MotoGP 2014 – Round Eight – TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands – Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines
Historic Dutch TT – Assen is the only venue that has hosted a Grand prix event every year since the motorcycle World ChampionshipGrand Prix series started back in 1949. Below are some facts and figures related to the history of the Dutch TT:
- This is the 84th time that a Dutch TT event has been held. The first running of the Dutch TT came in 1925 and before the World Championship series was created. It has taken place every year since, with the exception of the years 1940 to 1945 because of the Second World War. The event became part of the World Championship series when it was first created in 1949 and is the only circuit to have been part of the series every year since, making this the 66th Dutch TT that has counted towards the World Championship classification
- The original Assen circuit, that was used up to 1954, measured 16.5 km. This was reduced to 7.7 km in 1955 and then in 1984 further modifications to the circuit reduced the length to 6.1 km. The current layout has been used since 2006, with a few minor adjustments
- There have been a total of 253 Grand Prix races for solo motorcycles held at the Assen circuit
- Yamaha are the most successful manufacturer at the Dutch TT since the start of the four-stroke MotoGP formula, with seven victories. Honda have had four MotoGP wins at the Dutch TT and Ducati a single win in 2008
- Ben Spies’ win at the Dutch TT in 2011 was the last MotoGP race won by a rider other than Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Marc Marquez or Jorge Lorenzo
- The rider with most GP victories at Assen is Angel Nieto, with 15 wins in the 125cc and 50cc classes. He is followed by Giacomo Agostini, who had 14 wins riding either 500cc or 350cc machines
- Among the current riders, Valentino Rossi has been most successful at Assen with a total of eight victories: six in MotoGP and one each in the 250cc and 125cc classes
- Four Dutch riders have won Grand Prix races at their home circuit; Paul Lodewijkx the 50cc race in 1968, Wil Hartog the 500cc race in 1977, Jack Middelburg the 500cc race in 1980 and Hans Spaan the 125cc race in 1989
- The last Dutch rider to finish on the podium at the Dutch TT was Wilco Zeelenberg (now Team Manager for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) – he finished third in the 250cc race of 1994
Marc Marquez equals Carlo Ubbiali in GP wins
The victory by Marc Marquez at Catalunya marked the 39th time that he had been on the top step of the podium during his Grand Prix career. This is the same number of GP wins Carlo Ubbiali achieved over his career, during which he won a total of nine world titles: six in the 125cc class and three in the 250cc class. At the age of just 21, Marquez is already the 13th equal most successful GP rider of all-time in terms of Grand Prix wins.
Seven in a row for Marc Marquez
Although he did not manage to continue his run of pole positions in Catalunya, Marc Marquez once again took the MotoGP victory, making it seven successive wins in 2014. Since the MotoGP class was introduced in 2002 as the premier class of Grand Prix racing, only one other rider has achieved seven successive MotoGP races: Valentino Rossi in 2002.
The victory for Marc Marquez in Catalunya also gave him the record as the youngest ever rider, at the age of 21 years and 118 days, to win seven successive races in the premier class, taking the record from Valentino Rossi who was 23 years and 155 days old when he had seven successive wins in 2002. If he also wins the Dutch TT – at what would be the age of 21 years and 131 days – he would become the youngest rider to win eight successive premier class races, taking the record from Mike Hailwood who was 24 years and 71 days old when in 1964 he won the eighth of a 12-race winning sequence.
The following list shows the longest sequence of all-time successive wins in the premier class
Pedrosa moves ahead of Agostini in all-time podium list
Dani Pedrosa’s third place finish in Catalunya marked the 89th time that he had stood on the podium since moving up to the MotoGP class in 2006. As shown below, this takes him into third place in the all-time podium list, above eight time 500cc World Champion Giacomo Agostini.
Kalex closes in on Suter
The Moto2 win by Tito Rabat at the Catalan Grand Prix was the seventh successive victory for Kalex and the constructor’s 28th win in total in the intermediate class. This is just one victory less than Suter, which is currently the most successful constructor in terms of Moto2 victories since the class was introduced at the start of 2010, replacing the 250cc category.
Wins by manufacturer in Moto2:
- 29 – Suter
- 28 – Kalex
- 8 – Moriwaki
- 5 – Speed Up
- 2 – Motobi and FTR
- 1 – Tech 3
Moto2 stats and trivia
- Having already become the first rider to finish in the top four at the opening six Moto2 races of the year, Tito Rabat made that seven in Barcelona, as well as winning for the fourth time in seven races from his fifth pole position of the season; he has now taken six Grand Prix wins from his seven career poles to date.
