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 San Marino and Rimini Riviera 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 20 September (a week after the first race) to be known as the "Emilia Romagna and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix". The race was named for Emilia Romagna, the region of Italy that the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is located in. The race was also the third time in the sport's history that the same venue and circuit layout hosted back-to-back World Championship races.
In the Teams' Championship, Petronas Yamaha SRT with 127 points, lead the championship from Monster Energy Yamaha with 116. Ducati Team sat 15 points behind the factory Yamaha in third, and one point ahead of fourth-placed Team Suzuki Ecstar with 100 points, while Pramac Racing sat 5th on 97 points.
Stefan Bradl withdrew from the event due to arm pump.
Moto2
The race, scheduled to be run for 25 laps, was red-flagged after 6 full laps due to wet track conditions. The race was later restarted over 10 laps with the starting grid determined by the classification of the first part.
^ abcde1-position penalty for exceeding track limits on the last lap.
^Yamaha scored 138 points as a manufacturer, but were deducted 50 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[12]
^Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders scored 141 points, but the team was deducted 20 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[12]
^Petronas Yamaha SRT riders scored 147 points, but the team was deducted 37 points after failing to respect MSMA technical changes protocols.[12]
