Silverstone MotoGP Statistics Smorgasbord
Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines
Grand Prix racing at Silverstone
This is the sixth year that Silverstone has hosted a grand prix since motorcycle world championship racing returned to the circuit in 2010 after a gap of 23 years. Below are some facts and statistics related to this event:
- The first motorcycle grand prix event to be held at Silverstone in 1977 was the first motorcycle grand prix to be held on the British mainland, prior to 1977 the British round of the world championship had been held since 1949 on the 37.73 mile long Isle of Man TT circuit. The move from the Isle of Man was made mainly for reasons of rider safety.
- 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 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 two riders who have had more than a single victory at Silverstone since GP racing returned to the circuit in 2010 are Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez. Lorenzo has won the MotoGP race there three times: 2010, 2012 & 2013; Marquez won the 125cc race in 2010 and the MotoGP race last year.
- Twelve British riders have finished on the podium across all the solo classes of grand prix racing at Silverstone: John Williams (1977/350cc/3rd), Barry Sheene (1978/500cc/3rd, 1979/500cc/2nd), Tom Herron (1978/250cc/2nd, 1978/350cc/2nd), Steve Manship (1978/500cc/2nd), Mick Grant (1978/350cc/3rd), Clive Horton (1978/125cc/2nd), Keith Huewen (1981/350cc/2nd), Andy Watts (1984/250cc/2nd), Ron Haslam (1984/500cc/3rd), Ian McConnachie (1986/80cc/1st), Bradley Smith (2010/125cc/3rd, 2011/Moto2/2nd) and Scott Redding (2012/Moto2/2nd, 2013/Moto2/1st)
- Since the world championship grand prix series returned to Silverstone in 2010, the best result for a British rider in the MotoGP class at their home grand prix is sixth by Cal Crutchlow in 2012.
- Yamaha have won three of the five MotoGP races that have taken place at Silverstone, with Honda taking the other two victories.
- The best results in MotoGP for Ducati at the Silverstone circuit are fourth place finishes for Nicky Hayden in both 2010 and 2011.
- The best MotoGP result for Suzuki at Silverstone is fifth with Alvaro Bautista in 2011, which was the best result of the year for any Suzuki rider.
Jorge Lorenzo levels with Casey Stoner
Jorge Lorenzo’s victory at Brno was the 38th time he has stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class. As shown in the following list, this is the same number of premier-class grand prix wins as Casey Stoner. 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
- 85 – Valentino Rossi (7 premier-class titles)
- 68 – Giacomo Agostini (8 premier-class titles)
- 54 – Mick Doohan (5 premier-class titles)
- 38 – Casey Stoner (2 premier-class titles)
- 38 – Jorge Lorenzo (2 premier-class titles)
- 37 – Mike Hailwood (4 premier-class titles)
- 31 – Eddie Lawson (4 premier-class titles)
- 26 – Dani Pedrosa (0 premier-class titles)
- 25 – Kevin Schwantz (1 premier-class title)
- 24 – Wayne Rainey (3 premier-class titles)
Jorge Lorenzo close to equalling Phil Read
Jorge Lorenzo’s win in Brno was his 38th victory in the MotoGP class, all of which have been achieved riding for Yamaha.
As shown in the table below, he needs only one more victory to equal 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 52 Wins – All MotoGP / 500cc
- Phil Read 39 Wins – 2 x 350cc – 27 x 250cc – 10 x 125cc
- Jorge Lorenzo 38 Wins – All MotoGP
- Eddie Lawson 26 Wins – All 500cc
- Wayne Rainey 24 Wins – All 500cc
- Kenny Roberts 24 Wins – 22 x 500cc – 2 x 250cc
- Bill Ivy 21 Wins – 7 x 250cc – 14 x 125cc
- Carlos Lavado19 Wins – 2 x 350cc – 17 x 250cc
- Kent Andersson 18 Wins – 4 x 250cc – 14 x 125cc
- Jarno Saarinen 15 Wins – 2 x 500cc – 5 x 350cc – 8 x 250cc
Fifteen successive podium finishes for Valentino Rossi
Valentino Rossi’s third place finish at Brno was his fifteenth successive MotoGP podium finish. The last race at which he did not stand on the podium was at the Aragon Grand Prix last year when he crashed out of the race on the fourth lap.
This is the second longest sequence of podium finishes that Rossi has achieved; as shown in the following table he holds the record of 23 successive podium finishes which he achieved across the 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons.
Rossi is the only rider to have finished on the podium at fifteen or more successive premier-class grand prix races on more than one occasion.
Number of successive podium finishes in MotoGP/500cc class
- 23 – Valentino Rossi – 2002/03/04
- 22 – Giacomo Agostini – 1967/68/69
- 19 – Casey Stoner – 2011/12
- 17 – Mick Doohan – 1994/95
- 15 – Wayne Rainey – 1989/90
- Valentino Rossi – 2014/15
Johann Zarco’s great season continues
Johann Zarco continued his great season in the Moto2 class with another win from pole position at Brno, setting a number of new records:
- Zarco has finished on the podium at the last ten Moto2 races, which is a new record for longest sequence of successive podium finishes in the Moto2 class.
- His ten successive podium finishes is also a new record for longest sequence of successive grand prix podium finishes by a French rider in any class of GP racing.
- His current points total of 224 is the highest number of points ever achieved after the first eleven races of the Moto2 championship. Zarco’s current points total is the highest achieved after the first eleven races in the intermediate-class of grand prix racing since Dani Pedrosa had 226 points at the same stage of the 2005 250cc championship.
- Zarco’s win in Brno was his fourth Moto2 victory of 2015. This is the greatest number of wins achieved by a French rider in the intermediate-class of grand prix racing in a single season.
