2014 MotoGP World Championship – Round Seven – Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya
Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines
Catalunya facts and figures – This is the 23rd successive year that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has been used since it was first included in the motorcycle Grand Prix series in 1992. Below are some significant facts and figures from the previous 22 events held at the circuit:
- Only three current venues have a longer ongoing sequence of hosting Grand Prix events: Jerez, Mugello and Assen
- The last time that Spain did not have at least one GP winner across the three classes at the Catalan Grand Prix was 2002
- During the four-stroke MotoGP era, Yamaha have taken seven victories, Honda have had three wins and Ducati two
- Valentino Rossi is the most successful rider across all Grand Prix classes at the Catalunya circuit with nine victories (1 x 125cc, 2 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 5 x MotoGP). The next most successful, with four wins each in Catalunya, are Jorge Lorenzo (1 x 250cc, 3 x MotoGP) and Max Biaggi (4 x 250cc)
- There have been seven premier class victories by Spanish riders at the Catalunya circuit: Alex Criville in 1995 & 1999, Carlos Checa in 1996, Dani Pedrosa in 2008 and Jorge Lorenzo in 2010, 2012 & 2013
- There has been at least one Spanish rider on the podium in the MotoGP race at the Catalan GP for the last seven years
- Only two riders have won the MotoGP race at Catalunya from pole position: Valentino Rossi in 2006 and Jorge Lorenzo in 2010
- Six riders currently racing in the MotoGP class have finished on the podium in the premier class at the Catalunya circuit: Valentino Rossi (10 times), Jorge Lorenzo (5 times), Dani Pedrosa (5 times), Andrea Dovizioso (once), Nicky Hayden (once) and Marc Marquez (once)
Marc Marquez extends perfect start to the season – At the Italian Grand Prix, Marc Marquez continued his perfect season of winning every race from pole position and in doing so he continues to re-write the record books:
- By winning in Italy he became the first rider since Valentino Rossi on a Honda in 2002 to win six or more successive MotoGP races
- He is only the sixth rider ever to win six or more successive races in the premier class. The other riders who have done this are: Giacomo Agostini, Mike Hailwood, John Surtees, Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi
- The victory for Marquez at Mugello made him the youngest ever rider, at the age of 21 years and 104 days, to win six successive races in the premier class, taking the record from Valentino Rossi who was 23 years and 148 days old when he took the sixth of seven successive wins in the MotoGP class in 2002, riding a Honda
- He is the first rider since Giacomo Agostini in 1971, riding an MV Agusta, to win the opening six races of the year in the premier class. In 1971 Agostini went on to win the first eight races of the year, all from pole position.
- In addition to his six pole positions this year, Marquez also started from pole at the final race of 2013. The last rider to qualify on pole in seven successive MotoGP races was Casey Stoner in 2008, riding a Ducati.
- He is the first rider to win six successive premier class races from pole position since Mick Doohan, on a Honda, won ten successive races in 1997 – all having started from pole position
- Marquez has a lead of 53 points in the championship over Valentino Rossi. This is the largest points advantage after the first six races of the year in the MotoGP class since 2005, when Valentino Rossi had a 58-point lead over Marco Melandri after the first six races
At the Catalan Grand Prix, Marquez has the potential to achieve the following:
- By winning in Catalunya he would become only the second rider to win seven successive MotoGP races since the category was introduced in 2002 as the premier class of Grand Prix racing. The only other rider to win seven successive MotoGP races is Valentino Rossi in 2002
- Victory for Marquez in Catalunya would make him 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 of age when he had seven successive wins in the MotoGP class in 2002, riding a Honda
- If Marquez qualifies on pole in Catalunya, he will become the first rider to start from pole at eight or more premier class races since Mick Doohan had a sequence of 12 successive 500cc GP poles in 1997
Marc Marquez levels with John Surtees
The victory by Marc Marquez at Mugello marked the 38th time that he had been on the top step of the podium in his Grand Prix career. This is the same number of GP wins John Surtees achieved during his career, during which he won seven world titles: four in the 500 class and three in the 350 class. Surtees retired from motorcycle racing at the age of 26 and then went on to win the F1 world title in car racing. Marquez now needs just one more GP win to equal the number of career victories achieved by Carlo Ubbiali, who won a total of nine world titles: six in the 125 class and three in the 250 class. At the age of just 21, Marquez is already the 14th equal most successful rider of all-time in terms of Grand Prix wins.
Honda close in on 100th win in the MotoGP class
The win by Marc Marquez at Mugello marked the 99th 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. To date, 212 MotoGP have taken place and the number of wins by each manufacturer is shown in the table:
- Honda 99
- Yamaha 81
- Ducati 31
- Suzuki 1
13 different riders have provided Honda win MotoGP victories. The following table shows the number of wins each rider has contributed to the total:
- 25 – Dani Pedrosa
- 20 – Valentino Rossi
- 15 – Casey Stoner
- 12 – Marc Marquez
- 8 – Sete Gibernau
- 5 – Marco Melandri
- 3 – Nicky Hayden, Max Biaggi, Alex Barros
- 2 – Makoto Tamada
- 1 – Tohru Ukawa, Toni Elias, Andrea Dovizioso
Record-breaking Moto3TM race at Mugello
At the end of the Moto3 race at Mugello there were just 0.010 seconds covering the first three riders across the line, making it the closest Grand Prix podium finish of all-time. The following list shows the ten closest Grand Prix podium finishes of all-time from all classes.
