MotoGP continues to rewrite the record books in 2017

Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

MotoGP 2017 – Round 12 – Silverstone – Octo British Grand Prix

Grand Prix racing at Silverstone

• This is the eighth year that Silverstone has hosted Grand Prix racing since the series returned to the circuit in 2010 after a gap of 23 years.
• The first motorcycle Grand Prix event to be held at Silverstone in 1977 was also the first to be held on the British mainland; prior to 1977 the British round of the World Championship had been held since 1949 on the 37.73mile long Isle of Man TT circuit.
• The winners at that first grand prix at Silverstone in 1977 were: 500cc – Pat Hennen (Suzuki), 350cc & 250cc – Kork Ballington (Yamaha), 125cc – Pierluigi Conforti (Morbidelli).
• The original circuit layout used for the grand prix from 1977 to 1986 was 2.93 miles long (4.71 km) and the fastest lap in a race at the circuit during this time was set by Kenny Roberts riding a Yamaha in 1983 at an average speed of 119.5 mph (192.2 km/h).
• The winners at that first Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1977 were: 500cc – Pat Hennen (Suzuki), 350cc & 250cc – Kork Ballington (Yamaha), 125cc – Pierluigi Conforti (Morbidelli).
• The British Grand Prix was held for ten successive years at the Silverstone circuit, before the event moved to Donington Park in 1987. The British GP returned to Silverstone in 2010 with a revised circuit layout measuring 5.9 km.

• Kork Ballington and Angel Nieto are the two riders with most GP victories at Silverstone, each having won there on six occasions.
• The only three riders who have had more than a single victory at Silverstone since GP racing returned to the circuit in 2010 are Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Maverick Viñales. Lorenzo has won the MotoGP race there three times: 2010, 2012 & 2013; Marquez won the 125cc race in 2010 and the MotoGP race in 2014; Viñales won the Moto3 race in 2012 and the MotoGP race last year.
• Before Crutchlow’s second place finish last year, the last British rider to be on the podium in the premier class at the British Grand Prix was Jeremy McWilliams when he finished third in the 500cc race at Donington in 2000.

• Yamaha have won four of the seven MotoGP races that have taken place at Silverstone, the last of which was two years ago with Valentino Rossi

• Honda have had two MotoGP victories at Silverstone, with Casey Stoner in 2011 and Marc Marquez in 2014.
• Last year at Silverstone Maverick Viñales gave Suzuki their first MotoGP win since Le Mans in 2007 when Chris Vermeulen won in the wet. This was also the first podium finish at Silverstone in the MotoGP era for Suzuki and the first win for Suzuki at Silverstone since Franco Uncini won the 500cc race at the British GP in 1982.

• The only podium finishes for Ducati at Silverstone came in 2015 – a second place finish for Danilo Petrucci and third for Andrea Dovizioso.
• Three British riders have won a solo grand prix race at Silverstone; Danny Kent won the Moto3 race in 2015, Scott Redding won the Moto2 race in 2013 and Ian McConnachie won in the 80cc class back in 1986.
• Only three British riders have started from pole at Silverstone, across all solo GP classes; Barry Sheene in the 500cc class in 1977, Sam Lowes in Moto2 in 2015 & 2016, and Cal Crutchlow in MotoGP last year.

• The seven Moto2 races that have taken place at Silverstone have been won by seven different riders: 2010 – Jules Cluzel, 2011 – Stefan Bradl, 2012 – Pol Espargaro, 2013 – Scott Redding, 2014 – Tito Rabat, 2015 – Johann Zarco, 2016 – Tom Lüthi. Of these riders only Lüthi is still competing in the Moto2 class.

• Five different riders have won the five Moto3 races that have taken place at Silverstone: 2012 – Maverick Viñales, 2013 – Luis Salom, 2014 – Alex Rins, 2015 – Danny Kent, 2016 – Brad Binder.