- Since taking the lead in the Moto2 championship standings with a win in Argentina, Zarco has increased his lead in the championship at each of the subsequent races.
Grand Prix racing numbers
- 46 years – Danny Kent is the first British rider to arrive at his home grand prix leading the lightweight-class championship standings since Dave Simmonds arrived at the Isle of Man TT races in 1969 at the top of the table. Simmonds, riding a Kawasaki, went on to win the 125cc world title in 1969 – the last British rider to take the lightweight-class world championship.
- 19 – At the Czech Grand Prix Jorge Lorenzo led across the line at the end of every lap for the fifth time in 2015. Of the thirty-eight grand prix victories in the MotoGP class for Lorenzo, he has led across the line at the end of every lap of the race on nineteen occasions. By comparison, Valentino Rossi has led across the line at the end of every lap in just two of his eighty-five premier-class wins, and Marc Marquez has also achieved this twice in his twenty-two wins.
- 19 – Moto3 rider Maria Herrera will celebrate her 19th birthday two days before practice starts at the British Grand Prix.
- 15 years – The last British rider to finish on the podium in the premier-class at the British Grand Prix was fifteen years ago, when Jeremy McWilliams finished third in the 500cc race at Donington in 2000.
- 5 – In spite of Maverick Viñales crashing and missing out on a top fifteen finish for the first time in his rookie MotoGP season, there are still five riders in the MotoGP class who have scored points at the first eleven races of 2015; Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Iannone, Bradley Smith and Danilo Petrucci.
- 3 –All three of the riders who started from pole at the Czech Grand Prix went on to win their respective races; the last time this occurred was at the German GP last year.
- 2 – The last two Moto3 races have both had first time winners stand on the top step of the podium; Livio Loi in Indianapolis and Niccolo Antonelli at Brno. This is a repeat of what happened last year at these two circuits when Efren Vazquez took his first GP win at Indianapolis and Alexis Masbou won for the first time at Brno. The last time that there were three successive races in the lightweight-class with three first time winners was in 2007, when Simone Corsi won in Turkey, followed by Lukas Pesek in China and Sergio Gadea at Le Mans.
- 2 – Just two British riders have won a solo grand prix race at Silverstone; Scott Redding won the Moto2 race in 2013 and Ian McConnachie won in the 80cc class in 1986.
- 2 – For the first time since their return to the MotoGP class at the start of this year, Aprilia had both their factory riders finish in point scoring positions at Brno. The last time that two Aprilia riders scored points in a MotoGP race was at Motegi in 2004, when Jeremy McWilliams finished 12th and Shane Byrne 13th.
- 0.203 seconds – The time covering the three podium finishers in the Moto2 race at Silverstone last year was just 0.203 seconds, which is the closest ever top three in the Moto2 class.
- 1 – The only British rider to have started from pole at Silverstone, across all solo GP classes, is Barry Sheene – in the 500cc race in 1977.
Moto2 Stats and facts
- Johann Zarco’s only podium finish at Silverstone is second in the 125cc race in 2011, which was his best grand prix result at that time. His best result from three Moto2 starts at Silverstone is a fourth place finish last year after leading the race in the early stages. He also qualified on pole last year at the British GP – his first pole in the Moto2 class.
- Tito Rabat’s victory, from pole position, in the Moto2 race at the British GP last year was his first podium finish at the Silverstone circuit.
- Alex Rins has finished on the podium in the Moto3 class at Silverstone for the last two years: second in 2013 and a race victory, from pole position, last year.
- Sam Lowes finished seventh last year in the Moto2 race at Silverstone. He has also raced at Silverstone in the World Supersport championship, finishing second in both 2012 and 2013.
- Tom Luthi has had two podium finishes at Silverstone – third two years ago and second in 2010 just 0.057 seconds behind race winner Jules Cluzel.
- Alex Marquez had his best result of his rookie season in the Moto2 class at Brno, finishing in fourth place. Marquez has finished on the podium for the last two years at Silverstone in the Moto3 class; third in 2013 and second last year just 0.011 seconds behind teammate Alex Rins.
- Mika Kallio battled for victory with Rabat to the final corner in the Moto2 race at Silverstone last year, finally finishing second just 0.063 seconds behind his teammate. This was his first podium finish at the Silverstone circuit.
- Takaaki Nakagami qualified on pole at Silverstone two years ago and finished second behind Scott Redding after leading for three laps mid-race.
- In addition to Rabat and Rins mentioned above, the only other two riders currently competing in the Moto2 class who have had GP wins at Silverstone are: Jonas Folger (125cc/2011) and Luis Salom (Moto3™/2013). Folger’s win at Silverstone in 2011 was his first grand prix victory.
Moto3 Stats and facts
- None of the riders currently competing in the Moto3 class have won a grand prix race at the Silverstone circuit.
- Danny Kent’s best result at the Silverstone circuit is sixth in the Moto3 race in 2012.
- Enea Bastianini finished third at Silverstone last year, one of three podium finishes he achieved in his rookie grand prix season. Bastianini has scored points at the last thirteen successive Moto3 races.
- Niccolo Antonelli qualified on pole position and took his first grand prix win at Brno. This is the first win in the lightweight-class of grand prix racing by an Italian rider from pole position since Andrea Iannone won the 125cc race at Motegi in 2009.
- The best ever qualifying result by a British rider in the lightweight-class at Silverstone is second place on the grid by Bradley Smith in 2010.
- Only two British riders have finished on the podium in the lightweight-class at in the previous fifteen occasions that the grand prix has been held at the Silverstone circuit: Clive Horton finished second in the 125cc race in 1978 and Bradley Smith third in 2010.
