MotoGP 2014 – Round 11 – Brno – GRAND PRIX C`´ESKÉ REPUBLIKY
Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines – Czech MotoGP Brno
History of Grand Prix racing at Brno – This year’s Czech Grand Prix will be the 45th to be held at Brno. Below is a brief history of Grand Prix racing at thisfamous 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 66 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 27th 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 Yamaha and Honda have had five victories at Brno and Ducati have had two. Honda riders have won at Brno for the last three years, the last Yamaha win was with Jorge Lorenzo 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 best result by a Czech rider in the MotoGP class at the Brno circuit is Karel Abraham’s ninth place finish in 2012.
- 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 set to equal Alex Barros – At the Czech Grand Prix Valentino Rossi is scheduled to make his 245th GP start in the MotoGP/500cc class, equalling Alex Barros who currently holds the record for most starts in the premier-class of Grand Prix racing. The following list shows the ten riders with most Grand Prix starts in the premier-class; this includes Colin Edwards, who has recently announced his retirement from Grand Prix racing and is just four short of reaching the milestone of 200 starts in the premier-class.
- Alex Barros 245
- Valentino Rossi 244
- Loris Capirossi 217
- Colin Edwards 196
- Carlos Checa 194
- Nicky Hayden 193
- Kenny Roberts Jnr 167
- Sete Gibernau 160
- Jack Findlay 157
- Randy Mamola 145
Marc Marquez record numbers – Following the win by Marc Marquez at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, below are a selection of numbers relating to his Grand Prix achievements:
- 89 – Marquez has an 89 point advantage after his Indianapolis Grand Prix victory and if he continues his winning sequence for the next four races he can clinch the title at the Aragon GP irrespective of the results of other riders.
- 65 – His win at Indianapolis was the 65th time that Marquez has stood on the podium in his Grand Prix career. This places him in 20th place in the all-time Grand Prix podium list, equal with Andrea Dovizioso and Wayne Rainey.
- 42 – The victory by Marc Marquez at Indianapolis was the 42nd time that he has stood on the top step of the podium in his Grand Prix career, the same number of Grand Prix wins as two former multi World Champions, Toni Mang and Max Biaggi.
- 21 years 174 days – At the Indianapolis GP Marquez became the youngest rider to win ten successive premier-class races, taking the record from Mike Hailwood who was 24 years 94 days old when in 1964 he won the tenth of a twelve race winning sequence. If Marquez wins at Brno, at the age of 21 years
- 181 days he will become the youngest rider to win eleven successive premier-class races, taking the record from Mike Hailwood who was 24 years 108 days old when in 1964 he won the eleventh of that twelve race winning sequence.
- 22 – Marquez has qualified on the front row at the last twenty two MotoGP races. The last time he did not start from the front row was when he was 6th on the grid in Catalunya last year.
- 10 – He is the first rider to win ten successive MotoGP races since the class was introduced in 2002 as the premier-class of Grand Prix racing. The last rider to win ten or more successive premier-class races was in 1997 when Mick Doohan won ten successive 500cc GP races. If Marquez wins at the Czech GP he will be the first rider to win eleven or more successive premier-class GP races since Giacomo Agostini had a twenty race winning streak over the 1968 & 1969 seasons.
- 10 – He is the first rider to win the opening ten races of the season in the premier-class since Giacomo Agostini won the first ten races of the 1970 season.
- A win for Marquez at Brno would make him the first rider to win the first eleven races of the season in the premier-class.
- 10 – Marquez has already taken ten wins in 2014. Only four other riders have ever won ten or more premier-class GP races in a single season: Mick Doohan – twelve race wins in 1997, Valentino Rossi – eleven race wins in 2001, 2002 & 2005, Giacomo Agostini – eleven wins in 1972 and ten wins in 1968, 1969 & 1970, Casey Stoner – ten wins in 2007 & 2011.
- 10 – Ten race wins for Marquez in 2014 is a new record for most premier-class race wins in a single season by a Spanish rider.
