MotoGP Statistics Motegi 2015

MotoGP Statistics Motegi 2015

Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

Grand Prix racing at Motegi

The Motegi circuit was first added to the grand prix schedule in 1999 and has hosted a GP event every year since. Below are some facts and figures about grand prix racing at Motegi.

• This will be the 17th occasion that a grand prix event has been held at the Motegi circuit.
• Since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP formula in 2002, Honda have had five MotoGP victories at the Motegi circuit
• Yamaha have won the MotoGP race at Motegi on four occasions, including the last two years.

• Ducati have had four MotoGP wins at the Motegi circuit, the last of which was with Casey Stoner in 2010. The best result for Ducati at Motegi since 2010 is the fifth place finish for Andrea Dovizioso last year.
• Suzuki and Kenny Roberts Jnr won the first premier-class grand prix (then the 500cc class) held at Motegi in 1999 and repeated the win in 2000. Since the introduction of MotoGP as the premier-class of grand prix racing in 2002 the best result for Suzuki is fifth with John Hopkins in 2005.
• Dani Pedrosa is the rider with most GP wins at the Motegi circuit with four (2 x MotoGP, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc). Four other riders have had three GP victories at Motegi: Loris Capirossi (3 x MotoGP), Toni Elias (2 x 250cc, 1 x Moto2), Mika Kallio (2 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc) and Jorge Lorenzo (3 x MotoGP).
• Home riders have taken eight GP victories at the Motegi circuit: Masao Azuma – 125cc/1999, Shinya Nakano – 250cc/1999, Daijiro Kato – 250cc/2000, Tetsuya Harada – 250cc/2001, Youichi Ui – 125cc/2001, Makoto Tamada – MotoGP™/2004 & Hiroshi Aoyama – 250cc in both 2005 and 2006.
• The last Japanese rider to finish on the podium at Motegi is Hiroshi Aoyama – second in the 250cc race in 2009.

Jorge Lorenzo moves above Casey Stoner

Jorge Lorenzo’s victory at Aragon was the 39th time he has stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class. As shown below, this moves him above Casey Stoner in the list of riders with most premier-class grand prix wins. Only three riders in the 67-year history of grand prix motorcycle racing have achieved more premier-class victories than Jorge Lorenzo.

Riders with most wins in MotoGP/500cc class

1. 86 – Valentino Rossi (7 premier-class titles)
2. 68 – Giacomo Agostini (8 premier-class titles)
3. 54 -Mick Doohan (5 premier-class titles)
4. 39 – Jorge Lorenzo (2 premier-class titles)
5. 38 – Casey Stoner (2 premier-class titles)
6. 37 -Mike Hailwood (4 premier-class titles),
7. 31 -Eddie Lawson (4 premier-class titles)

Jorge Lorenzo levels with Phil Read

Jorge Lorenzo’s win in Aragon was his 39th victory in the MotoGP class, all of which have been achieved riding for Yamaha.

As shown in the table below, this equals the number of GP wins achieved riding Yamaha machinery by Phil Read. Only Valentino Rossi has won more times than Read on motorcycles produced by Yamaha.

Riders with most wins on Yamaha

• Valentino Rossi 53 / 53 x MotoGP
• Phil Read – 39 / 2 x 350cc – 27 x 250cc – 10 x 125cc
• Jorge Lorenzo – 39 / 39 x MotoGP
• Eddie Lawson – 26 / 26 x 500cc
• Wayne Rainey – 24 / 24 x 500cc
• Kenny Roberts – 24 / 22 x 500cc – 2 x 250cc
• Bill Ivy – 21 / 7 x 250cc – 14 x 125cc
• Carlos Lavado – 19 / 2 x 350cc – 17 x 250cc
• Kent Andersson – 18 / 4 x 250cc – 14 x 125cc
• Jarno Saarinen – 15 / 2 x 500cc – 5 x 350cc – 8 x 250cc

Dani Pedrosa closes-in on Angel Nieto

Dani Pedrosa’s second place finish at Aragon, after his great battle with Valentino Rossi, was his 138th grand prix podium finish. This is just one less GP podium than multi World Champion Angel Nieto, who has more grand prix podium finishes than any other Spanish rider, as shown in the table below:

Johann Zarco’s title winning chances at Motegi

Although at Aragon Johann Zarco finished off the podium for the first time since the opening race of the year, he arrives at Motegi with a great chance of clinching the title. Zarco now leads Tito Rabat, the only rider who can now deny him the title, by 78 points. To win the title in Motegi he needs to have a 75 points lead in the championship on completion of the race and the following scenarios will result in Zarco taking the world championship in Motegi:

RelatedPosts

MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 Entry Lists for 2025 season

November 22, 2024

Catalunya MotoGP Test roundup – Quotes – Images – Times

November 20, 2024

• If Zarco wins the race
• If Zarco is second or third and finishes in front of Rabat
• If Zarco is fourth and Rabat does not finish first or second
• If Zarco is fifth or sixth and Rabat does not finish on the podium
• If Zarco is seventh or eighth and Rabat finishes no higher than fifth
• If Zarco is ninth to 15th and Rabat finishes no more than three places ahead of him
• If Zarco fails to score he will still win the title if Rabat finishes no higher than 13th.

