Phillip Island MotoGP Statistics Snapshot

Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix – Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines

This will be the 28th Australian Grand Prix, which has been held every year since the first visit in 1989. Below are some facts and statistics from the previous Grand Prix events held in Australia.

The first two Australian Grand Prix were held at Phillip Island, before visiting the Eastern Creek circuit for six successive years, then returning to Phillip Island in 1997 where it has since remained. This is the 22nd time that the grand prix has taken place at Phillip Island.
Honda are the most successful manufacturer at Phillip Island in the MotoGP era with six victories.

Ducati have had four MotoGP wins at Phillip Island all with Casey Stoner in the years 2007 to 2010.
Yamaha have had four MotoGP wins at Phillip Island, three with Valentino Rossi and one with Jorge Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi - Phillip Island - 2005 — Valentino Rossi – Phillip Island – 2005

All three podium finishers of the MotoGP race at Phillip Island in 2014 were Yamaha mounted – the last all Yamaha podium in MotoGP.
The only podium for Suzuki in the premier-class at Phillip Island came in 2006 when Chris Vermeulen finished second.

Chris Vermeulen - Phillip Island - 2006 — Chris Vermeulen – Phillip Island – 2006

Valentino Rossi is the rider who has had most grand prix wins at Phillip Island, with eight (2 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 5 x MotoGP), followed by Casey Stoner with six wins, all of which have been in the MotoGP class.
Casey Stoner won the MotoGP race at Phillip Island for six successive years from 2007 until 2012, the last five of which were from pole position.

Casey Stoner - Phillip Island 2010 - Image by AJRN — Casey Stoner – Phillip Island 2010 – Image by AJRN

Four current riders have started from pole in the MotoGP class at Phillip Island; Valentino Rossi in 2003, Dani Pedrosa in 2007, Jorge Lorenzo in 2013 and Marc Marquez for the last two years.
Eleven of the fourteen MotoGP races that have taken place at Phillip Island have been won by either Casey Stoner (6 wins) or Valentino Rossi (5 wins). Three other riders have taken one win each: Marco Melandri (2006), Jorge Lorenzo (2013) and Marc Marquez (2015).

Marc Marquez levels with team-mate

The win by Marc Marquez in Japan was the 29th time that he has stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class, the same number of MotoGP wins as his team-mate Dani Pedrosa. As can be seen in the following table, only seven riders have more premier-class victories than Marquez.

Riders with most wins in MotoGP/500cc class

88 – Valentino Rossi (7 premier-class titles)
68 – Giacomo Agostini (8 premier-class titles)
54 -Mick Doohan (5 premier-class titles)
43 – Jorge Lorenzo (3 premier-class titles)
38 – Casey Stoner (2 premier-class titles)
37 – Mike Hailwood (4 premier-class titles),
31 – Eddie Lawson (4 premier-class titles)
29 – Dani Pedrosa (0 premier-class titles), Marc Marquez (3 premier-class titles)

Marc Marquez reached half-century milestone

The win by Marc Marquez at Motegi was the 50th time that he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class. At the age of 23 years 242 days he is the youngest rider to reach the milestone of fifty premier-class podiums, taking the record from Valentino Rossi who achieved this at the age of 24 years 216 days.

MotoGP Statistics - Rider Podiums — MotoGP Statistics – Rider Podiums

Grand Prix racing numbers

33 – Andrea Dovizioso’s second place finish in Japan was the 33rd time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class. This is just one less premier class podium finish than twice 500cc World Champion Phil Read achieved during his grand prix career.

33 – Tom Luthi’s win in Japan was the 33rd time he has stood on the podium in the Moto2 class, joining Tito Rabat as the two riders with most top three finishes in Moto2.

26 – Danilo Petrucci celebrates his 26th birthday on the Monday after the Australian Grand Prix.
24 – Enea Bastianini was the 24th different winner this year across the three classes of grand prix racing and with three events of 2016 remaining this already equals the largest number of different grand prix winners in a single season, previously recorded in 1974 when the grand prix series also included the 350cc and 50cc classes.
22.84 seconds – Twelfth placed finisher in Australia last year, Danilo Petrucci, crossed the line just 22.84 seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez. This is the closest top twelve in a full length MotoGP race since it became the premier-class of grand prix racing in 2002. Only once before in the premier-class have the top twelve been closer, at the 500cc race at Phillip Island in 2001 when the first twelve riders across the line were covered by just 20.303 seconds.
9 – There have been nine different winners in the Moto3 class this year. This is already the greatest number of different winners in a single season in the lightweight-class of grand prix racing since 2003 when there were also nine different winners during the season. There has never been more than nine different winners in a single season in the lightweight-class of grand prix racing.

