MotoGP 2018
Round 12 – Silverstone
MotoGP Stats and Facts
Marc Márquez is now leading the Championship by 59 points ahead of Valentino Rossi; this is the highest margin after the opening eleven races of the season in the intermediate class since 2014 and the 77-point margin between Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa after the Czech GP.
Marc Marquez’ second place finish in Austria was the fifth successive race he has finished on the podium. The last time he had five successive podium finishes was last year. At Silverstone, he will be aiming to finish on the podium at six successive races for the first time since 2014.
Marc Marquez
“Silverstone is a fast, technical track but our bike has very strong points, and we’ll try our best there, as usual. The track has been resurfaced, and that should be a good help in general for the performances; we’ll see if that’s the case. After quite a long time without the chance to ride in the rain, Austria confirmed that we can be fast in wet conditions, and that’s very good in view of a race in the UK! At Silverstone, the weather is another opponent to take into account, but whatever the conditions, we look forward to fighting for the podium again.”
With Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Márquez, this is the third Spanish 1–2 of the season along with Austin (Marc Márquez ahead of Maverick Viñales) and Barcelona with the same riders, and the 46th in the premier class.
Jorge Lorenzo
“The third GP in August comes after my win in Austria, which was surely the most difficult race of the season, especially because we continued to make some important improvements throughout the weekend. I believe we are working well and that we can be competitive at every circuit. Silverstone is a track that I like a lot and I have some great memories there, but there’s always the unknown factor of the weather conditions we will encounter during the weekend. For sure it will be an important element, and obviously I prefer it to be a dry race, but in any case it’s always great to race here in England, a country with a great motorsport tradition and many fans.”
Third across the line at Spielberg, Andrea Dovizioso stood on the podium for 87th time in his Grand Prix career, just two less than three-time World Champion Luigi Taveri and two-time World Champion Casey Stoner.
Last year at Silverstone, Andrea Dovizioso became the fourth rider to have won in the premier class at both Donington and Silverstone, joining Wayne Gardner, Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi.
Andrea Dovizioso
“I believe we will also be very competitive at Silverstone. Last year we won because I was able to race with an excellent strategy, always being in the right position to try and win, even though probably we weren’t the fastest on the track. The British circuit is challenging for lots of reasons: tyre wear, energy required, especially in your forearms, the always changeable weather conditions and so it’s impossible to predict the outcome. In addition, you have to take account of the track conditions and I hope that with the new surface they have been able to eliminate the bumps from last year.”
Cal Crutchlow finished in fourth place at the Austrian GP as the first Independent Team rider. This is Crutchlow’s best result since he was also fourth in Barcelona earlier this season.
Cal Crutchlow
“I’m really looking forward to the British Grand Prix this weekend, obviously it’s my home race so it’s a big weekend for myself and the team. The crowds always give me great support here so I hope to produce a good performance for them. They say that there are some bumps on the track (from the Formula 1 cars), I don’t know until I get out there, but three months ago when I was here it was fine. If there are bumps it will be because of the cars, but I went out on the bicycle today and it looks ok, so hopefully they have done a better job than previous years.”
Danilo Petrucci crossed the line in fifth place at the Red Bull Ring, becoming the third rider this year to lead the Independent Team classification, along with Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco.
Valentino Rossi finished in sixth place at the Red Bull Ring, which is his worst result across the line this year after he was 19th at Argentina after a clash with Marc Márquez.
Valentino Rossi
“August is a really busy month. After the last two races in Brno and Spielberg we had work to do. On Sunday at the Misano test we tried different set-ups and electronic solutions, and it was important to prepare better for the San Marino Grand Prix, that‘s coming up fast. But first we focus on this weekend. We now go to Silverstone, a track that I really like. As usual, with my team we will work strongly to achieve the best results. I hope that at Silverstone we can be fast, so I can have a good race.”
Yamaha riders have not won since Assen last season with Valentino Rossi (21 successive races), which is the first time Yamaha had a winless streak of at least 21 races in the MotoGP class since 2002. The last time Yamaha had a winless streak of more than 21 races was the 22-race sequence including the 15 races of 1997 and the opening 7 races of 1998.
