Spielberg MotoGP Statistics Smorgasbord
MotoGP Official statistics compiled by Dr. Martin Raines
NeroGiardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich
Austrian Grand Prix facts and stats – 2016
Motorcycle Grand Prix racing returns to Austria after a break of eighteen years. Below are some facts and figures related to grand prix racing in Austria.
- In 2016 Austria will stage a motorcycle grand prix event for the first time since 1997.
- The first Austrian grand prix took place in 1971 at the Salzburgring circuit, which hosted grand prix racing on a total of 22 occasions.
- At that first Austrian GP in 1971 Giacomo Agostini (MV Agusta) won the 500cc race, finishing more than a lap ahead of second place finisher Keith Turner. Agostini also won the 350cc race, with the other classes being won by the following riders: 250cc – Silvio Grassetti (MZ), 125cc – Angel Nieto (Derbi), 50cc – Jan de Vries (Kreidler).
- The last occasion that a grand prix event took place at the Salzburgring circuit was in 1994, when Mick Doohan won the 500cc race with a race average speed in excess of 194 km/h (120 mph).
- Due to the high speed nature of the Salzburgring circuit, and the limited amount of run-off provided, it was considered too dangerous for continued use for grand prix racing.
- The current circuit has hosted two previous grand prix events – in 1996 and 1997, when named the A1-Ring.
- Valentino Rossi is the only current rider to have to have raced previously at this circuit in a grand prix.
- Rossi’s third place finish in the 125cc race in Austria in 1996 was his first GP podium finish. He again finished on the podium in the 125cc race in Austria in 1997, this time in second place just 0.004 seconds behind Noboru Ueda.
- All of the six grand prix races (2 x 125cc, 2 x 250cc, 2 x 500cc) that have taken place at this circuit have been won by Honda mounted riders.
Two hundred and fifty grand prix starts for Andrea Dovizioso
At the Austrian Grand Prix Andrea Dovisioso is scheduled to make his 250th grand prix start. As shown in the following table of riders with the greatest number of grand prix starts, he will be just the tenth rider in the 68 years of motorcycle grand prix racing to reach this milestone.
At the age of 30 years 144 days he is the youngest rider to reach the milestone of 250 GP starts, taking the record from Dani Pedrosa who reached the milestone earlier this year at Mugello at the age of 30 years 236 days.
Dovizioso made his grand prix debut as a wild-card in the 125cc race at Mugello in 2001. He has not missed a grand prix race since becoming a full-time GP rider at the start of 2002.
Grand Prix Race Starts
- Valentino Rossi 339
- Loris Capirossi 328
- Jack Findlay 282
- Alex Barros 276
- Angel Nieto 265
- Brune Kneubuhler 264
- Alex De Angelis 262
- Randy De Puniet 253
- Dani Pedrosa 253
- Andrea Dovizioso 249
Marc Marquez closes in on Mick Doohan
The win by Marc Marquez in Germany was the 53rd of his grand prix career, just one less win than five times 500cc world champions Mick Doohan as shown in the following table of riders with most GP wins. There are just six riders in the 68 year history of motorcycle grand prix racing who have scored more wins than Marc Marquez, who is still just 23 years old.
MotoGP Rider Wins
- Giacomo Agostini 122
- Valentino Rossi 114
- Angel Nieto 90
- Mike Hailwood 76
- Jorge Lorenzo 64
- Mick Doohan 54
- Marc Marquez 53
- Phil Read 52
- Dani Pedrosa 51
- Casey Stoner 45
Jim Redman 45
Twenty seven MotoGP wins for Marc Marquez
The victory by Marc Marquez at the Sachsenring was the 27th time he has stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class. As shown in the following list, this is the just one less premier-class win than his Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.
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)
- 28 – Dani Pedrosa (0 premier-class titles)
- 27 – Marc Marquez (2 premier-class world titles)
- 25 – Kevin Schwantz (1 premier-class title)
Grand Prix racing numbers
- 100 – Andrea Dovizioso’s third place in Germany was the 100th podium finish for Ducati in the premier-class of grand prix racing. Ninety nine of these have come in the MotoGP era to add to a single Ducati podium in the 500cc class – 3rd by Bruno Spaggiari at Imola in 1972. The ninety-nine podiums in the MotoGP class for Ducati are shared among fourteen riders: Casey Stoner – 42, Loris Capirossi – 23, Andrea Dovizioso – 9, Troy Bayliss & Andrea Iannone – 5, Valentino Rossi & Nicky Hayden – 3, Toni Elias & Carlos Checa – 2, Danilo Petrucci, Ruben Xaus, Cal Crutchlow, Alex Barros, & Scott Redding – 1.
- 62 – The pole position by Marc Marquez in Germany was the 62nd of his grand prix career across all classes. This is one less pole positions than both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi the two riders who have most poles in the modern-era of grand prix racing (since 1974) when full pole position data is available.
