were Tom Blomqvist (ENG) and Côme Ledogar (FRA). 20 year-old Timur Boguslavskiy (RUS) won the Overall GT World Challenge Europe. Another Champion was Yann Ehrlacher (FRA), who took the FIA World Touring Car Cup honors, aged 24, driving the Chinese-Swedish Lynk & Co 03. Learn more about how he skipped karting (TouringCarTimes)
- Phantom head clash. In an outrageous decision, Joshua Franco (USA) maintained his World Boxing Association World Super Flyweight Title after referee Russell Mora determined a no contest due to accidental headbutt by Andrew Moloney (AUS). What is outrageous is that a series of referee reviewed the footage for over half an hour and upheld the decision. The replay, however, shows no headbutt occured in the fight to that side of Franco’s injury. In the same card, Terence Crawford (USA) scored a 4th-round TKO over Kell Brook (ENG) to maintain his World Boxing Organisation World Welterweight Title. He remains undefeated in 37 fights but is criticized for not having faced any of the very best fighters in the division. In England, Katie Taylor (IRL) successfully defended her unified Lightweight World Title with a fine decision over brave Miriam Gutiérrez (ESP), while Rachel Ball (ENG) defeated Jorgelina Guanini (ARG) for the WBO Bantam and Terri Harper (ENG) beat Katharina Thanderz (NOR) for the WBC Super Feather on a triple-female-fight card. There are several interesting fights Taylor could do (BBC).
- eSports. Joona ‘Serral’ Sotala (FIN) won the Starcraft 2 Winter (Dreamhack Masters) after having also won the Summer Championship but losing the European tournament last week (semifinals). He defeated Kim “Stats” Dae Yeob (KOR). In a different game, The Peacekeeper Elite Championship 2020 -a Chinese rebranded version of PUBG Mobile- was won by Chinese players from mainland China and Taiwan, members of the Nova Esports team. Tencent will invest over $30 Million USD in this game (Gamereactor UK)
