MotoGP Statistical snapshot as riders set to let fly in Argentina
Learning to fly without winglets is a theme of this season; learning to fly with wings was very much the theme of the pre-event for this year’s visit to Argentina. Miller, Hernandez and Martin this week got some flying lessons, from none other than Red Bull’s air guru Andy Hediger, before then taking the skies without the plane!
With those Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina pre-race adventures now behind them the scene is now set for the men of MotoGP men to again do battle at the Termas de Rio Hondo. Before things get underway in what will be the 14th motorcycle Grand Prix event held in that country, let’s look at these interesting MotoGP Statistics put together by Dr. Martin Raines.
Grand Prix racing in Argentina
- The first Argentinean GP took place in 1961 and was held in Buenos Aires; the first time that a grand prix had taken place outside of Europe. Not all of the top riders attended the event and the 52 lap, 203 km, 500cc race was won by home rider Jorge Kissling (Matchless) from fellow countryman Juan Carlos Salatino (Norton).
- This is the fourth year that the Argentinean GP has taken place at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit. All of the ten previous grand prix in Argentina had taken place in Buenos Aires, the last of which was in 1999.
- Three riders from Argentina have won grand prix races; Sebastian Porto (seven wins in the 250cc class), and Benedicto Caldarella and Jorge Kissling, who both had single victories in the 500cc class.
- The last GP win by an Argentinean rider was in the 250cc class at the Dutch TT in 2005, when Sebastian Porto won the race from Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
- The only current full-time grand prix rider who has raced in grand prix at the Buenos Aires circuit is Valentino Rossi, who won the 250cc race in 1998 & was third in 1999.
- Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has twice won the MotoGP race in Argentina from pole position – in 2014 and 2016. He was also on pole in Argentina in 2015, but crashed when battling for the lead.
- The only rider other than Marquez to win a MotoGP race at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit is Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), who won the 2015 race after starting down in 8th place on the grid.
- Andrea Dovizioso’s (Ducati Team) second place finish in 2015 is the only podium finish for a Ducati rider in Argentina.
- The best result for a Suzuki rider at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit is seventh, with Aleix Espargaro two years ago.
- Stefan Bradl finished seventh last year in Argentina which was the best result for Aprilia the MotoGP class since Noriyuki Haga finished seventh at the British Grand Prix at Donington in 2003.
Viñales win goes into the record books
- Having taken his first victory in the MotoGP class last year at Silverstone riding a Suzuki, with his win in Qatar Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) becomes the second youngest rider of all-time, after Mike Hailwood (Norton & MV Agusta), to have won in the premier-class on bikes from two different manufacturers.
- Maverick Viñales is only the fourth rider in the history of grand prix racing to win premier-class races on both Suzuki and Yamaha machinery, along with Barry Sheene, Randy Mamola and Jack Middelburg.
- Following his win in Qatar, Viñales becomes just the ninth rider to lead the MotoGP world championship standings since it was introduced as the premier-class of grand prix racing in 2002, joining: Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), Sete Gibernau, Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team), Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). Of these, only Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo have headed the championship standings riding a Yamaha.
- He is just the fifth rider to win in the MotoGP class on motorcycle from two different manufacturers, joining: Valentino Rossi (Honda, Yamaha), Max Biaggi (Yamaha, Honda), Casey Stoner (Ducati, Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Honda, Ducati).
- He is the first rider to win in the MotoGP class on his debut for a new manufacturer since Casey Stoner won the opening race of 2011 in Qatar on a Honda.
- In Qatar, Viñales started from pole for the first time since moving up to the MotoGP class, adding to his previous poles in Moto2 and Moto3, to become the first rider to start from pole across all three current classes.
- He is only the fifth rider to win in the MotoGP class riding a Yamaha, joining: Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Max Biaggi and Ben Spies.
- He is the sixth different rider to win the opening race of the year in the MotoGP class, joining: Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez.
- Viñales is only the second Spanish rider to win in the premier-class riding for two different manufacturers; the other is Sete Gibernau who won in the 500cc class riding a Suzuki and in MotoGP on a Honda.
- He is the fourth youngest rider to win in the premier-class riding a Yamaha, after: Norick Abe, Jorge Lorenzo and Johnny Cecotto.
While his young teammate dominates the current spotlight Valentino Rossi continues to set records
In Argentina, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) is scheduled to become the first rider to make 350 grand prix starts across all classes. The Argentina Grand Prix will be the 888th GP event counting toward the world championship classification, which means that Rossi will have taken part in 39.4 per cent of all grand prix events that have taken place since the series began in 1949.
Johann Zarco sets record before a crash
Although it ultimately ended in a crash on the seventh lap, Johann Zarco’s tremendous early race pace created a number of noteworthy achievements:
- He is the first French rider to set the fastest race lap in the MotoGP class.
- The last French rider to set the fastest lap in a premier-class grand prix was Christian Sarron in the 500cc GP at Anderstorp in Sweden in 1989. This was one of six occasions that Sarron set race fastest lap during his time in the 500cc class.
- In Addition to Sarron and Zarco, only two other French riders had set fastest race laps in the premier-class, both on just one occasion: Michel Rougerie (Belgium GP 1978) and Pierre Monneret (French GP 1954).
- Zarco is the first rider to lead the race on his debut in the MotoGP class since both Max Biaggi and Noriyuki Haga both led the 1998 Japanese Grand Prix when making their 500cc class GP debuts.
- He is also the first French rider to lead a MotoGP race since the French GP in 2007 when both Sylvain Guintoli and Randy de Puniet crashed out of the race when leading.