- 47 – The win by Marc Marquez in Germany was the 47th time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class. He now needs just one more top three finish to match the number of premier-class podiums achieved by MotoGP Legend Mike Hailwood.
- 37 – Johann Zarco’s win at the German Grand Prix was the 37th time he has stood on the podium in grand prix racing (26 x Moto2 + 11 x 125cc). This is the same number of grand prix podium finishes as Christian Sarron; no other French rider has stood on the podium more often than these two riders.
- 27 – The Red Bull Ring is the 27th circuit to hold a MotoGP race since it replaced the 500cc class as the premier-class of motorcycle grand prix racing in 2002. Austria is the 19th different country to host a MotoGP race.
- 14 – The rider starting on pole has not won in the Moto3 class for the last fourteen races. The last time a rider starting a Moto3 race from pole won the race was Enea Bastianini at Misano last year.
- 12 – Joann Zarco’s win in Germany was the 12th time he has stood on the top step of the podium in the Moto2 class. Only two riders have taken more Moto2 wins than Zarco: Marc Marquez (16 Moto2 wins) and Tito Rabat (13 Moto2 wins).
- 9 years – No Yamaha rider has appeared on the MotoGP podium at the last two races. This is the first time that Yamaha have failed to get a podium finish in back-to-back races for almost nine years, since the final two races of 2007 in Malaysia and Valencia.
- 2 – Honda riders have taken the top two places in the last two MotoGP races. The last time that Honda riders finished one-two in back-to-back races was at the Grand Prix of the Americas and Argentina in 2014.
- 1 – With Alex Rins and Sam Lowes both failing to finish in Germany after crashing, the only rider in the Moto2 class who has scored points at every race in the first half of the season is Takaaki Nakagami, who also crashed in Germany but re-started to finish 11th.
- 0.059 seconds – The Moto2 race winner in Germany, Johann Zarco, crossed the line just 0.059 seconds ahead of second place finisher Jonas Folger – the closest finish in a full-length Moto2 race since the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2010 when Roberto Rolfo crossed the line just 0.04 seconds ahead of Alex de Angelis.
Moto2 stats and facts
- After crashing at the French Grand Prix and falling 31 points behind the championship leader, Johann Zarco has picked up 95 points in four races, with three wins and a second place finish, to lead the championship classification by 25 points.
- Alex Rins crashed out of the German Grand Prix on the 27th lap – the first time he has failed to finish a race since the Malaysian GP last year.
- Sam Lowes failed to finish in Germany after crashing then re-starting and crashing for a second time; this was the first time that he has failed to score points since the San Marino GP last year.
- After missing the German Grand Prix due to injury, reigning Moto3 World Champion Danny Kent is now scheduled to make his 100th grand prix start at the Austrian Grand Prix.
- Julian Simon’s third place finish at the German Grand Prix was his first podium for almost four years, since he was 2nd at the final race of 2012 at Valencia.
- Julian Simon is one of seven riders still competing in the Moto2 class who appeared in the first ever Moto2 race at Qatar in 2010, along with: Mattia Pasini, Tom Luthi, Simone Corsi, Dominique Aegerter, Ratthapark Wilairot and Axel Pons.
- Mattia Pasini’s fourth place finish in Germany is his best ever result in the Moto2 class and his best result in any class of grand prix racing since he finished second in the 250cc race at Misano in 2009.
- Two riders in the Moto2 class will be celebrating their birthdays on the day of qualifying in Austria: Jonas Folger will be twenty-three and Mattia Pasini thirty-one.
- Luca Marini finished sixth at the German Grand Prix, his best result so far in his rookie season in the Moto2 class. Marini will celebrate his 19th birthday two days before practice starts at the Austrian Grand Prix.
- Jesko Raffin’s eighth place finish at the German Grand Prix is his best grand prix result after he had qualified in his best ever grid position of 19th.
Moto3 stats and facts
- Championship leader Brad Binder will celebrate his 21st birthday on the day before practice starts at the Austrian Grand Prix.
- Khairul Idham Pawi won the German GP by 11.131 seconds, adding to his victory in Argentina earlier in the season, which was by 26.17 seconds – the two largest margins of victory so far in 2016. In addition to the 50 points Pawi has taken from these two wins he has only added a further four points from 14th place finishes in at Jerez and Le Mans.
- Andrea Locatelli’s second place finish in Germany was his first time standing on a grand prix podium in what was his 41st GP start in the Moto3 class.
- The Italian revival continues in the Moto3 class with fourteen podium finishes already for Italian riders in the first half of the season. This is already equal to the number of podiums Italy achieved during the whole of last season, which in itself was the most podiums for Italy in the lightweight-class of grand prix racing since 2005.
- The sixth place finish for John McPhee in Germany is the best result so far for Peugeot in their first year in grand prix racing.