Danny Kent has first title chance

Although he failed to score any points in the race at Aragon, Danny Kent arrives in Japan with a 55 points lead and has a chance at Motegi to become the first British rider to take a grand prix world championship since Barry Sheene won the 500cc title in 1977. The following scenarios will result in Kent taking the world championship in Motegi:

• If Kent wins the race and Bastianini finishes no higher than 11th
• If Kent finishes second and Bastianini fails to score any points

Grand Prix racing numbers

• 100 – Hector Barbera is scheduled to make his 100th MotoGP start at the Japanese Grand Prix.
• 100 – The Moto2 race at Aragon was the 100th since the class was introduced at the start of 2010 to replace the 250cc class. Dominique Aegerter is the only rider to start all one hundred Moto2 races, but due to his unfortunate crash in Aragon is set to miss the Japanese Grand Prix.
• 84 – Honda lead the Moto3 Constructors Championship by 84 points and will take the title in the lightweight-class for the first time since 2001 if any Honda rider finishes on the podium.
• 62 – Yamaha lead the MotoGP Constructors Championship by 62 points and will clinch the title (for the first time since 2010) in Motegi if they outscore Honda by thirteen points.
• 50 – At the Aragon Grand Prix Marc Marquez made his 50th start in the MotoGP class, from which he has had 23 race wins and a total of 37 podium finishes. It is interesting to compare these statistics to the first 50 starts in the premier-class for Valentino Rossi, from which he took 25 race wins and a total of 40 podium finishes.
• 28 – The Aragon Grand Prix resulted in Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa taking the top two places for the 28th time in the MotoGP class – the most frequent top two combination of riders in the premier-class. From the twenty eight times the two riders have filled the top two positions, Lorenzo has won on fifteen occasions and Pedrosa on the remaining thirteen occasions.
• 16 – Jorge Navarro finished on the podium for the first time at the Aragon grand prix. He is the 16th different rider to finish on the podium in the Moto3 class this year, the highest number of different podium finishers in the lightweightclass since 1979, when there were 17.
• 10 – Jorge Lorenzo’s victory in Aragon was the tenth win of the year by Yamaha, and they now need just one more victory from the final four races to equal the greatest number of premier-class grand prix wins they have achieved in a single season; in both 2010 and 2005.
• 3 – Following Danilo Petrucci’s crash at Aragon there are now just three riders in the MotoGP class who have scored points at every race in 2015: Valentino Rossi, Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith.
• 2 – Motegi is one of just two circuits where Marquez has not had a win in the MotoGP class, along with Phillip Island.

Moto2 stats and facts

• Johann Zarco won the 125cc race in Japan in 2011 from pole position – this was his first victory in grand prix racing. Zarco finished fourth last year at Motegi, his best result from three appearances in the Moto2 class at the circuit.
• Alex Rins finished fourth in the Moto3 race at Motegi in his rookie season in 2012. In 2013 he qualified on pole at Motegi, then crashed at the final corner on lap sixteen when battling for a podium finish. Last year he finished tenth at Motegi, after running wide at the first corner and finishing the first lap down in 21st place.
• Tito Rabat has twice finished on the podium at Motegi in the last three years – third place in both 2012 and last year. He also qualified on pole at the Japanese grand prix last year.
• Tom Luthi has finished on the podium at Motegi for the last two years; third in 2013 and a race victory last year. Last year he qualified in second place on the grid at Motegi, then got the holeshot and led the race from start to finish.
• Mika Kallio had three successive wins at the Motegi circuit: the 125cc race in both 2005 and 2006, and the 250cc race in 2007. He had his first Moto2 pole two years ago at Motegi and went on to finish second in the race.
• Hafizh Syahrin finished seventh in Aragon and Azian Shah was 14th – the first time that two Malaysian riders have scored points in the same race in the intermediate-class of grand prix racing.

Moto3 stats and facts

• Danny Kent took his first ever Moto3 grand prix victory at Motegi in 2012, having qualified on pole for the first time. He missed the Moto2™race at Motegi in 2013 after he crashed in morning warm-up and broke a collarbone, after qualifying in a season’s best of ninth place on the grid. He qualified on pole again for the Moto3 race at Motegi last year and then finished sixth after leading the race in the early stages and starting the last lap in second place.
• Danny Kent is the only rider currently competing in the Moto3 class who has won a grand prix race at the Motegi circuit.
• Enea Bastianini finished eighth last year at Motegi, from 15th place on the grid. Bastianini has been on pole at the last two races; another pole for him at Motegi would make him the first Italian rider to take three successive poles in the lightweight-class of GP racing since Mattia Pasini in 2007.
• Miguel Oliveira’s best result at Motegi is fourth in 2013 after qualifying down in 18th place on the grid. Last year he had a big highside crash with nine laps remaining when battling in the leading group of riders.
• Efren Vazquez finished second in the Moto3 race at Motegi last year after qualifying down in fourteenth place on the grid.
• John McPhee finished fourth last year at the Japanese grand prix, which was his best ever result before he finished second at Indianapolis earlier this year.
• Brad Binder took third place last year at Motegi, one of two podium finishes he achieved last year.