Brno MotoGP Statistics – HJC Helmets Grand Prix Ceské Republiky
Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines
History of Grand Prix racing at Brno
This year’s Czech Grand Prix will be the 47th to be held at Brno. Below is a brief history of grand prix racing at this famous venue.
- The only venue that has hosted more grand prix events than Brno is Assen in The Netherlands, which has hosted the Dutch TT in each of the 68 years of the motorcycling world championship.
- The first Czechoslovakian Grand Prix was held at Brno in 1965. The 500cc race, held over thirteen laps of the original 13.94 km long road circuit, was won by Mike Hailwood (MV Agusta) in a time of 1hr 11 min 23.2 sec.
- The circuit was shortened to 10.92 km in 1975 in an effort to improve safety.
- The last premier-class race held on the road circuit at Brno was in 1977 and was won by Johnny Cecotto riding a Yamaha. The circuit was subsequently considered too dangerous for the large capacity machines.
- The smaller capacity machines continued to compete in grand prix races on the Brno road circuit until 1982 before it was removed from the grand prix calendar for safety reasons.
- The current circuit was first used for grand prix racing in 1987 and hosted the Czechoslovakian GP through until 1991. Brno did not appear on the calendar for 1992, but the event was revived in 1993 as the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic and has taken place every year since.
- This will be the 29th time that the current circuit has hosted a grand prix event, during which time the circuit has remained virtually unchanged; minor modifications were made to the circuit in 1996 which extended the length from 5.394 km to the current 5.403 km.
- Since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP class in 2002, both Honda and Yamaha have had six victories at Brno, and Ducati two.
- Jorge Lorenzo’s win last year at Brno was the first win at the circuit for Yamaha since his victory there in 2010.
- There has only been one podium finish by a Czech rider at the current Brno circuit across all classes – Lukas Pesek’s third place in the 125cc race in 2007 riding a Derbi.
- The two riders with most grand prix wins at the current Brno circuit, each with seven wins, are Max Biaggi (4 x 250cc, 2 x 500cc, 1 x MotoGP) and Valentino Rossi (1x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP).
- The Czech Grand Prix last year was the only GP event in 2015 where all three riders starting from pole position went on to win the race.
Historic MotoGP race in Austria
The first visit to Austria for nineteen years produced a historic MotoGP race that was one for the record books
- This was the first race win for Andrea Iannone since he moved up to the MotoGP class in 2013.
- It was the first victory for Ducati since Casey Stoner won the Australian GP in 2010.
- It was the first time that Ducati have finished one-two in a MotoGP race since the Australian GP in 2007, won by Casey Stoner from Loris Capirossi.
- Iannone’s victory was the first ever win for Ducati in Austria in any of the grand prix classes.
- Iannone is just the fourth rider to win in MotoGP riding a Ducati, joining: Casey Stoner (23 wins on Ducati), Loris Capirossi (7) and Troy Bayliss (1).
- He is only the second rider, along with Marc Marquez, to win in the MotoGP class having previously won in the Moto2 class.
- At the age of 27 years 5 days he is the oldest rider to take his maiden win in the MotoGP class since Troy Bayliss at the final race of 2006 in Valencia.
- Iannone was making his 61st start in the MotoGP class in Austria; this is the highest number of premier-class starts for a rider taking his first win since Sete Gibernau won the 500cc race in Valencia in 2001 when making his 72nd grand prix start riding a 500cc machine.
- It is the first time that an Italian rider other than Valentino Rossi has won in the MotoGP class since Andrea Dovizioso won the British Grand Prix at Donington Park in 2009.
- Iannone is the first Italian rider to win in the MotoGP class for an Italian manufacturer since Loris Capirossi won at Motegi in 2007.
- Together with Jack Miller’s victory at the Dutch TT, there have been two first time winners in the MotoGP class in 2016. The last year in which there were two first time winners in a single season was in 2007 with Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen.
- There have been five different winners already in 2016 and with eight races of the season still to come it is already the greatest number of different winners in a single season in the MotoGP class since 2009.
- The last five races in the MotoGP class have been won by five different riders. The last time that there has been a sequence of five or more races won by different riders was at the end of 2006 and the first race of 2007, when there was a sequence of six races won by different riders: Valentino Rossi, Marco Melandri, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias, Troy Bayliss and Casey Stoner.
- The win by Andrea Iannone was the 100th podium finish for Ducati in the MotoGP class, closely followed by Andrea Dovizioso giving Ducati their 101st MotoGP podium.
Pos 1: Andrea Iannone, Pos 2: Andrea Dovizioso
- This was only the second victory for Ducati using Michelin tyres – the other was Ducati’s very first win at the Catalan Grand Prix in 2003 with Loris Capirossi.
- At the Austrian GP, Italian riders took the top two places in a MotoGP race for the first time since the British Grand Prix last year at Silverstone, won by Valentino Rossi from Danilo Petrucci.
- The Austrian race was the first time that Italian riders have taken the top two places in a premier-class GP both riding Italian bikes since the Finnish 500cc GP at Imatra in 1972, won by Giacomo Agostini on an MV Agusta from team-mate Alberto Pagani.
250th successive grand prix start for Andrea Dovizioso
At the Czech Grand Prix, Andrea Dovizioso is scheduled to become the first rider to reach the milestone of 250 successive grand prix starts. Dovizioso has not missed competing in a grand prix since he became a full-time GP rider in the 125cc class at the opening race of 2002 at Suzuka in Japan.