- By finishing third in Catalunya, Johann Zarco collected the first ever World Championship podium finish for AirAsia Caterham; the Frenchman grabbed the position on the final lap, overtaking Tom Luthi and Mika Kallio in one move
- Last year at Assen, World Champion-to-be Pol Espargaro won from Scott Redding. This marked the fifth time in the career of Espargaro that he had won a GP from pole position and was also his third of six victories en route to the 2013 Moto2 title
- Three riders have finished on the Assen Moto2 podium more than once: Italy’s Andrea Iannone (2010 and 2012), Spain’s Marc Marquez (2011 and 2012) and Great Britain’s Scott Redding (2012 and 2013)
- Louis Rossi celebrated his 25th birthday on the Monday before the Dutch TT
- Tetsuga Nagashima will turn 22 on the Wednesday after the race at Assen
- Past winners at the Dutch TT who are currently competing in the Moto2 class are: Anthony West (250cc/2003), Mika Kallio (125cc/2006), Mattia Pasini (125cc/2007), Maverick Viñales (125cc/2011 & Moto3™/2012) and Luis Salom (Moto3/2013)
Moto3 stats and trivia
- Barcelona saw Honda win for the first time this year with Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Marquez, marking the first non-all-KTM Moto3 victory since Luis Salom won the 2012 Aragon Grand Prix for Kalex KTM; the last Honda-powered Moto3 win was at Mugello earlier that season, when Maverick Viñales won on an FTR Honda
- Efren Vazquez and Alexis Masbou are the only two riders to have scored points in all of the seven races so far this season, as in Catalunya Alex Rins retired and Danny Kent finished outside of the points in 17th place
- Alex Rins retired from the Catalan Grand Prix due to a broken gear lever; this marked his first race retirement since he crashed out of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez early on in the 2013 season
- Jack Miller retains the championship lead heading to Assen, where at the first Dutch TT Moto3 race in 2012 his Red Bull KTM Ajo team recorded a double podium finish thanks to Sandro Cortese and Danny Kent, who finished second and third to Maverick Viñales
- In 2013, Miguel Oliveira achieved pole position at Assen for Mahindra Racing: their first and so far only pole in Moto3, following Danny Webb’s 125cc pole for Mahindra at Valencia in 2011). Oliveira went on to finish the 2013 Dutch race fourth, as just over four tenths of a second covered top five finishers Luis Salom, Maverick Viñales, Alex Rins, Miguel Oliveira and Alex Marquez
- None of the riders currently competing in Moto3 have ever won at the Dutch TT
- The first ever lightweight World Championship Dutch TT was the 125cc race of 9th July 1949, won by Italian Nello Pagani on a Mondial in a race lasting for over one hour
Grand Prix racing numbers
- 149 – After the first seven races of the year, Tito Rabat has scored 149 points: this is the highest ever score achieved in the Moto2 class after the first seven races of the year
- 100 – The win by Marc Marquez in Catalunya was the 100th victory for Honda in the four-stroke MotoGP class that was introduced in 2002, as a replacement for the 500cc category as the premier class of Grand Prix racing. The number of MotoGP wins achieved by the other manufacturers is: Yamaha – 81, Ducati – 31 and Suzuki – 1
- 62 – The victory by Marc Marquez at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya marked the 62nd time that he had stood on the podium in Grand prix racing; this is the same number of podium finishes that Marco Melandri achieved during his Grand Prix career
- 39 years – On race day at the Dutch TT, it will be 39 years to the day since Barry Sheene took his first Grand Prix win in the 500cc class, at the 1975 Dutch TT; this was also the first Grand Prix win for the square-four RG500 Suzuki. Sheene overtook Giacomo Agostini exiting the final corner and the two riders were so close at the finishing line that they could not be separated with the hand timing of the day and were credited with the same overall race time
- 34 years – On race day at the Dutch TT, it will be exactly 34 years since Jack Middelburg took the first of his two GP wins, at the 1980 Dutch TT. This remains the last time that a Dutch rider has won in the premier class at Assen
- 27 – The win by Alex Marquez on a Honda at the Catalan GP ended a record sequence of 27 successive Moto3 wins by KTM. The last time that a Moto3 victory was taken by a constructor other than KTM was in Aragon in 2012, when a KTMpowered machine was victorious in the form of a Kalex KTM ridden by Luis Salom. The last time that a Honda powered machine had a victory in the Moto3 class was with Maverick Viñales at Mugello in 2012, in the form of an FTR Honda. The last win in the lightweight class of GP racing for Honda, as both constructor of chassis and engine, was with Tom Luthi in the 125 class race at Le Mans in 2006
- 22 years – On the day of qualifying at the Dutch TT, it will be exactly 22 years to the day since Alex Criville became the first Spanish rider to take a 500cc GP win, at the 1992 Dutch TT. In total, Spanish riders have now taken 97 wins in the premier class of Grand Prix racing
- 18 – After Valentino Rossi won at Assen last year, all 18 MotoGP races to have been staged since have been won by riders from Spain. This is the longest sequence of successive MotoGP wins by Spain, but is still short of the all-time record for premier class GP wins by a single nation: a record held by the USA, with 28 successive wins which started with the San Marino GP in 1982 and ended with Spanish GP in 1985 – races both won by Freddie Spencer
- 16 years, 167 days – Enea Bastianini finished second in the Moto3 race in Catalunya in just the seventh race of his rookie Grand Prix season. This makes him the fourth-youngest Italian rider of all-time to finish on the podium in Grand Prix racing, after: Marco Melandri, Romano Fenati and Ivan Goi
- 7 – Kalex riders have won the first seven Moto2 races of the year. The last time a rider had won in Moto2 on something other than a Kalex was at the final race of 2013 at Valencia, when Nico Terol won on a Suter. If a Kalex rider wins at the Dutch TT, it will equal the longest sequence of successive wins for a constructor in the Moto2 class – a record currently held by Suter from 2011
- 3.236 seconds – Alex Marquez won the Moto3 Catalan GP by 3.236 seconds from Enea Bastianini: the largest margin of victory in a dry Moto3 race since Maverick Viñales won at Catalunya in 2012, by 7.752 seconds from Sandro Cortese
- 2 – With both Danny Kent and Alex Rins failing to score points in Catalunya, there are now just two riders who have scored points in all of the first seven Moto3 races of 2014: Efren Vazquez and Alexis Masbou