- 4 – Only four other riders have won ten or more successive races in the history of premier-class Grand Prix racing: Giacomo Agostini, Mike Hailwood, John Surtees and Mick Doohan.
Spain close in on 200th win in lightweight class of Grand Prix racing – The victory by Efren Vazquez at the Indianapolis Grand Prix was the 199th win by Spanish riders in the lightweight class (Moto3/125cc) of Grand Prix racing. Salvador Canellas, riding a Spanish made Bultaco, was the first Spanish rider t win in the lightweight class – the 125cc race at the Spanish GP in 1968 at Montjuich, and since then twenty three other Spanish riders have added to the total. As shown in the following table, Spain is scheduled to become just the second nation to reach the milestone of 200 GP wins in the lightweight class.
Nation Rankings Victory in 125cc / Moto3 category
- 1 Italy 224
- 2 Spain 199
- 3 Japan 76
- 4 Great Britain* 58
- 5 Germany** 55
- 6 Switzerland 30
- 7 France 22
- 8 Sweden 18
- 9 New Zealand 17
- 10 Australia 14
- 11 The Netherlands 11
- 12 Austria 10
- 13 Hungary 9
- 14 Finland 7
- San Marino 7
- 16 Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 4
- 17 Venezuela 2
- Czech 2
- 19 Canada 1
* Includes Northern Ireland – ** Includes former West and East Germany
The 199 lightweight class GP wins by Spain have been shared by twenty four riders, as follows:
- 62 – Angel Nieto
- 15 – Jorge Martinez
- 13 – Nico Terol
- 12 – Maverick Viñales
- 10 – Marc Marquez
- 9 – Luis Salom
- 8 – Alvaro Bautista, Hector Faubel, Dani Pedrosa, Julian Simon
- 6 – Hector Barbera, Alex Rins
- 5 – Alex Criville, Pol Espargaro
- 4 – Emilio Alzamora, Jorge Lorenzo, Ricardo Tormo
- 3 – Alex Marquez, Sergio Gadea
- 2 – Toni Elias
- 1 – Salvador Canellas, Benjamin Grau, Pablo Nieto, Efren Vazquez
Grand Prix racing numbers
- 500 – The win by Marc Marquez at the Indianapolis Grand Prix was the 500th GP win for Spanish riders across all classes.
- 200 – At the Czech GP, Hector Barbera is scheduled to make his 200th Grand Prix start. Barbera made his GP debut at the opening 125cc race of the 2002 season in Japan and has si nce been a permanent fixture of the Grand Prix paddock. Barbera is the 24th rider to reach the milestone of 200 Grand Prix starts across all classes since the World Championship series was first introduced in 1949. Barbera is scheduled to become the fourth youngest rider to reach the milestone of 200 GP starts, after: Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.
- 100 – The victory for Marc Marquez in Indianapolis was the 100th Grand Prix win in the premier-class for Spanish riders.
- 78 – Jorge Lorenzo’s second place finish in Indianapolis was the 78th time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class. This is the same number of podium finishes in the premier-class of GP racing as four-time 500cc World Champion Eddie Lawson. Only four riders have stood on the podium more often than Lorenzo in the premier-class: Valentino Rossi (153 podium finishes), Mick Doohan (95), Dani Pedrosa (91) and Giacomo Agostini (88).
- 50 – At Brno, Karel Abraham is scheduled to become the first Czech rider to reach the milestone of 50 starts in the premier-class of Grand Prix racing.
- 33 years – On the day of qualifying at Brno, it will be exactly 33 years ago that Barry Sheene won the 500cc Swedish GP at Anderstorp in 1981. This was the last time a British rider won a Grand Prix in the premier-class.
- 29 – The win by Mika Kallio in Indianapolis was the 29th win for Kalex in the Moto2 class. This is just one less win than Suter, who are the constructor with most wins in the Moto2 class.
- 27 years 342 days – At the Indianapolis Grand Prix, Efren Vazquez stood on the top step of a GP podium for the first time at the age of 27 years 342 days. This makes him the oldest winner in the Moto3 class and also the oldest first time winner in the lightweight class of GP racing since Andrea Ballerini won the Australian GP in 2003 at the age of 30 years 109 days.