- He is the first rider making his race debut in the premier-class to set the fastest lap of the race since Marc Marquez in 2013.
- The last time that a rider from an Independent Yamaha team set the fastest lap of the race was at Jerez in 2012 with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda).
MotoGP Facts and Stats
- The last five MotoGP races have been won by five different riders: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) and Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).
- The Termas de Rio Hondo circuit is one of just five venues on this year’s schedule where Jorge Lorenzo has not had a win in the MotoGP class, along with Austin, Sachsenring, Sepang and the new Red Bull Ring in Austria.
- Aleix Espargaro’s (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) sixth place finish in Qatar equals the best ever result for Aprilia in the MotoGP class, achieved by Colin Edwards at the opening race of the 2003 season at Suzuka in Japan.
- Maverick Viñales has scored points at the last seventeen successive races. The last time he failed to score any points was in Argentina last year, when he crashed out of third place with less than three laps remaining.
- If Maverick Viñales wins the race in Argentina, he will be the first Yamaha rider since Wayne Rainey in 1990 to win the opening two premier-class grand prix races of the year.
- A win in Argentina for Viñales would make him just the second rider in the MotoGP era to win the opening two races of the year; the only other rider to have achieved this is Marc Marquez in 2014.
- The slowest “fastest lap” in the MotoGP race in Qatar was a lap just 1.891 seconds slower than the fastest lap of the race set by Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3). Never before in the MotoGP class have there been 23 riders that have posted a lap time within two seconds of the fastest lap set during a race. The slowest ‘fastest lap’ at the 2017 Qatar MotoGP was set by Sam Lowes at 1m57.881, while the fastest outright lap of the race was a 1m55.990 by Zarco.
- Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was the highest placed rookie in the MotoGP race in Qatar, finishing in ninth place. This is the best result by a rider making his MotoGP debut in Qatar since Scott Redding fi nished seventh in 2014.
- The four MotoGP rookies in 2017 were the first four riders across the line last year in the Moto2 race in Argentina: Johann Zarco, Sam Lowes, Jonas Folger (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Alex Rins.
- Marc Marquez won the MotoGP race last year in Argentina, with Dani Pedrosa finishing third. It was one of only two occasions in 2016 that both Repsol Honda riders finished together on the podium – the other was in the Catalan GP.
- Having finished fourth in the opening race of the year, if Marc Marquez does not win in Argentina it will be the first time in his five seasons in the MotoGP class that he will have failed to win one of the opening two races of the year.
- With his third place finish in Qatar, Valentino Rossi extended his record of finishing on the podium every season for twenty two successive years. The second longest run of successive years with grand prix podium fi nishes is twenty by Angel Nieto.
- Rossi has finished on the podium at least once in all eighteen seasons competing in the premier-class – also a record. His closest challenger in this record is Giacomo Agostini, with thirteen successive years in the premier-class with at least one podium finish.
Moto2 Facts and Stats
- Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) won his first GP race in Qatar. He is the fifth Italian rider to win in Moto2, alongside Andrea Iannone, Roberto Rolfo, Michele Pirro and Lorenzo Baldassarri. With his tenth podium, Morbidelli is now second Italian rider behind Iannone with 19 podium finishes.
- Last year in Argentina, Morbidelli qualified in fifth on the grid. He fought for third before crashing with two laps remaining. He eventually crossed the line in 25th. He is aiming to take first Italian back-to-back Moto2 victories. He has scored points at every race since crashing out of the German Grand Prix last year.
- Tom Lüthi (CarXpert Interwetten) is the only rider on the current field who have won more than one race in Moto2. His second place in Qatar was his 36th podium finish in Moto2, which is more than any other rider.
- Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) started from 19th on the grid in Argentina last year; he ended the fourth lap in sixth and eventually crossed the line in fifth.
- Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajjo) scored his best result so far in Moto2 in Qatar, with a fourth place. This is the best ever result of a Portuguese rider in the intermediate class.
- Fabio Quartararo (Pons HP 40) finished seventh in Qatar and became the fifth French rider to score points in Moto2. He also finished seventh in his first Moto3 race in 2015 and finished on the podium the race after in Austin. He finished 6th in the Moto3 race in Argentina two years ago and 13th last season.
- Luca Marini (Forward Racing Team) fi nished sixth in Qatar, equaling his best result so far in Moto2. He finished 18th from 22nd on the grid last year in Argentina.
- Danny Kent (Kiefer Racing) qualifi ed in eighth on the grid last year, his best Moto2 qualifying result at that time, and crossed the line in 16th.
Moto3 Facts and Stats
- Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) finished fifth in the Moto3 race in Argentina in 2016 in what was only his third GP start – the highest placed rider in that race who is still competing in the Moto3 class.
- Mir won his second Moto3 race in Qatar – the 35th Spanish victory in 89 Moto3 races so far – and is aiming to become the first Spanish rider to win back-to-back Moto3 race since Álex Rins in 2014.
- No rider has taken back-to-back wins in the Moto3 class since Brad Binder at Misano last year.
- Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers), Livio Loi (Leopard Racing), Philipp Öttl (Südmetall Schedl GP Racing) and John McPhee (British Talent Team) are the only riders of the current field who have stood on the podium at least once in the Americas.
- Romano Fenati is only rider of the current grid who has won in Argentina (2014). Last year, he finished 20th in wet conditions, from second on the grid. In 2015, he was demoted to the back of the grid, but eventually crossed the line in eighth place.
- John McPhee finished second in Qatar – his third podium finish in 82 GP starts. He finished seventh in Argentina last year from 28th on the grid, his best result at that track.
