Mugello MotoGP facts and statistics

Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

This is the 30th occasion that a GP has been held at the Mugello circuit, including twenty five times in the consecutive years starting with 1991. Below are some facts and stats about grand prix racing at Mugello.

The first time that Mugello hosted a grand prix event was in 1976. The 500cc race was won by Barry Sheene by the narrow margin of 0.1 sec from Phil Read, in a race lasting over 62 minutes. This was at a time when Suzuki riders dominated the premier-class; the first non-Suzuki rider home was Waerum Borge Nielsen in tenth place riding a Yamaha.
The layout of the Mugello circuit has remained basically the same since 1976 with the official track length of 5.245km remaining unchanged.
Yamaha have been the most successful manufacturer in the four-stroke MotoGP era at Mugello with a total of eight wins; five successive victories with Valentino Rossi in the years 2004 through to 2008, in addition to the wins with Lorenzo in 2011, 2012 & 2013.
The win by Marc Marquez last year was the fourth for Honda in the MotoGP class at Mugello, and the first since 2010.
Ducati’s single win at Mugello was with Stoner in 2009, which is the last time that a Ducati rider has finished on the podium at the circuit.

Mugello 2009 saw Casey Stoner win the Italian GP for Ducati, the only time Ducati have claimed victory at Mugello.

The best results for Suzuki in the MotoGP era is 5th, which was achieved by John Hopkins in 2007 and Loris Capirossi in 2009.
Honda riders have taken pole at Mugello for the last five years. The last non-Honda pole was Jorge Lorenzo in 2009 on a Yamaha.
Ducati riders have twice started from pole at Mugello; Sete Gibernau in 2006 and Casey Stoner in 2007.
Valentino Rossi is the most successful rider across all the classes at Mugello, with a total of nine victories; one each in 125cc and 250cc classes to add to his seven successive MotoGP wins, the last of which came in 2008.
In the MotoGP era the only Italian to start from pole in the premier-class is Valentino Rossi, who has done so on four occasions; 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2008. Rossi also started from pole for the final 500cc GP race to be held at Mugello in 2001.
Loris Capirossi is the only Italian rider other than Rossi to win in the premier-class at Mugello, the 500cc race in 2000 after a race long battle with his countrymen Biaggi and Rossi, both of whom crashed in the closing stages.
The MotoGP race at Mugello in 2004 is the shortest ever premier-class grand prix race. The race lasted just six laps, after the first attempt to run the race was stopped due to rain and then restarted for the remaining laps under the rain rules as they stood at that time.
Italy, The Netherlands and Great Britain are the only three countries that have hosted a motorcycle grand prix event in each year since the motorcycling world championship series started in 1949.

Valentino Rossi's last win at Mugello in 2008 - Previously he had claimed seven successive victories in MotoGP at Mugello. — Valentino Rossi’s last win at Mugello in 2008 – Previously he had claimed seven successive victories in MotoGP at Mugello.

Jorge Lorenzo set to equal podium count of Giacomo Agostini

Jorge Lorenzo’s win at Le Mans was the 87th time that he has stood on the podium since moving up to the MotoGP class in 2008. As shown in the table below, this is just one less podium finish in the premier-class than eight times world 500cc champion, Giacomo Agostini.

1 Valentino Rossi 165 Podiums – 84 x 1st – 47 x 2nd – 34 x 3rd

2 Mick Doohan 95 Podiums – 54 x 1st – 31 x 2nd – 10 x 3rd

3 Dani Pedrosa 94 Podiums – 26 x 1st -36 x 2nd – 32 x 3rd

4 Giacomo Agostini 88 Podiums – 68 x 1st – 20 x 2nd – 0 x 3rd

5 Jorge Lorenzo 87 Podiums – 35 x 1st – 36 x 2nd – 16 x 3rd

6 Eddie Lawson 78 Podiums – 31 x 1st – 31 x 2nd – 16 x 3rd

7 Casey Stoner 69 Podiums – 38 x 1st – 11 x 2nd – 20 x 3rd

8 Wayne Rainey 64 Podiums – 24 x 1st – 22 x 2nd – 18 x 3 rd

9 Max Biaggi 58 Podiums – 13 x 1st – 26 x 2nd – 19 x 3rd

10 Randy Mamola 54 Podiums – 13 x 1st – 22 x 2nd – 19 x 3rd

Successful start to 2015 for Yamaha

Yamaha are having the best start to a MotoGP season for a number of years, as illustrated by the following statistics:

Yamaha have already taken four MotoGP wins from the first five races of the year. This is the same number of victories that they achieved during the whole of 2014.
After the French GP Yamaha head the Constructors Championship table with a score of 116 points from a maximum of 125. This is the highest points score for Yamaha after the first five races since 2010.
The last time that Yamaha riders occupied the top two places in the MotoGP championship classification was following the opening race of 2013 in Qatar, which Jorge Lorenzo won from Valentino Rossi.
From the last eleven MotoGP races, including the last six races of 2014, Yamaha have won eight races, with Honda winning the other three.
Yamaha have taken a total of seven podium finishes from the first five races of the year, compared to five podium finishes for Ducati and three for Honda.

Valentino Rossi celebrates in Argentina (2015)

Great mix of nationalities in smaller GP classes

After the domination in recent years by Spanish riders, the two smaller classes of grand prix racing have had a great mix of nationalities challenging for podium finishes and featuring in the top ten places in the championship standings in 2015.

In particular in the Moto2 class where already this year there have been riders from six different nationalities on the podium and there are nine different nationalities represented in the top ten of the current championship classification.

Great mix of nationalities in smaller GP classes

Grand Prix racing numbers

171 – Nicky Hayden’s 11th place finish at Le Mans was the 171st time that he has finished in a point scoring position in the MotoGP class. This is the same number of point scoring finishes that Loris Capirossi achieved during his time in the premier-class. Only two riders have more point scoring finishes in the premierclass than Capirossi and Hayden; Valentino Rossi (235 point scoring finishes) and Alex Barros (195).
99 – The pole by Marc Marquez at Le Mans was the 99th pole for Spanish riders in the MotoGP class. The riders that have contributed to the 99 Spanish poles are: Jorge Lorenzo – 31, Dani Pedrosa – 27, Marc Marquez – 25, Sete Gibernau – 12, Carlos Checa – 2, Aleix Espargaro – 1, Alvaro Bautista – 1.
90 – The win by Jorge Lorenzo at Le Mans was the 90th victory in the MotoGP class by Spanish riders since MotoGP became the premier-class of grand prix racing in 2002. This is one more win than Italian riders have achieved in the MotoGP class over the same period.
25 – Tito Rabat’s second place finish in France was the 25th time he has stood on the podium in the Moto2 class, the same number of Moto2 podiums as Marc Marquez. The only rider with more Moto2 podium finishes is Tom Luthi with twenty seven.
11 years – The first three riders across the line in the Moto3 race at Le Mans were all from Italy. This is the first time that Italian riders have filled all three podium places in the Moto3/125cc class since the 125cc Japanese GP at Motegi in 2004 when the riders on the podium were:Andrea Dovizioso, Fabrizio Lai and Simone Corsi, with another Italian, Mirko Giansanti, in fourth place.
10 years – Tom Luthi’s win at Le Mans came ten years after he took his very first grand prix victory in the 125cc class at the same circuit in 2005. He is the twenty sixth rider to have a winning career in grand prix racing greater than ten years.
7 – The last time that Valentino Rossi arrived at Mugello at the head of the world championship table was seven years ago in 2008, which is also when he took the last of his seven successive MotoGP victories at the circuit.
7th – Takaaki Nakagami’s seventh place finish at the French Grand Prix is the best result by a Japanese rider across the three classes of grand prix racing since Nakagami himself finished second in the Moto2 race at Misano in 2013.
4 – Johann Zarco has been on the podium at the last four races; the first French rider to achieve four successive podium finishes in the intermediate-class of grand prix racing since Randy de Puniet at the final 250cc GP of 2003 and the first three races of 2004.
3 – After the opening five events of the year there are only three riders in the Moto3 class who have scored at all five races: Danny Kent, Enea Bastianini and Isaac Viñales.

Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent won his third Moto3 race in a row, in an epic last lap scrap with Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira. — Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent won his third Moto3 race in a row at Jerez, in an epic last lap scrap with Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira.

Moto2 stats and facts

Johann Zarco has twice finished on the podium at Mugello: second in the 125cc race in 2011 and third in Moto2 in 2013. He also qualified on pole for the 125cc race at Mugello in 2011 – his first pole position in grand prix racing.
Tom Luthi had three podium finishes from his twelve GP starts at Mugello: second in the 125cc class in 2005 and third in the 250cc class in 2008 and third in Moto2 in 2012. Luthi’s win at Le Mans was the 10th GP victory of his career, but at Mugello he will be aiming to take back-to-back wins for the first time.
Jonas Folger finished third last year at Mugello, one of two podium finishes he achieved in his rookie season in the Moto2 class.
Sam Lowes finished eighth last year at Mugello after qualifying in second place on the grid – his first front row start in Moto2.
Franco Morbidelli’s 5th place finish at Le Mans was the fourth time he has finished 5th in the first five races of the year; on the one occasion this year when he has not finished fifth, at Jerez, he was sixth.
Tito Rabat, who is scheduled to make his 150th grand prix start at Mugello, celebrated his 26th birthday on the Monday prior to the Italian GP. Rabat won the Moto2 race at Mugello last year from pole; he is the only rider currently competing in Moto2 to have won in the class at Mugello.
Alex Rins has finished on the podium for the last two years in the Moto3 race at Mugello: second in 2013 and third last year. He also qualified on pole for the Moto3 race at Mugello last year.
Luis Salom finished second last year at Mugello – his best result in his rookie season in the Moto2 class. Two years ago Salom won the Moto3 race at Mugello from Alex Rins and Maverick Viñales.
Simone Corsi, who finished fourth last year at Mugello, made his grand prix debut as a wild-card at Mugello back in 2002 when just fifteen years old. Corsi won the 125cc GP at Mugello in 2008.
Appearing as a wild-card in the Moto2 race at Mugello is Mattia Pasini, who has won two grand prix races at Mugello; the 125cc race in 2006 and the 250cc race in 2009.

Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes claimed his first ever Moto2 victory at the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas.

Moto3 stats and facts

At the end of the Moto3 race at Mugello last year there were just 0.011 seconds covering the first three riders across the line, making it the closest grand prix podium finish of all-time.
Danny Kent’s best result at Mugello is fifth in the Moto3 race in 2012. Last year he finished 15th in the Moto3 race at Mugello, after qualifying down in 26th place on the grid.
Enea Bastianini finished second at Le Mans, after starting from 18th place on the grid. This is the second time this year he has recovered from a disappointing qualifying result to finish second; in Qatar he was second after qualifying in 21st place on the grid. He qualified down in 16th place on the grid last year at Mugello and then crashed out of the leading group on the final lap with Jack Miller and Alex Marquez.
The best result for Efren Vazquez at Mugello is fourth in the 125cc race in 2011. Last year at Mugello he finished 12th after suffering a ride-through penalty for a jump start.
Romano Fenati finished second at Mugello in 2012, his rookie season in the Moto3 class. Last year he won at Mugello – one of his four wins in 2014. Fenati’s win at Le Mans on a KTM ended a run of four successive victories for Honda in the Moto3 class.
Isaac Viñales finished second last year at Mugello – his best grand prix result at that time, which he later equalled in the final race of the year in Valencia.
Francesco Bagnaia’s third place finish at the French grand prix was the first grand prix podium finish in what was his 38th GP start.