Over the 18 Grands Prix of the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship in 2016, there were a grand total of 1062 crashes – the first time the figure has risen over a thousand. Last year was just below, with the total standing at 976.
288 of the 1062 incidents were in the MotoGP™ class, making an average of 16 falls per GP. That was an increase on 2015, which had seen an average of 12 incidents per race weekend in the premier class. Moto2™ saw 364 crashes throughout 2016, a small increase on the previous season. However, an average of 20 incidents per event remained, with Moto3™ showing a similar pattern. There was only one single crash more in 2016 in Moto3™, with 410 compared to 409 – the same average of 23 crashes in each GP.
Of the 288 crashes in MotoGP™, the race was the session in which the most incidents occurred - 81. The same is true of Moto2™ and Moto3™, where 120 of 364 and 151 of 410 incidents happened after lights out.
Who was the biggest crasher? Over all three classes it was early Moto2™ title contender Sam Lowes, with 30. Second was Moto3™’s Gabriel Rodrigo on 27, with Brno and Phillip Island MotoGP™ winner Cal Crutchlow with the third most of the season – 26.
With a points-scoring record in every race until the Australian GP, it is surprising to see Marc Marquez remain high on the list of crashers in the premier class. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion crashed 17 times in 2016, equaling Yonny Hernandez in third on the list. Assen winner Jack Miller was the man in second in the crash count, with 25 crashes in 2016 – just one below Cructhlow’s maximum of 26. Marquez’ saving grace was that the 2016 MotoGP™ World Champion only crashed three times during a race – at Le Mans, where he remounted to score points, and then twice after having wrapped up the title – at Sepang, and at Phillip Island.
With difficult weather at the Australian GP, it’s no surprise to see the Victoria track top the table as the venue at which most crashes occurred. 90 crashes happened over the weekend in all three classes, an increase of over 90% on a dry weekend in 2015, with Honda hairpin (Turn 4) topping the list with 32 incidents. The other two most difficult corners of the season proved V Corner (Turn 9) at the Twin Ring Motegi and Turn 1 at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina.
The Italian GP at Mugello and the newly-returning Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring were the events with the least incidents, sharing the honour at 34 a piece.