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Team Director
“We’ve got a lot of work done at the Misano test last week, so now we are ready for the next round of the championship at Silverstone. Maverick really loves this track and also Vale has enjoyed great successes here. The British GP has historically always been a strong race weekend for our team, because the track lay-out suits our bike well and our riders both like its fast corners and sweeping lines. Last year we secured a double podium, and this year we’ll fight even harder. We’re at a crucial part of the season, so we have to keep pushing 100% every race weekend.”
Seventh across the line at Spielberg is Dani Pedrosa’s best result since he was fifth at Barcelona earlier this year. This is the 11th successive race without a podium finish for Dani Pedrosa, which is his longest sequence of races with a podium finish since his Grand Prix debut in 2001: the 11-race streak until his first podium finish in Grand Prix racing at Valencia.
Dani Pedrosa
“Silverstone isn’t one of my favourite tracks, as it used to be very bumpy and the weather is always unstable. On the other hand, they’ve redone the asphalt, so we’ll see if the feeling is better and if we’ll be able to work well beginning on Friday morning to prepare for the race. The weather of course will remain unpredictable as always, and that’s something we must be prepared to deal with.”
Maverick Viñales, who took his maiden win in the premier class at Silverstone in 2016 riding a Suzuki, finished in 12th place at the Austrian GP, which is his worst result across the line since he was also 12th at the final race in Valencia.
Maverick Vinales
“After the test in Misano last Sunday we come to the Silverstone Circuit in a positive mood. We have a good feeling and the satisfaction of having worked hard. The team is looking forward to getting this weekend started, because the track’s fast lay-out suits our bike, as the results of the previous years show. As I always said, Silverstone is a special track for me because I won my first MotoGP race there. I like this circuit a lot; there are many fast corners, many chicanes, and that’s something that really suits my riding style. Honestly, it’s one of the best tracks on the calendar for me. It’s one of the Grands Prix that I’m always eager to go to, and I will do my best and give my maximum to be on the podium again, like I was in 2017, or even better. Last year we were the fastest on the last laps, so we are going to try to be more competitive and even stronger this weekend.”
Following the Austrian GP, Suzuki have scored 118 points in the Constructor’s World Championship classification, which is the highest points accumulated after the opening eleven races by Suzuki since 2007 when they had 151 points at this stage of the season.
22 riders crossed the line at the Austrian GP for the first time since there were 22 finishers at the Australian GP last year.
At the Austrian GP, Álvaro Bautista, who crossed the line in 10th place, equalled Héctor Barberá in eighth place on the list of riders with most Grand Prix starts with 267.
At the Austrian GP, Hafizh Syahrin and Franco Morbidelli both failed to score any points. Syahrin still leads the Rookie of the Year classification with 24 points, followed by Morbidelli (22) and Takaaki Nakagami (11), who scored one point for the first time since Le Mans earlier this year.
The only two of the five rookies in the MotoGP class this year to have previously won at Silverstone any of the smaller are Takaaki Nakagami last year and Tom Lüthi in 2016, both in the Moto2 class.
Grand Prix racing at Silverstone
This is the ninth year that Silverstone has hosted a Grand Prix event since the World Championship returned to the circuit in 2010 after a gap of 23 years.
The first Grand Prix event held at Silverstone in 1977 was also 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 60.72 km (37.73 miles) 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 4.71 km (2.93 miles) long 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 GP was held for 10 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 wins at Silverstone, each having won there on 6 occasions.
The only 3 riders who have had more than a single win at Silverstone since GP racing returned to the circuit in 2010 are Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Márquez and Maverick Viñales. Lorenzo has won the MotoGP race there 3 times: 2010, 2012 & 2013; Márquez won the 125cc race in 2010 and the MotoGP race in 2014; Viñales won the Moto3 race in 2012 and the MotoGP race in 2016.
Cal Crutchlow’s second place in 2016 was the first podium finish in the premier class at Silverstone by a British rider since Ron Haslam was third of the 500cc race in 1984.
