Catalunya MotoGP Statistics Smorgasbord

MotoGP Statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines – Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – Grand Prix racing in Catalunya

This is the 26th successive year that the Circuit de Catalunya has hosted a grand prix; it was first included in the motorcycle grand prix series in 1992, and below are some facts and statistics related to the previous GP events 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 nine victories at the Catalunya circuit, including for the last two years.

• Honda have had just four wins at the Catalunya circuit during the MotoGP era.
• Ducati have taken two MotoGP wins at the Catalunya circuit, including their very first in the class with Loris Capirossi in 2003. The last podium finish by a Ducati rider at the Catalan GP was the 3rd place finish by Casey Stoner in 2010.

• The last win by Suzuki at the Catalunya Grand Prix was in the 500cc class in 2000, with Kenny Roberts. Last year Maverick Viñales’ fourth place equalled the best result for a Suzuki rider at the Catalunya circuit since the introduction of the MotoGP formula in 2002, which had previously been achieved by John Hopkins in both 2006 and 2007.
• Aleix Espargaro started from pole two years ago in Catalunya, which was the first pole for Suzuki since Chris Vermeulen took the top qualifying spot at the Dutch TT in 2007.
• The last Yamaha rider to start from pole in Catalunya was Jorge Lorenzo in 2010, which was also the last time that the rider starting from pole won the MotoGP race at this circuit. In addition to Jorge Lorenzo, the only other rider to have won the MotoGP race at Catalunya from pole position is Valentino Rossi, in 2006.
• Valentino Rossi is the most successful rider across all grand prix classes at the Catalunya circuit with ten victories (1 x 125cc, 2 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 6 x MotoGP). The next most successful, with five wins, is Jorge Lorenzo (1 x 250cc, 4 x MotoGP). Last year Rossi won at Catalunya for the first time since 2009.

• There have been nine premier class victories by Spanish riders at the Catalunya circuit; Alex Criville in 1995 & 1999, Carlos Checa in 1996, Dani Pedrosa in 2008, Jorge Lorenzo in 2010, 2012, 2013 & 2015, and Marc Marquez in 2014.

• There has been at least one Spanish rider on the podium in the MotoGP race at the Catalan GP for the last ten years.
• The seven Moto2 races that have taken place at the Catalunya circuit have been won by six different riders, and none who are currently competing in the class: Yuki Takahashi, Stefan Bradl, Andrea Iannone, Pol Espargaro, Tito Rabat, and Johann Zarco. The only rider among these who has more than a single Moto2 victory at this circuit is Johann Zarco, who won in the last two years.

• Honda riders have won the Moto3 race at the Catalan GP for the last three years. Jorge Navarro’s win last year ended a run of 25 successive Moto3 races without a Spanish winner, which began after Efren Vazquez won in Malaysia in 2014.

Record breaking Italian Grand Prix

• It was the first time since the Italian Grand Prix in 2008 that the winners of all three races were Italian riders. On that occasion it was: MotoGP – Valentino Rossi, 250cc – Marco Simoncelli and 125cc – Simone Corsi.
• Andrea Migno took his first Grand Prix victory in what was his 51st start in the Moto3 class.

• Mattia Pasini won for the first time in the Moto2 class, and his first GP win since the 250cc race at Mugello in 2009.
• Pasini is only the seventh rider to win in both the 250cc class and Moto2 class, along with Toni Elias, Mika Kallio, Alex de Angelis, Roberto Rolfo, Yuki Takahashi and Anthony West. Pasini is the only rider still competing in Moto2 who has won a 250cc GP race.

• At the age of 31 years 295 days Mattia Pasini is the second oldest rider, after Anthony West, to win a Moto2 race.
• Andrea Dovizioso won for the third time in the MotoGP class, but for the first time in fully dry conditions.

• Dovizioso is the third Italian rider to take a premier-class win at Mugello, adding to the seven wins by Valentino Rossi and a single win by Loris Capirossi.
• This was just the third MotoGP win by Ducati in Italy, adding to Casey Stoner’s victories at Mugello in 2009 and at Misano in 2007.
• This is the first ever GP win in the premier-class for an Italian rider on an Italian bike at the Mugello circuit.

• The last premier-class Grand Prix win by an Italian rider on an Italian manufactured motorcycle in Italy was by Gianfranco Bonera in the 500cc race at the 1974 Nations Grand Prix at Imola in 1974.
• The 15th place finisher in the Moto3 race, Jorge Martin, crossed the line just 1.553 seconds behind race winner Andrea Migno; this is the closest top 15 in any class in the 69 year history of motorcycle grand prix racing.