Note: When compiling information all classes have been considered; no races from the now defunct 50cc, 80cc and 350cc categories appear in the list solely due to the fact that none had a smaller enough time margin covering any podium finishers to be included in the all-time top ten list.
Moto2 stats and trivia
- Having collected his third win of the season in Italy, Tito Rabat now leads team-mate Mika Kallio in the standings by 22 points; this is the second-largest advantage he has held so far this season, as the gap was up to 28 points following the Grand Prix of Argentina
- In Italy, championship leader Rabat posted the fastest race lap for the first time this season; this marked the fourth fastest lap in his career after Jerez, Silverstone and MotorLand Aragon last year
- Only three riders failed to finish the Italian Grand Prix – this equals the lowest non-finish rate of 2014 so far; the previous non-finish rate of three was at the Grand Prix of Argentina
- From the four Catalan Moto2 GPs held to date since 2010, riders have won from as many different countries: Japan (Yuki Takahashi), Germany (Stefan Bradl), Italy (Andrea Iannone) and Spain (Pol Espargaro); last year, Espargaro beat then team-mate Rabat by just 81 thousandths of a second
- For the first two years of Moto2, the Barcelona race was decided by at least a four-second margin. However, the gap between first and second positions has been 83 and 81 thousandths of a second in 2012 (Andrea Iannone and Tom Luthi) and 2013 (Pol Espargaro and Tito Rabat), respectively
Moto3 stats and trivia
- Last time out, Moto3 achieved a new record for the smallest gap covering the top three finishes of any World Championship Grand Prix that has ever been staged in any class; just 0.010 seconds covered winner Romano Fenati, second-placed Isaac Viñales and third-placed Alex Rins
- Championship leader Jack Miller registered his first retirement of the season as he crashed out on the final lap at Mugello; the Australian was deemed responsible for also taking out Alex Marquez and Enea Bastianini and was therefore handed two penalty points; his championship lead of five points now matches the lowest it has been at any point so far this year (he led Marquez and Romano Fenati by five points after the respective Grands Prix of Qatar and Spain)
- Having never finished on a World Championship podium until Round 5 in France, Isaac Viñales has now finished inside the top three of the last two Grands Prix; last year, his younger cousin Maverick picked up consecutive podiums in the first ten races en route to winning the world title
- Eric Granado celebrated his 18th birthday on the Tuesday before the Catalan Grand Prix
- Arthur Sissis will turn 19 on race day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Grand Prix racing numbers
- 65 years – The first day of practice in Catalunya will mark the 65th anniversary of the very first race that counted towards the World Championship – the 350cc race at the Isle of Man TT in 1949. This race was won by British rider Freddie Frith, riding a Velocette. Frith went on to win all five GP races in the 350cc class in 1949 to take the world title, before retiring from racing
- 61 – The victory by Marc Marquez at Mugello marked the 61st time that he had stood on the podium in Grand Prix racing: the same number of podium finishes that Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez and Pierpaolo Bianchi achieved during their Grand Prix careers. Another top three finish for Marquez would equal the number of Grand Prix podiums achieved by Marco Melandri
- 50% – The win by Marc Marquez at Mugello was the 12th win in the MotoGP class from just 24 race starts, giving him a win ratio of 50%
- 23 – Pol Espargaro celebrated his 23rd birthday on the Tuesday prior to the Catalan Grand Prix
- 16 years – On the day of qualifying in Catalunya, it will be 16 years to the day since Carlos Checa took his second GP win in the 500 class at the 1998 Madrid GP at Jarama, with fellow Spanish rider Sete Gibernau taking his first GP podium in third on a Honda V-twin
- 11 years – On race day at the Catalan Grand Prix it will be exactly 11 years since Loris Capirossi won the 2003 MotoGP race in Catalunya: Ducati’s first ever win in the premier class
- 9 – Andrea Iannone’s second place on the grid at Mugello made him the ninth different rider to start from the front row in MotoGP this year (Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Iannone, Dani Pedrosa, Bradley Smith, Pole Espargaro, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo)
- 6 – Tito Rabat is the first rider to finish in the top four at all of the first six Moto2 races of the year
- 6 – Honda have won the last six successive MotoGP races with Marc Marquez; this is the first time that Honda have won six or more successive MotoGP races since 2003
- 5 – With his win at Mugello, Romano Fenati is the first Italian to take three wins in a single season in the Moto3/125 class since Andrea Iannone in 2009
- 4 – Just four riders have scored points in all of the first six Moto3 races of 2014: Alex Rins, Efren Vazquez, Alexis Masbou and Danny Kent
- 0.65 seconds – The total accumulated time separating the race winners from second place finishers in the six Moto3 races so far in 2014