Before Crutchlow’s second place two years ago, the last British rider to be on the podium in the premier class at the British Grand Prix was when Jeremy McWilliams finished third in the 500cc race at Donington in 2000.
Three British riders have won a solo GP race at Silverstone: Danny Kent (Moto3 –2015), Scott Redding (Moto2 –2013) and Ian McConnachie (80cc–1986).
Only three British riders have started from pole position at Silverstone, across all solo GP classes; Barry Sheene (500cc–1977), Sam Lowes (Moto2–2015 and 2016) and Cal Crutchlow (MotoGP–2016).
Since the first Grand Prix race in the premier class at Silverstone in 1977, Yamaha is the most successful manufacturer with seven wins, four of which were in MotoGP: three with Jorge Lorenzo (2010, 2012 and 2013) and one with Valentino Rossi (2015).
Honda have had five wins in the premier class at Silverstone including two in the MotoGP class since 2010, with Casey Stoner (2011) and Marc Márquez (2014).
Suzuki have also taken five premier class wins at Silverstone. In 2016, Maverick Viñales gave Suzuki their first MotoGP win since Le Mans in 2007, when Chris Vermeulen won the French GP in wet-weather conditions. 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.
Ducati won for the first time at Silverstone last year with Andrea Dovizioso. Before that win, the only podium finishes for Ducati at Silverstone were in 2015 with a second-place finish for Danilo Petrucci and a third for Andrea Dovizioso.
A total of 61 Grand Prix races for solo motorcycles have been held at Silvertone since 1977 as follows: MotoGP –8, 500cc–10, 350cc–6, Moto2 –8, 250cc–10, Moto3 –6, 125cc–12, 80cc–1.
The eight Moto2 races that have taken place at Silverstone have been won by eight different riders: Jules Cluzel (2010), Stefan Bradl (2011), Pol Espargaró (2012), Scott Redding (2013), Tito Rabat (2014), Johann Zarco (2015), Tom Lüthi (2016) and Takaaki Nakagami (2017). Only one of them has won from pole position: Pol Espargaró (2012).
The six Moto3 races that have taken place at Silverstone have been won by 6 different riders: Maverick Viñales (2012), Luis Salom (2013), Álex Rins (2014), Danny Kent (2015), Brad Binder (2016) and Arón Canet (2017). Only two of them have won from pole position: Maverick Viñales (2012) and Álex Rins (2014).
Jorge Lorenzo closes in on Dani Pedrosa
Jorge Lorenzo’s win at the Austrian GP was the 152nd time he has stood on the podium in Grand Prix racing, just one less than Dani Pedrosa, who stands in third place – as the first Spanish rider – in the list of riders with the most podium finishes:
In addition, this was also the 111th podium finish across all classes for Marc Márquez, equalling Max Biaggi in eighth place in the list of riders with most podium finishes, one less podium finish than nine-time World Champion Mike Hailwood.
Great weekend for Jorge Lorenzo and Ducati at Spielberg
Jorge Lorenzo’s win at the Red Bull Ring is his seventh podium finish since he joined Ducati in 2017, equalling Andrea Iannone on the list of Ducati riders with most podium finishes. Only Casey Stoner (42), Andrea Dovizioso (24) and Loris Capirossi (23) have more podium finishes with Ducati in the premier class.
With Danilo Petrucci in fourth on the grid at Spielberg behind Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, this was the first time there were three Ducati riders within the top four on the grid in the MotoGP class.
Ducati have won the last two races. At Silverstone, they will be aiming to take their third successive victory for the first time since 2008.
This is Jorge Lorenzo’s third win of 2018; the only other riders to have previously won more than three MotoGP races in a single season riding a Ducati are Casey Stoner and his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
This was Jorge Lorenzo’s first win at the Red Bull Ring, which is the 17th different circuit at which he has won at least once in the premier class.
With Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, this is the 15th time there were two Ducati riders on the podium in the premier class–the third of 2018– and the first time in back-to-back races.
The Red Bull Ring is the first circuit where Ducati have won at least three successive times in the premier class. This winning streak at the same circuit can be equalled by Ducati in Sepang later this season.
