The sophomore showdown brewing in MotoGP after the Catalan GP

Just four points covered the top four in the championship coming to the eighth round of the 2020 MotoGP world championship at Catalunya. And after the Catalan Grand Prix, that gap has doubled to cover the top two in the standings.

With each passing round as this whirlwind season enters its home stretch, it's looking increasingly likely that the championship will be debated between the two riders in their second years in the premier class.

Fabio Quartararo stormed to victory last Sunday to brush away the difficult run of races between the Czech and the Emilia Romagna Grands Prix in which he failed to score a podium (though he was third in the second Misano race before a post-race time penalty for a track limits violation dropped him to fourth). Having scored a maximum of 50 points from his victories at the Jerez double-header which started the season, the Petronas SRT rider only managed 33 in the five races which followed.

In that same time, Joan Mir and Suzuki stepped up in a big way. After two crashes in the first three races, second in the Austrian Grand Prix gave way to what would have been a nailed-on win at the Styrian Grand Prix had it not been for a late red flag. Third and second at Misano meant his tally from Brno through Misano stood at 69.

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Quartararo has branded the Suzuki GSX-RR the "perfect" bike, and it's not hard to understand why. It has the same sweet-handling characteristics the Yamaha is famed for; has immense drive grip, as demonstrated at the Red Bull Ring, which masks the horsepower deficit of its inline four-cylinder engine and is gentle on its tyres.

In a season of inconsistency, Mir and Suzuki have been anything but. But the former has kept his feet firmly planted on the ground when talk of challenging for the title in just his second year in the class emerged, and in doing so, sounds the most like a rider thinking about the championship.

"I still haven't earned the right [to fight for the title]," Mir said at Misano. "Before that, I need to start winning races.

"It's important to score points. In Austria we had the possibility to win... we are close, it's important that when you can get the podium, get the podium, and when you can win, you go for the win."

The pressure on Mir is certainly less, as he was not expected to fight for the title this season. Quartararo, on the other hand, was touted as the man who could perhaps finally dethrone Marc Marquez after a rookie season in 2019 filled with world champion-bothering performances.

Yamaha's lack of power and brake issues in Austria hindered his August races, while a crash in the San Marino GP from getting "too excited" when he was stuck behind Maverick Vinales suggested the pressure is getting to him. But he refuted this when asked by Autosport earlier this month.

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"I will do my best to win this year, but I'm not focused really on the championship," he said. "I'm just thinking 'OK, we are in Misano, we need to do the best for Misano'. 'We are in Barcelona, I will do the best for Barcelona'. I'm not thinking 'wow, Marc isn't here, I need to think about the championship'. No. I think to win a championship you need to win a lot of races and score a lot of points."

Ahead of the Catalan GP, Marquez said he expected "much more" from Quartararo after his Jerez double in July. Quartararo later denied that this comment motivated his Catalunya win, and he even agreed with the Honda rider's assessment. But his poor run from Brno to Misano had played on his mind and the outpouring of emotion post-race showed just how much big a hurdle he cleared last Sunday.

"It's way too early to say it's between us two. There are many races and a small mistake can cost a lot" Fabio Quartararo

"It was the best moment of my life, honestly," he said of his third win of 2020. "Better than both Jerez [wins], because when you arrive at a good moment and you win, you expect it and you know that you're going to do it well. But then when you have five races in a row and you are doing not so great and to arrive the victory, not just the podium, but the victory directly is amazing."

Quartararo was in some ways fortunate the race only ran 24 laps. When he overtook team-mate and early leader Franco Morbidelli on lap nine, he set a sequence of low-mid 1m40s laps through to the 15th tour. Going "maybe too fast", this burned up his rubber and by the penultimate tour he was lapping three seconds slower than his best effort of 1m40.142s set on lap nine. From holding a lead of 3.4s at one stage, he was only 0.928s clear of Mir at the chequered flag.

The Suzuki's supreme tyre conservation once again paid dividends for Mir. But once again, it was Saturday which took the win away from him. While Quartararo has qualified on the front row in all bar one round this year, Mir has only seen what the second row looks like twice - both of which in Austria, where he placed his best bids for victory.

At Catalunya, he was only eighth and this meant he got stuck behind the Pramac Ducati of Jack Miller until lap 16. The rocket ship Desmosedicis are notoriously difficult to overtake, but a better qualifying would have likely cleared a costly hurdle earlier.

Nevertheless, another second place was enough to move him up to second in the standings, with Quartararo and Mir now split by eight points and 24 covering the top four.

With Andrea Dovizioso continuing to struggle to adapt his braking style to the 2020 Michelin rear tyre, and Maverick Vinales' form in the Catalunya race deserting him completely after he "lost the way" with his set-up just seven days after his Emilia Romagna win, it's beginning to look like just the leading duo of that top quartet will be the last men standing when MotoGP reaches the finale in Portugal in November.

That neither see it that way shows just how much both have matured in their second seasons, but also acts as a note of caution in predicting the outcome of this unconventional season.

"It's too early to say now," Mir said when asked if the title fight was between himself and Quartararo. "Of course, we are more or less the constant riders on the grid and for sure on the classification we are really close. It's true that there are a lot of riders that are so fast and I think there's a lot of championship in front of us, a lot of points to give and a lot of riders that are really, really strong."

Quartararo added: "Well, we have seen the championship, the first eight races was up and down for everybody, and we arrived at one moment where I think the top nine was within 25 points. So, we never know.

"I don't know really what to answer, but it's way too early to say it's between us two. There are many races and a small mistake can cost a lot."

There is some poignancy to a Quartararo/Mir title showdown, if that is indeed how this season will ultimately shape up.

Both were team-mates at the Leopard squad - a potent combination on paper - in Moto3 back in 2016, where their careers took very different tangents. While Quartararo struggled in his second year in the class and failed to reach the podium, Mir managed a maiden win in the Austrian GP. Quartararo's step up to Moto2 with Pons the following year proved just as fruitless, while Mir romped to the Moto3 title in his second year with 10 wins.

Quartararo's charge to seven podiums and a factory Yamaha contract was juxtaposed by a debut year for Mir in which he didn't "see the light at the end of the tunnel" very often through numerous crashes

Quartararo's fortunes turned around after he hit his lowest ebb during a miserable Argentina weekend and he would win at Catalunya a few rounds later, which set him on his path to MotoGP with SRT. Mir, meanwhile, scored four podiums in his sole season in Moto2 before stepping up to the premier class with Suzuki alongside Alex Rins in 2019.

Quartararo's charge to seven podiums and a factory Yamaha contract was juxtaposed by a debut year for Mir in which he didn't "see the light at the end of the tunnel" very often through numerous crashes - including a huge one at a Brno test which ruled him out for two rounds and left him with chest pain for some time.

Those career tangents have now crossed again and both are currently the top MotoGP riders in the world, gunning for the world championship. And if current form persists, Marquez won't find settling back into his usual position as MotoGP's de facto leader so easy in 2021.