Dani Pedrosa to become top Spaniard

At the Catalan GP, Dani Pedrosa is scheduled to make his 266th grand prix start to move ahead of Angel Nieto in the following list of riders with the most starts across all solo classes.

This table is topped by Valentino Rossi and in addition to Pedrosa also includes two other current riders; Andrea Dovizioso, who has made just one less GP start than Pedrosa, and Jorge Lorenzo, who is the rider with 10th most GP starts of all-time.

1. Valentino Rossi 354 
2. Loris Capirossi 328 
3. Jack Findlay 282 
4. Alex Barros 276 
5. Angel Nieto 265 
6. Dani Pedrosa 265 
7. Bruno Kneubuhler 264 
8. Andrea Dovizioso 264
9. Alex de Angelis 262
10. Jorge Lorenzo 256

Long winning careers for Dovizioso and Pasini

The wins by Andrea Dovizioso and Mattia Pasini at Mugello move them up the following list of riders who have the longest winning careers in Grand Prix racing, measured by time between their  rst GP win and their latest GP win.

This list is headed by Valentino Rossi and, in addition to Dovizioso and Pasini, includes two other current riders:

Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. Six of the ten riders in this list are Italian and three are Spanish, along with one British rider.

Rider First GP win – Last GP win – Length of winning GP career

1. Valentino Rossi 125cc/Czech/1996 – MotoGP/Catalunya/2016 – 19 years 292 days
2. Loris Capirossi 125cc/GB/1990 – MotoGP/Japan/2007 – 17 years 49 days
3. Angel Nieto 50cc/E. Germany/1969 – 80cc/France/1985 – 16 years 8 days
4. Dani Pedrosa 125cc/Dutch TT/2002 – MotoGP/Spain/2017 – 14 years 312 days
5. Phil Read 350cc/GB/1961 – 500cc/Czech/1975 – 14 years 71 days
6. Jorge Lorenzo 125cc/Rio/2003 – MotoGP/Valencia/2016 – 13 years 54 days
7. Andrea Dovizioso 125cc/South Africa/2004 – MotoGP/Italy/2017 – 13 years 47 days
8. Loris Reggiani 125cc/GB/1980 – 250cc/Czech/1993 – 13 years 12 days
9. Mattia Pasini 125cc/China/2005 – Moto2/Italy/2017 – 12 years 34 days
10. Max Biaggi 250cc/South Africa/1992 – MotoGP/Germany/2004 – 11 years 315 days

MotoGP Facts and Stats

• At the Catalan GP, Hector Barbera is scheduled to make his 250th grand prix start across all classes. He is just the 12th rider in the 69 year history of motorcycle grand prix racing to reach this milestone. At the age of 30 years 221 days he is the third youngest rider to reach the milestone of 250 GP starts, after Jorge Lorenzo (29 years 193 days) and Andrea Dovizioso (30 years 144 days).
• In Catalunya last year Maverick Viñales set the fastest lap of the race on his way to finishing 4th – his first in the MotoGP class.

• At the Italian Grand Prix Ducati had three riders finish in the top five in a dry MotoGP race for the first time since the Australian GP in 2007. That race was won by Casey Stoner from factory Ducati team-mate Loris Capirossi, with Alex Barros in fifth on the Pramac Ducati.

• Andrea Dovizioso is only the third rider to have more than a single MotoGP win on a Ducati, joining Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi.
• Danilo Petrucci’s third place at Mugello is the first podium finish in a full dry race for a Ducati rider from an Independent Team since Toni Elias was third at Misano in 2008.
• At the Catalan Grand Prix Andrea Iannone is scheduled to make his 200th grand prix start.
• Johann Zarco continued his great start to his rookie season in the MotoGP class with a seventh place finish at Mugello, taking him to a total of 64 points after the opening six races of the year. Only once before in the MotoGP era has a rookie rider for an Independent Team scored more points from the first six races of the the year – Casey Stoner with 65 points in 2006.
• Tenth place finisher at Mugello, Andrea Iannone, crossed the line just 15.502 seconds after race winner Andrea Dovizioso – the closest ever top ten finish in a race that has run full distance since the MotoGP era began. Only two premier class grand prix races that have run for the full distance have had closer top ten finishes; the Australian 500cc GP in 2000 when 12.582 seconds covered the top ten finishers and the 500cc Czech GP in 1996 when 13.776 seconds covered the top ten.
• The sixth place finish by Marc Marquez at the Italian Grand Prix was the first time he has finished a race outside of the top five in a race where he has not either been penalised or crashed and re-started, since the 125cc race at Brno in 2010. The other occasions since the Czech GP in 2010 where he has finished lower than fifth are: 2010/125cc/Indianapolis/10th – penalised 20 seconds, 2011/Moto2/Portugal/21st – crashed and re-started, 2014/MotoGP/ Misano/15th – crashed and re-started, 2014/MotoGP/Aragon/13th – crashed and re-started, 2016 /MotoGP/France/13th – crashed and re-started, 2016/ MotoGP/Malaysia/11th – crashed and re-started.
• Following his win at Le Mans and second place finish at Mugello, Maverick Viñales will be aiming to finish on the podium at three successive races for the first time since moving up to the MotoGP class.
• Andrea Dovizioso was the fourth different rider to win a MotoGP race this year. The last time that there were four different winners in the opening six MotoGP races of the year was in 2008 (Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi).
• Valentino Rossi’s win in Catalunya last year was the last time that he stood on the top step of the podium.