Three hundred premier-class starts for Valentino Rossi

At the British Grand Prix, Valentino Rossi is scheduled to become the first rider in the history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing to reach the milestone of 300 starts in the premier class. The following list shows the ten riders with most starts in the premier class:

Grand Prix starts in the premier class

1. Valentino Rossi 299
2. Dani Pedrosa 245
3. Jorge Lorenzo 218
4. Mick Doohan 217
5. Giacomo Agostini 196
6. Eddie Lawson 194
7. Casey Stoner 192
8. Wayne Rainey 171
9. 9= Max Biaggi 167
   9= Jorge Lorenzo 167

Facts and statistics from Rossi’s time competing in the premier class

• Rossi has started 299 of the 851 premier-class races that have taken place since the World Championship started in 1949 – representing 35.1% of all races.
• He has competed in the premier class at 27 different venues in 19 different countries.
• He has won premier class races at 23 different venues, the only circuits he has competed at in the premier class and not had a victory are: Austin, the Red Bull Ring, Aragon and Istanbul.
• Rossi has finished on the podium at 26 different circuits in the premier-class, the only circuit he has competed at in the premier-class and not had a podium is the Red Bull Ring.

Dovizioso moves above Lorenzo

With his win in Austria, Andrea Dovizioso moves above Jorge Lorenzo in the following list of riders who have the longest winning careers in Grand Prix racing, measured by time between their fi rst GP win and their latest GP win. Only five riders in the 69-year history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing have had longer winning careers than Andrea Dovizioso.

Rider First Win / Last Win / Time Elapsed

1. Valentino Rossi 125cc/Czech/1996 MotoGP/Dutch TT/2017 20 years 311 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. Andrea Dovizioso 125cc/South Africa/2004 MotoGP/Austria/2017 13 years 117 days
7. Jorge Lorenzo 125cc/Rio/2003 MotoGP/Valencia/2016 13 years 54 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

Marc Marquez set to go tenth in all-time podium list

The second place finish for Marc Marquez at the Red Bull Ring was the 97th time he has stood on the podium in Grand Prix racing. One more top three finish will see him go equal tenth on the all-time podium list below, with the same number of top three Grand Prix finishes as Jim Redman.

Marquez needs three more top three finishes to become just the 9th rider in the 69 years of Grand Prix racing to reach the milestone of 100 podium finishes.

Riders with most podium finishes in all classes of Grand Prix racing

1. Valentino Rossi 225 Podiums – 115 x 1st – 63 x 2nd – 47 x 3rd
2. Giacomo Agostini 159 Podiums – 122 35 2
3. Dani Pedrosa 151 Podiums – 53 51 47
4. Jorge Lorenzo 146 Podiums –  65 49 32
5. Angel Nieto 139 Podiums – 90 35 14
6. Phil Read 121 Podiums – 52 44 25
7. Mike Hailwood 112 Podiums – 76 25 11
8. Max Biaggi 111 Podiums – 42 41 28
9. Loris Capirossi 99 Podiums – 29 34 36
10. Jim Redman 98 Podiums – 45 33 20
11. Marc Marquez 97 Podiums – 58 24 15

Closest top fifteen of all-time

Cal Crutchlow finished the Austrian Grand Prix in 15th place, and crossed the line just 28.096 seconds behind race winner Andrea Dovizioso – the closest top fifteen of all-time in a full length premier class Grand Prix.

The following list shows the fifteen closest top fifteen finishes of all-time in the premier class, six of which have occurred in 2017 and ten in the last three seasons (only races that have completed full race distance are considered for inclusion in the following table):

Year Circuit Race winner Time covering first 15 riders across the line (sec)

1. 2017 RED BULL RING Andrea Dovizioso 28.096
2. 2006 BRNO Loris Capirossi 29.296
3. 2001 PHILLIP ISLAND Valentino Rossi 29.738
4. 2005 BRNO Valentino Rossi 29.768
5. 2017 MUGELLO Andrea Dovizioso 30.779
6. 2015 LOSAIL Valentino Rossi 33.625
7. 2007 JEREZ Valentino Rossi 36.744
8. 2017 SACHSENRING Marc Marquez 37.771
9. 2007 ISTANBUL Casey Stoner 39.337
10. 2017 BRNO Marc Marquez 40.1
11. 2015 PHILLIP ISLAND Marc Marquez 40.192
12. 2016 ARAGON Marc Marquez 40.509
13. 2017 CATALUNYA Andrea Dovizioso 40.872
14. 2015 TERMAS DE RIO Valentino Rossi 43.037
15. 2017 TERMAS DE RIO Maverick Viñales 43.452