- 10 – Along with Marc Marquez, Honda have now won ten successive MotoGP races. This equals the longest sequence of successive wins by one manufacturer since the MotoGP class was introduced at the start on 2002, which was achieved by Honda in the 2003 season.
- 6 years – On race day at Brno it will be exactly six years since Stefan Bradl won the 125cc race at the 2008 Czech GP, to become the sixth son of a Grand Prix winner to also take a GP win, joining: Les & Stuart Graham, Nello & Alberto Pagani, Angel & Pablo Nieto, Kenny & Kenny Roberts, Graziano & Valentino Rossi.
- 4 – Four British riders scored points in the MotoGP race in Indianapolis. This is the first time that four riders from Britain have scored championship points in a premier-class GP race since the British GP at Donington in 1995.
Moto2 Stats and Trivia
- Tito Rabat heads to Brno as the championship leader, ahead of Marc VDS Racing Team team-mate Mika Kallio by nine points; Rabat started last year’s Czech Grand Prix from the front row before ending Sunday’s race in seventh position. His only podium finish at Brno to date came in 2010, when he finished third in the 125cc race
- 2013 Moto2 World Champion Pol Espargaro finished last year’s Brno race in fourth position; this was one of seven occasions on which the Spaniard would fail to finish on the podium during his title-winning intermediate class campaign
- Last year at Brno, pole position went to Takaaki Nakagami; this was the Japanese rider’s second of three poles in the 2013 season and second of four consecutive front row starts. In the race, he finished second in what turned out to be the second of four consecutive second place finishes
- The 2013 Czech Moto2 race was won by Mika Kallio; this was the Finn’s first race victory in Moto2 and the 13th of his Grand Prix career, also becoming his first Grand Prix victory since winning the British 250cc race at Donington Park five years earlier
- Fastest lap in the 2013 Moto2 Czech GP went to Johann Zarco; this remains the last race fastest lap to date in the career of the Frenchman. Incidentally, the first of his seven fastest laps to date came at Brno in the 125cc class in 2010
- Maverick Viñales finished second last year at Brno on his way to taking the Moto3 world title – his first podium finish at Brno. Two years ago, Viñales qualified on pole for the Moto3 race before finishing the Grand Prix in fourth place
- Tom Luthi has finished on the podium at Brno for the last two years: third last year 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
- In addition to Tom Luthi, four other riders currently competing in Moto2 have stood on the top step of the Brno podium in the Moto3/125cc class: Nico Terol in both 2009 and 2010, Sandro Cortese in 2011, Jonas Folger in 2012 and Luis Salom last year
- Both Mattia Pasini and Jonas Folger had birthdays on the Wednesday before the race: the Italian turned 29 whereas the German became 21 years of age
Moto3 Stats and Trivia
- Moto3 heads into Round 11 with Jack Miller continuing to lead the World Championship standings. This will be only Miller’s second Grand Prix at Brno, where he finished seventh last year from fourth on the grid – his equal best grid spot of 2013. Two years ago, the Australian missed the Czech GP after crashing in Indianapolis qualifying one week earlier and breaking a collarbone
- Last year at Brno, the Moto3 race was won by Luis Salom: this was fifth of seven victories in 2013 for the Spaniard, who won more races than any other rider. The Mallorcan also clinched the Moto3 fastest lap in both 2012 and 2013
- Pole position at Brno last season went to Alex Rins – his fifth of eight poles during the 2013 Moto3 campaign; another this weekend would be his second at Brno and the 12th of his Grand Prix career
- The Monday after the race at Brno will mark 18 years to the day since Valentino Rossi won the 125cc race at Brno in 1996, clinching his first ever World Championship race victory on an Aprilia as he beat Jorge Martinez ‘Aspar’
- Brad Binder celebrated his 19th birthday on the Monday before the race at Brno
- Juanfran Guevara will turn 19 on the Tuesday after the Czech Grand Prix
- None of the riders currently competing in the Moto3 class have previously won a World Championship
Czech MotoGP Brno