Moto2 Facts and Stats

• Mattia Pasini’s first Moto2 win at Mugello was the first time he has stood on the top step of the podium since winning the 250cc race at Mugello in 2009. Between these two race wins he had started 97 races in the intermediate class without taking a win.

• Mattia Pasini’s first win in Moto2 at the Italian GP came 9 years 87 days after winning his first intermediate class grand prix race in Qatar in 2008. He moves above Tetsuya Harada into third place on the list of riders with the longest winning careers in the intermediate-class: Anthony West (11 years), Anton Mang (9 years 234 days), Mattia Pasini (9 years 87 days), Tetsuya Harada (8 years 193 days).
• Mattia Pasini is the second Italian rider to win in Mugello in Moto2, with Andrea Iannone, and the sixth Italian rider to win a Moto2 race.
• Mattia Pasini’s best result in the Moto2 class in Barcelona is a sixth place back in 2014. He won the 125cc race at this circuit in 2005 and was fourth in the 250cc race in 2009.
• Tom Lüthi was second across the line in Mugello, his 42nd podium finish in the intermediate category.
• Álex Márquez completed the top three in Mugello, his third podium finish in Moto2 – equaling Sandro Cortese and Lorenzo Baldassarri on the current grid. He crossed the line in eleventh from twelfth on the grid in Barcelona 2015. Last year at this circuit he finished 18th after crashing and re-starting.

• Along with Mattia Pasini (125cc – 2005) and Álex Márquez (Moto3 – 2014), Jorge Navarro is one of three riders currently racing in Moto2 who has won in the lightweight-class at this circuit.
• Luca Marini was sixth in Mugello and he is now ninth in the Championship – already having scored more points than last season.
• Francesco Bagnaia crashed on the last lap in Mugello and was not able to score points across the line. Tom Lüthi and Dominique Aegerter are now the only riders who have scored points in every race so far.
• Takaaki Nakagami and Tom Lüthi are the only riders on the current grid to have stood on the podium in Moto2 in Barcelona.
• This is the first time since 2014 that the top two riders in the Championship have scored more than 100 points after the six opening race of the season.

Moto3 Facts and Stats

• Andrea Migno won his first grand prix race in Mugello and became the second Italian rider to do so at this track since the introduction of the Moto3 category in 2012, along with Romano Fenati in 2014.

• Andrea Migno become the fifth Italian rider to win a Moto3 race and the 24th Moto3 winner overall.
• Andrea Migno’s best result in Catalunya is 18th, from 14th on the grid last year.
• Second across the line in Mugello, Fabio Di Giannantonio equaled his best result so far in Moto3. With six podium finishes in Moto3, he will be aiming to equal Joan Mir and Francesco Bagnaia with seven. He crossed the line in ninth last year in Barcelona in what was his rookie year.
• Last year’s Moto3 runner-up, Enea Bastianini is the only rider on the current grid who has stood on the podium at this track with two second places (2014-2015) and a third place (2016). He started from pole position at Catalunya in 2015, the first of his career.
• Mugello was the first time that Juanfran Guevara has stood on the podium, in 78 Grand Prix starts. His best result in Barcelona was last year, when he crossed the line in 13th.
• Darryn Binder finished fourth in Mugello, equaling the best result of his Grand Prix career after Australia last year. He crossed the line in twelfth last year in Barcelona, his best result at the time.
• KTM won at Mugello for the first time of the season. This is also the first time this year that Honda have not filled all three places on the Moto3 podium.
• In the last five Catalunya Grands Prix, KTM has won only once, with Luis Salom back in 2013.

2017 MotoGP content on MCNews.com.au brought to you by Honda Genuine

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