Just ten points cover the top four in the MotoGP Championship classification. This is the smallest margin ever covering the top four riders in the premier class Championship after the first nine races of the year.

This year’s Czech Grand Prix will be the 48th to be held at Brno

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Monster Energy Grand Prix Ceské republiky – Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

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 69 years of the motorcycling World Championship.

Masaryk Circuit, more commonly known as the Automotodrom Brno

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 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.

Troy Bayliss - Brno MotoGP 2005 — Troy Bayliss – Brno MotoGP 2005

This will be the 30th 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 Honda have been the most successful manufacturer with seven victories, including last year with Cal Crutchlow.

Yamaha have taken six MotoGP victories at Brno, but have only one in the last six years – with Jorge Lorenzo in 2015.

Jorge Lorenzo - Brno MotoGP 2015 — Jorge Lorenzo – Brno MotoGP 2015

Ducati have twice won the MotoGP race at Brno, with Loris Capirossi in 2006 and Casey Stoner in 2007. The last podium for a Ducati rider at Brno was when Stoner finished third in 2010.

Casey Stoner sprays the champagne at Brno in 2007

The last win for Suzuki at Brno was in the 500cc class in 1989 with Kevin Schwantz. Loris Capirossi was the last rider to finish on the podium at Brno riding a Suzuki – 3rd in 2008.

The best result for a Czech rider in the MotoGP class at Brno is 9th for Karel Abraham in 2012 riding a Ducati.
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.

MotoGP Brno 2007 - 125cc Podium — MotoGP Brno 2007 – 125cc Podium

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).

Valentino Rossi took his first ever victory at Brno in 1996

The seven Moto2 races that have taken place at Brno have been won by seven different riders: 2010 – Toni Elias, 2011 – Andrea Iannone, 2012 – Marc Marquez, 2013 – Mika Kallio, 2014 – Tito Rabat, 2015 – Johann Zarco, 2016 – Jonas Folger. None of these riders are now competing in the Moto2 class.

MotoGP 2016 - Round Ten - Brno - Podium - Moto2 — MotoGP 2016 – Round Ten – Brno – Podium – Moto2

Five different riders have won the five Moto3 races that have taken place at Brno: 2012 – Jonas Folger, 2013 – Luis Salom, 2014 – Alexis Masbou, 2015 – Niccolo Antonelli, 2016 – John McPhee.

Marc Marquez equals Eddie Lawson’s premier-class wins

With his victory in Germany Marc Marquez has stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class on 31 occasions, the same number of premier class victories as four-time 500cc World Champion Eddie Lawson. His Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa needs just one more MotoGP victory to equal Marquez and Lawson.

Eddie Lawson - 1986 — Eddie Lawson – 1986

Riders with the most wins in MotoGP/500cc class

89 Valentino Rossi (7 premier class titles)
68 Giacomo Agostini (8 premier class titles)
54 Mick Doohan (5 premier class titles)
44 Jorge Lorenzo (3 premier class titles)
38 Casey Stoner (2 premier class titles)
37 Mike Hailwood (4 premier class titles),
31 Eddie Lawson (4 premier class titles), Marc Marquez (3 premier-class titles)
30 Dani Pedrosa (0 premier class titles)

Dani Pedrosa topped the 250cc Podium at Brno in 2005 ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner

Dani Pedrosa levels with Jorge Lorenzo

Dani Pedrosa’s third place finish in Germany was the fifth time this year that he has stood on the podium, taking him level with Jorge Lorenzo in the following list of riders with the most podium finishes in the premier class. Only Valentino Rossi has stood on the podium more often than the two Spanish rivals.