MotoGP Mugello 2016 - Moto3 - Image by AJRN — MotoGP Mugello 2016 – Moto3 – Image by AJRN

5 – With his win in Japan Marquez has stood on the top step of a grand prix podium on five or more occasions for the last seven years across the various GP classes, something achieved previously by only two riders in the 68-year history of motorcycle grand prix racing: Giacomo Agostini and Mike Hailwood.
3- Tom Luthi has won three times in 2016 – the first time that he has had three or more wins in a single season since 2005 when he picked up four wins on his way to taking the 125cc world title.
2 – Suzuki team-mates Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaro finished third and fourth in Japan – the first time since the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano in 2007 that Suzuki had two riders finish in the top four places in a MotoGP race; on that occasion it was Chris Vermeulen finishing second and John Hopkins third.
0 – Both Yamaha factory riders crashed out of the Japanese Grand Prix. This is the first time that the factory Yamaha team failed to score any points in a MotoGP race since the Australian GP in 2011 when both riders (Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies) failed to start the race due to injury.

Moto2 stats and facts

Johann Zarco has had one podium finish at Phillip Island – third in the 125cc race in 2011, when he also started from pole position. He has crashed out of the Moto2 race in Australia in both 2013 and 2014. Last year he finished seventh in Australia, just one week after clinching the Moto2 title in Japan.

Alex Rins has finished on the podium at Phillip Island for the last three years: a win and a third place finish in the Moto3 class in 2013 & 2014, and a race win in the Moto2 class last year from pole position.
Alex Rins is the only rider currently competing in the Moto2 class who has won an intermediate-class grand prix at the Phillip Island circuit.
Sam Lowes finished fifth two years ago in Australia – the best result of his rookie season in the Moto2 class. Last year he finished second in Australia riding the Speed Up machine.
Tom Luthi won the 125cc race at Phillip Island, from pole position, on his way to taking the world title in 2005. He has finished second in the Moto2 race at Phillip Island in both 2013 and 2014. Last year he crashed out of second place at the MG corner on the 17th lap; he re-started to finish 15th.
Sandro Cortese has twice won at Phillip Island in the lightweight-class – in the 125cc race in 2011 and in Moto3 in 2012. Last year he crashed out of sixth place on the 15th lap at the Honda hairpin.
Alex Marquez set a new lap record on his way to finishing fourth in the Moto3 race at Phillip Island in 2013. In 2014 he qualified on pole in Australia and finished the race second, but just 0.029 seconds behind race winner Jack Miller. Last year he finished 9th at Phillip Island from 18th place on the grid.
In addition to Luthi, Cortese and Rins mentioned above, other riders who are currently competing in the Moto2 class who have won in grand prix racing at Phillip Island are: Julian Simon (2009 – 125cc) and Miguel Oliveira (2015 – Moto3).
Lorenzo Baldassarri finished third last year in Australia – his first podium finish in grand prix racing which made him the second youngest Italian rider of all-time, after Marco Melandri, to finish on the podium in the intermediate-class of grand prix racing.
Jonas Folger was battling for a podium finish last year in Australia when he had to retire from the race with just three laps to go with a deflated rear tyre.

Moto3 stats and facts

None of the riders currently competing full-time in the Moto3 class have won a grand prix race at the Phillip Island circuit.
All four Moto3 grand prix races that have taken place at the Phillip Island circuit have been won by KTM riders. The last Honda winner in the lightweightclass at Phillip Island was Tom Luthi in 2005.
Brad Binder battled for the lead through the Australian Grand Prix last year, before finally finishing in third place.
Enea Bastianini has failed to finish on either of his two previous visits to Phillip Island; he retired from the race two years ago and last year he crashed out on the 14th lap. He has finished on the podium six times in the last nine races and took his first win of the year in Japan.
Jorge Navarro just missed out on a podium last year at Phillip Island, finishing fourth but just 0.009 seconds behind Binder in third.
With his third place finish in Japan, Nicolo Bulega moved above Joan Mir in the battle for leading rookie in the Moto3 class.
Jakub Kornfeil led the Moto3 race in Australia last year at the end of the penultimate lap; he ended up finishing in fifth place, just 0.288 seconds behind race winner Oliveira. Earlier in the race, on lap seven, Kornfeil had run wide and dropped down to 22nd place.
Maria Herrera finished 11th last year in Australia, the best result so far of her grand prix career.
John McPhee qualified on pole last year in Australia, then crashed out on the seventh lap and collided with Joan Mir who was making his GP debut as a replacement for the injured Hiroko Ono.
Francesco Bagnaia set the fastest lap of the Moto3 race last year in Australia, before crashing out on the 10th lap at the hairpin when battling with the leading group.