Second in this list is Valentino Rossi who’s sequence of successive GP starts came to an end when he crashed in practice at the 2010 Italian GP and suffered a broken leg. The other current GP rider to appear in this list is Sandro Cortese, who had made 190 successive GP starts before withdrawing from the French GP earlier this year due to a knee injury.
Riders with longest sequence of starts at successive GP events
Grand Prix racing numbers
- 182.4 – The average speed of the MotoGP race in Austria was 182.4 km/h. This is the highest average speed for a grand prix race since Mick Doohan won the 500cc German Grand Prix in 1994 at the Hockenheim circuit at an average speed of 203.8 km/h.
- 103 – Jorge Lorenzo’s third place finish at the Red Bull Ring was the 103rd time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class, which is one more than his great rival Dani Pedrosa. The only rider to have more premier-class podium finishes than Lorenzo is Valentino Rossi with 179.
- 38 – Johann Zarco’s win at the Austrian Grand Prix was the 38th time he has stood on the podium in grand prix racing (27 x Moto2 + 11 x 125cc). This makes Zarco the most successful French rider of all-time in terms of grand prix podium finishes with one more top three finish than Christian Sarron.
- 32 – Andrea Dovizioso’s second place finish in Austria was the 32nd time that he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class, the same number of premier-class podiums that both Geoff Duke and Alex Barros achieved during their careers.
- 21 – Spanish Moto3 rider Juanfran Guevara will celebrate his 21st birthday on the first day of practice at the Czech GP.
- 13 – Joann Zarco’s win in Austria was the 13th time he has stood on the top step of the podium in the Moto2 class, the same number of Moto2 wins achieved by Tito Rabat. Only one rider has taken more Moto2 wins than these two riders – Marc Marquez with sixteen Moto2 victories.
- 7 – At the Austrian Grand Prix Joan Mir became the seventh different winner in the Moto3 class from the first ten races of 2016. Five of the riders who have stood on the top step of the podium in the Moto3 class this year have been first-time GP winners.
- 3 – All three riders who started on pole at the Austrian Grand Prix went on to take the race win. The last time that the three riders on pole won their respective races was at the Czech Grand Prix last year: Nico Antonelli, Johann Zarco and Jorge Lorenzo.
- 1 – Following the final lap crash of Eugene Laverty in Austria and the black flag given to Hector Barbera, Marc Marquez is the only rider in the MotoGP class who has scored points at every race in 2016.
- 1 – Joan Mir is the first rookie to win a race from pole position in the Moto3 class. The last rookie to win from pole in the lightweight-class of grand prix racing was Maverick Viñales in the 125cc class at Assen in 2011.
Moto2 stats and facts
- Prior to last year, Johann Zarco had a single podium finish at Brno – 2nd in the 125cc race in 2011. Last year he qualified on pole for the Moto2 race at Brno and won the race having led every lap except the first one. After crashing at the French Grand Prix and falling 31 points behind the championship leader,
- Johann Zarco has picked up 120 points in five races, with four wins and a second place finish, to lead the championship classification by 34 points.
- Alex Rins finished third in the Moto2 race last year at the Czech GP – his first podium finish at the Brno circuit.
- Tom Luthi has twice finished on the podium at Brno in the Moto2 class: third in 2013 and second in 2012. The Swiss rider won the 125cc race at Brno in 2005 – the year he took the world title in the lightweight-class.
- Sam Lowes qualified in fourth place on the grid at Brno two years ago and then crashed out of the race on the fifth lap while in third place. Last year he qualified down in 13th place on the grid at Brno, but improved during the race to finish 5th. Lowes has raced at the Brno circuit in the World Supersport championship, finishing 4th in 2012.
- Alex Marquez finished fourth last year at Brno, which is his equal best result since moving up to the Moto2 class. He finished 4th at Brno in 2014, on his way to taking the Moto3 world title, after starting from pole position.
- Sandro Cortese finished third two years ago at Brno, one of only two podium finishes he has achieved since moving up to the Moto2 class. Cortese won the Moto3 race at Brno in 2011 – his first grand prix victory.
- In addition to Luthi, Zarco and Cortese mentioned above, the only other rider currently competing in the Moto2 class to have won a grand prix race at Brno is Jonas Folger – the Moto3 race in 2012.
Moto3 stats and facts
- Championship leader Brad Binder finished third last year at the Czech GP – his first podium finish at the Brno circuit.
- Enea Bastianini finished second at Brno two years ago, one of three podium finishes he achieved in his rookie season in grand prix racing. He repeated the second place finish at Brno last year, having qualified in 15th place on the grid.
- Niccolo Antonelli qualified on pole and won the Moto3 race last year at Brno, the first time he had stood on the top step of a grand prix podium.
- Romano Fenati set a new Moto3 lap record two years ago at Brno on his way to finishing in eleventh place, just 1.042 seconds behind race winner Alexis Masbou. Last year he finished 6th at Brno after starting down in 22nd place on the grid.
- Joan Mir qualified on pole and took his first Moto3 win in Austria, having never previously qualified on the front row or finished higher than 5th in his rookie season in grand prix racing.
- Fabio Quartararo was fourth in Austria – his best result since he finished fourth at Silverstone last year.