Number of Podium finishes in the premier category of Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing

Valentino Rossi 189 Podiums – 89 Wins – 57 second places – 43 third places
Jorge Lorenzo 108 Podiums – 44 Wins – 42 second places – 22 third places
Dani Pedrosa 108 Podiums – 30 Wins – 38 second places – 40 third places
Mick Doohan 95 Podiums – 54 Wins – 31 second places – 10 third places
Giacomo Agostini 88 Podiums – 68 Wins – 20 second places – 0 third places
Eddie Lawson 78 Podiums – 31 Wins – 31 second places – 16 third places
Casey Stoner 69 Podiums – 38 Wins – 11 second places – 20 third places
Wayne Rainey 64 Podiums – 24 Wins – 22 second places – 18 third places
Max Biaggi 58 Podiums – 13 Wins – 26 second places – 19 third places
Marc Marquez 56 Podiums – 31 Wins – 17 second places – 8 third places

Half-term report MotoGP season 2017 a record breaker

Just ten points cover the top four in the MotoGP Championship classification. This is the smallest margin ever covering the top four riders in the premier class Championship after the first nine races of the year.
Dani Pedrosa, in fifth place in the Championship, is just 26 points behind teammate Marc Marquez – the closest top five ever in the premier class after the first nine races of the year.

There have been five different winners in the first nine MotoGP races of the year and ten different riders representing five different nations have finished on the podium.
Four different riders have led the championship standings in the opening half of the 2017 season: Maverick Viñales, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez.
All twenty-three riders on the full-time MotoGP entry list have scored world championship points during 2017 and seventeen of these riders have had at least one finish in the top eight.
Eleven different riders have qualified on the front row of the grid in MotoGP during the first half of 2017.
Following the German Grand Prix, Marc Marquez leads the MotoGP championship standings with a score of 129 points. This is the lowest score for a rider leading the Championship after the opening nine races of the year since the current points scoring system was introduced in 1993; the previous lowest was in 2000 when Kenny Roberts had 145 points after nine races.

MotoGP Facts and Stats

The win by Marc Marquez in Germany means that he has finished on the podium at three or more successive races for the first time since he was on the podium at Mugello, Catalunya, Assen and the Sachsenring last year.

Maverick Viñales retained his second place in the standings with his fourth place finish in Germany, maintaining his record of being either first or second place in the Championship after every race so far in 2017.
Although Andrea Dovizioso lost the Championship lead after finishing eighth in Germany, his current score of 123 points is the highest by a Ducati rider after the first nine races of the year since Casey Stoner scored 148 points at the same stage of the 2009 season.

Andrea Dovizioso - Sachsenring 2017 — Andrea Dovizioso – Sachsenring 2017

When Valentino Rossi lines up on the grid at Brno it will be the 22nd successive year that he will have started a Grand Prix race at Brno, and will be just the second circuit, along with Jerez, he will have raced at in every year of his GP career. The other three circuits that have appeared on the schedule every year whilst Rossi has been racing (Mugello, Catalunya and Assen) were all circuits he did not start following his accident in practice for the Italian Grand Prix in 2010.

Valentino Rossi leads Sete Gibernau at Brno in 2005

Jonas Folger’s second place finish in Germany was just the second podium finish by a German rider in MotoGP since it replaced the 500cc class in 2002; the other was Stefan Bradl’s second place finish at Laguna Seca in 2013. It was also the first podium finish by a German rider in the premier class at the Sachsenring since Ernst Hiller finished third on a Kawasaki in the 1971 500cc race. Ernst Hiller was on the podium again in Germany in 1973 at the age of 44, finishing in third place at the West German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in a race where sixth place finisher was his son Reinhard Hiller.

Jonas Folger on the podium at Sachsenring 2017

With his second place finish at the Sachsenring, Jonas Folger is now just 13 points behind teammate Johann Zarco in the battle to be top MotoGP rookie of 2017. The Tech3 team have had the top rookie in eight of the nine races of 2017, missing out only at the first race of the year when Johann Zarco crashed when leading and Alex Rins finished 9th, one place ahead of Jonas Folger.
At the German GP Folger became the fourth Yamaha rider to stand on the podium in the MotoGP class in 2017. The only other time in the MotoGP era that Yamaha have had four different podium finishers in a single season was in 2012 when factory rider Jorge Lorenzo and Tech 3 riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow all finished on the podium, along with Katsuyuki Nakasuga – who finished second at Valencia as a replacement rider for Ben Spies.
Dani Pedrosa’s third place finish at the Sachsenring was the 149th time he has stood on the podium during his GP career. One more top three finish will make him just the third rider in the 69 year history of Grand Prix racing to reach the milestone of 150 grand prix podium finishes, joining Giacomo Agostini (159 GP podiums) and Valentino Rossi (225).