Jorge Lorenzo’s win in Austria was the 29th time in his 47 wins in the premier class that he had not won from pole position.
After the Austrian GP, Jorge Lorenzo stands in third place in the Championship standings, which is the first time he is among the top three in the classification since the final race of the 2016 season.
Since his first win of the season at the Italian GP, Jorge Lorenzo has scored 114 points, while Marc Márquez has scored 106 points. But over the opening five races, Lorenzo only scored 16 points compared to 95 for Márquez.
Jorge Lorenzo has scored 130 points after the eleven races of the season, one more point than Andrea Dovizioso. This is the first time that Lorenzo is ahead of his teammate regarding points scoring since joining Ducati.
Following the Austrian GP, Ducati have scored 208 points in the Constructor’s World Championship classification, which is the highest points accumulated after the opening eleven races by Ducati since 2007, when they had 233 points at this stage of the season on their way to clinching their only title so far.
MotoGP Constructor Standings
- Honda 236
- Ducati 208
- Yamaha 183
- Suzuki 118
- KTM 41
- Aprilia 27
MotoGP Team Standings
- Repsol Honda Team 267
- Ducati Team 259
- Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 255
- Alma Pramac Racing 166
- Team Suzuki Ecstar 150
- Monster Yamaha Tech 3 128
- LCR Honda 114
- Angel Nieto Team 61
- Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 47
- Reale Avintia Racing 35
- Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 29
- EG 0,0 Marc VDS 22
150th Spanish win in the premier class
Jorge Lorenzo’s win at the Austrian GP was the 150th for a Spanish rider in the premier class. Spain stands in third place in the list of the most successful nations in the class, as shown in the following top 10 table.
Wins by nations in the premier class
- Italy 239
- United States 154
- Spain 150
- Great Britain 138
- Australia 125
- Japan 12
- Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 12
- Netherlands 8
- Brazil 7
- Ireland 4
This is the 131st victory for a Spanish rider in the MotoGP era since the class was introduced back in 2002, which is the most successful nation followed by Italy (104), Australia (41), United States (4), Japan (3), Brazil (3) and Great Britain (3).
Àlex Crivillé’s win at the Dutch TT in 1992 was the first victory for a Spanish rider in the premier class of Grand Prix racing.
Nine different Spanish riders have won in the premier class with Jorge Lorenzo leading the way with 47 wins, followed by Marc Márquez (40), Dani Pedrosa (31), Àlex Crivillé (15), Sete Gibernau (9), Maverick Viñales (4), Carlos Checa (2), Alberto Puig (1) and Toni Elías (1).
In addition, Spain has 436 podium finishes in the premier class of Grand Prix racing. Only the United States (442) and Italy (651) has more podium finishes in the class.
MotoGP Championship Standings
- MARQUEZ Marc SPA 201 Repsol Honda Team
- ROSSI Valentino ITA 142 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
- LORENZO Jorge SPA 130 Ducati Team
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA 129 Ducati Team
- VINALES Maverick SPA 113 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
- PETRUCCI Danilo ITA 105 Alma Pramac Racing
- ZARCO Johann FRA 104 Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR 103 LCR Honda
- IANNONE Andrea ITA 84 Team Suzuki Ecstar
- RINS Alex SPA 66 Team Suzuki Ecstar
- PEDROSA Dani SPA 66 Repsol Honda Team
- MILLER Jack AUS 61 Alma Pramac Racing
- BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA 57 Angel Nieto Team
- RABAT Tito SPA 35 Reale Avintia Racing
- ESPARGARO Pol SPA 32 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
- SYAHRIN Hafizh MAL 24 Monster Yamaha Tech 3
- MORBIDELLI Franco ITA 22 EG 0,0 Marc VDS
- ESPARGARO Aleix SPA 17 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
- SMITH Bradley GBR 15 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
- REDDING Scott GBR 12 Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
- NAKAGAMI Takaaki JPN 11 LCR Honda
- KALLIO Mika FIN 6 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
- ABRAHAM Karel CZE 4 Angel Nieto Team