Silverstone scheduled to host 100th Moto3 race

The Moto3 race in Silverstone will be the 100th Moto3 race since the class was introduced as replacement for 125cc back in 2012. Below are some facts and statistics from the 99 Moto3 races that have taken place so far:

• The only rider to have started all 99 Moto3 races is Jakub Kornfeil.
• A total of 24 different riders have stood on the top step of the podium in the Moto3 class.
• The rider with most Moto3 wins is Luis Salom with 9, followed by Maverick Viñales, Álex Rins, Danny Kent, Romano Fenati and Joan Mir with 8.
• A total of 39 different riders have stood on the podium in the Moto3 class.
• The rider with most Moto3 podium finishes is Álex Rins with 23, followed by Maverick Viñales (22), Romano Fenati (21), Luis Salom and Brad Binder (20).
• The Moto3 winners have come from 10 different nations: Spain (with a total of 43 Moto3 wins), Italy (16), Great Britain (9), South Africa (7), Australia (6), Portugal (6), Germany (6), France (3), Malaysia (2), Belgium (1).
• A total of 27 different riders have qualified on pole position in the Moto3 class. The three riders with most Moto3 poles are: Álex Rins (13), Jack Miller (8), Sandro Cortese / Maverick Viñales / Enea Bastianini (7).
• KTM is the most successful manufacturer in the Moto3 class with 54 wins (including 3 with Kalex-KTM) followed by Honda 42 wins (including 7 with FTR Honda) and Mahindra 3 wins (including 1 with Peugeot).

MotoGP Facts and Stats

• Even though Marc Marquez extended his lead at the head of the Championship, the MotoGP title chase is still the closest top five at this stage of the season since the current scoring system was introduced in 1993. Just 35 points cover the top five riders in the championship classification after eleven races, compared to the previous closest, which was 68 points in both 2006 and 2000.

• The second place finish for Marc Marquez in Austria was the fifth successive race he has finished on the podium. The last time he had five successive top three finishes was the final race of 2015 and the first four races of 2015. He has not finished on the podium at six successive races since 2014. The second place at the Red Bull Ring was also the 58th time that Marquez has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class – the same number of premierclass podiums that Max Biaggi achieved.
• Following his win at the Red Bull Ring, Andrea Dovizioso has scored a total of 158 points from the opening eleven races of 2017; this is the highest score by a Ducati rider after eleven races since Casey Stoner had a total of 187 points in 2008.
• With his win in Austria, Andrea Dovizioso joins an elite group of riders who have won three or more premier-class Grands Prix in a single season during the MotoGP era. The other nine riders who have done this are: Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Sete Gibernau, Loris Capirossi, Maverick Viñales and Marco Melandri.

• Maverick Viñales took his maiden win in the top class at Silverstone last year riding a Suzuki. If he repeats the win this year at the British Grand Prix he will become only the fifth rider of all–time to win premier class grand prix races at the same circuit in successive years riding motorcycles from two different manufacturers. The other riders to have achieved this are: Mike Hailwood in the 1965 season riding MV Agusta and 1966 riding a Honda, Eddie Lawson in 1988 on a Yamaha and 1989 on a Honda, Valentino Rossi in 2003 on a Honda and 2004 on a Yamaha, and Casey Stoner in 2010 on a Ducati and 2011 on a Honda.
• Maverick Viñales dropped down to third in the Championship classification following his 6th place finish in Austria, the first time this year that he has not held one of the top two places in the Championship.