Cal Crutchlow’s win at Brno last year was the first victory in the premier class by a British rider for thirty five years since Barry Sheene riding a Yamaha in the 500cc Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp on 16th August 1981.
Pol Espargaro finished in 13th place in Germany, but just 32.179 seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez, which is the closest a KTM rider has finished to the race winner in the first season in MotoGP for the Austrian factory.
At the German Grand Prix Danilo Petrucci became the first rider Independent Team to qualify on the front row of the grid at three successive races since Cal Crutchlow in 2013 on a Yamaha. He is the first Independent Team Ducati rider to start from the front row at three successive MotoGP races.
Mixed fortunes for Scott Redding in 2017: at the Dutch TT he set the fastest lap of the race, and then eight days later in Germany his fastest race lap was the slowest of all twenty-four riders in the race.

Moto2 Facts and Stats

Franco Morbidelli has won his sixth race from the nine opening races of the season – Jorge Lorenzo was the last rider to achieve this feat in the intermediate-class back in 2007.
Morbidelli’s best result in Brno is eighth in both 2014 and last year.
Miguel Oliveira crossed the line in second at the Sachsenring, equalling his best Moto2 result from Argentina earlier this year. He finished ninth from ninth on the grid last year at Brno.
Francesco Bagnaia was third at the Sachsenring, his third podium in his rookie season in the intermediate category – equalling the number of Moto2 podiums of Lorenzo Baldassarri.
There have been seven different winners in Brno since the introduction of Moto2 in 2010 (Elías, Iannone, M. Márquez, Kallio, Rabat, Zarco, Folger).
Tom Lüthi (2012, 2013), Takaaki Nakagami (2013) and Sandro Cortese (2014) are the only riders currently competing in Moto2 to have stood on the podium in Brno in the class.
Tom Lüthi won the 125cc race at Brno in 2005, the year he took the world title in the lightweight class. Lüthi and Sandro Cortese (2011), are the only two riders on the Moto2 grid who have won in the lightweight class at this track.
Rabat (2014) and Zarco (2015) are the only riders who have won in Moto2 at Brno after qualifying on pole since 2010.

Moto3 Facts and Stats

In Germany, Joan Mir won for the fifth time in the opening nine races – something achieved by Danny Kent in 2015 on his way to becoming World Champion.
It was the 41st victory of a Spanish rider in Moto3 since 2012 (the most successful nation, in front of Italy with 16 Moto3 wins).
This is the eighth win for Honda from the opening nine races, the first time Honda have achieved this since the introduction of Moto3 class in 2012.
Joan Mir finished eighth in Brno last year during his rookie season in the Moto3 class.
Romano Fenati crossed the line in second in Sachsenring; his 20th podium in the Moto3 class so far, equalling Brad Binder and Luis Salom. Only two riders have more Moto3 podium finishes – Alex Rins with 23 and Maverick Viñales with 22.
Fenati’s best result in Moto3 at Brno is a sixth place (2014). He didn’t take part in the race last year after splitting with his team a few days before in Austria.
Marcos Ramírez completed the podium in Sachsenring, his best result in the Moto3 class and the third podium for KTM this year in Moto3.
John McPhee won his only Moto3 race in Brno last year. This was also the first Grand Prix win for the Mahindra-powered Peugeot machine.
John McPhee (2016) and Niccolò Antonelli (2015) are the only two riders to have won in Brno in Moto3 and who are currently racing in the Moto3 class.
There have been five different winners in Brno since the introduction of Moto3 in 2012: Folger, Salom, Masbou, Antonelli and McPhee.
Antonelli, in 2015, is only one to have won at Brno after qualifying on pole since the introduction of the category in 2012.
Jakub Kornfeil is only Czech rider currently competing in the Moto3 class. His best result in Brno is a fifth place in the 125cc race back in 2010. He will line up for the 136th Grand Prix start of his career, and is the most experienced rider on the grid.