• Dani Pedrosa has finished on the podium seven times in the last nine races; his previous seven podium finishes had been achieved from his previous 22 starts.
• At the Red Bull Ring, Johann Zarco was the first Yamaha rider across the line for the third time in 2017. With his fifth place finish in Austria he extended his lead in the rookie classification to 22 points over his teammate Jonas Folger, who was forced to retire.
• For the first time since 2010, three different manufacturers have taken three or more wins in the same season. The last time that three manufacturers took four or more wins in the same season was in 2006 (the manufacturers in all cases mentioned are Honda, Yamaha and Ducati).
• At the British Grand Prix, Alvaro Bautista is scheduled to become the 13th rider in the history of the motorcycling world championship to reach the milestone of 250 Grand Prix starts.
• KTM test rider Mika Kallio finished 10th in Austria, with a gap of just 19.766 seconds to race winner Dovizioso – the smallest margin so far that a KTM rider has had to the race winner.

Moto2 Facts and Stats

• Franco Morbidelli won his seventh race from the eleven 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 Silverstone is second last year, equalling his best result at that time.
• Álex Márquez crossed the line in second in Austria, his fifth podium finish this season so far. He crashed last year in Silverstone but managed to cross the line in 25th. His best result on this track in the Moto2 class is fourth in 2015.
• Tom Lüthi completed the podium in Red Bull Ring, his 46th podium in the intermediate category – equalling Jim Redman in fifth for podium finishes. He won last year at Silverstone from tenth on the grid after an incident between closest challengers Sam Lowes and Johann Zarco.
• Francesco Bagnaia was fourth in Austria. In the Moto2 era, starting in 2010, only four rookies have scored more points than Bagnaia (100 points) over the opening eleven races of the year: 2015 – Álex Rins (144), 2014 – Maverick Viñales (150), 2011 – Marc Márquez (165), 2010 – Andrea Iannone (119).
• There have been seven different winners in Silverstone since the introduction of the Moto2 in 2010 (Cluzel, Bradl, P. Espargaró, Redding, Rabat, Zarco, Lüthi).
• Tom Lüthi (2010, 2013, 2016), Takaaki Nakagami (2013, 2016) and Franco Morbidelli (2016) are the only riders currently competing in Moto2 who has have stood on the podium in Silverstone in the class.
• Brad Binder won the Moto3 race last year at Silverstone the year he took the world title. He is the only rider on the Moto2 grid to have won in the lightweight class at this track.
• Pol Espargaró is the only rider who has won from pole position at Silverstone in the Moto2 class, in 2012.

Moto3 Facts and Stats

• In Austria, Joan Mir won for the seventh time from the opening eleven races. He is the first rider to do so since 1997 when Valentino Rossi won nine times in the opening eleven races of the year.
• Joan Mir finished ninth in Silverstone last year during his rookie season in the Moto3 class, from fifth on the grid.
• Joan Mir leads the Championship with 64 points over his closest rival Romano Fenati. This is the highest margin after the opening eleven races in the Moto3 class and the highest in the lightweight-class since 2006, when Álvaro Bautista led with 69 points over Mika Kallio.
• It was the tenth win for Honda from the opening eleven races, the first time Honda have achieved that feat in the lightweight class since 1993, when the manufacturer won the first thirteen races of the season until Ralf Waldmann won the final race of the year on an Aprilia at Jarama.
• Philipp Öttl crossed the line in second in Spielberg, his best result of his 80 Grand Prix starts so far and his second podium finish. His best result at Silverstone is 12th place, achieved last year. Öttl’s 2nd place finish in Austria was the fourth podium of KTM so far this year.
• Jorge Martín was third in Austria after missing the last race in Brno due to injury, coming back for his fifth podium finish this season.
• Livio Loi finished in fourth at the Red Bull Ring, his best result since he won at Indianapolis in 2015.
• Romano Fenati crossed the line in 13th in Austria, equalling his worst result so far this season.
• There have been seven different winners in the lightweight-class at Silverstone since the inclusion of the track on the calendar back in 2010 (M. Márquez, Folger, M. Viñales, Salom, Rins, Kent, Binder).
• Bo Bendsneyder (3rd in 2016) and Jakub Kornfeil (2nd in 2015) recorded their first ever podium finishes at Silverstone.
• Bo Bendsneyder (2016), Jakub Kornfeil (2015), Niccolò Antonelli (2015) and Enea Bastianini (2014) are the only riders currently competing in Moto3 who have stood on the podium at Silverstone in the class.

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