Next stop Barcelona: here are a few things about the venue, the riders and the season so far…
- Only three current venues have a longer ongoing sequence of hosting Grand Prix events: Jerez, Mugello and Assen.
- During the four-stroke MotoGP™ era, Yamaha have taken nine victories at the Catalunya circuit, including for the last two years, and Honda have taken four.
- Ducati have taken two MotoGP™ wins, including their very first in the class with Loris Capirossi in 2003. The last podium finish by a Ducati rider at the Catalan GP was the 3rd place finish by Casey Stoner in 2010.
- The last win by Suzuki at the Catalunya Grand Prix was in the 500cc class in 2000, with Kenny Roberts Jr. Last year Maverick Viñales’ fourth place equaled the best result for a Suzuki rider at the Catalunya circuit since the introduction of the MotoGP™ formula in 2002 (John Hopkins - 2006, 2007).
- Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) started from pole two years ago in Catalunya, which was the first pole for Suzuki since Chris Vermeulen took the top qualifying spot at the Dutch TT in 2007.
- The last rider to start from pole in Catalunya on a Yamaha was Jorge Lorenzo in 2010, which was also the last time that the rider starting from pole won the MotoGP™ race. The only other rider to have won the MotoGP™ race at Catalunya from pole position is Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), in 2006.
- Rossi is the most successful rider across all grand prix classes at the Catalunya circuit with ten victories (1 x 125cc, 2 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 6 x MotoGP™). The next most successful, with five, is Lorenzo (1 x 250cc, 4 x MotoGP™).
- There have been nine premier class victories by Spanish riders at the Catalunya circuit; Alex Criville (1995, 1999), Carlos Checa (1996), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team -2008), Jorge Lorenzo (2010, 2012, 2013, 2015) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team -2014).
- At the Catalan GP, Hector Barbera (Reale Avintia Racing) is scheduled to make his 250th grand prix start across all classes. He is just the 12th rider in the 69-year history of motorcycle grand prix racing to reach this milestone and the third youngest, after Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso.
- At the Catalan Grand Prix Andrea Iannone is scheduled to make his 200th grand prix start.
- Tenth place finisher at Mugello Iannone crossed the line just 15.502 seconds after race winner Dovizioso – the closest ever top ten finish in a race that has run full distance since the MotoGP™ era began. Only two premier class grand prix races that have run for the full distance have been closer; the Australian 500cc GP in 2000 (12.582 seconds) and the 500cc Czech GP in 1996 (13.776 seconds).
- In Catalunya last year Maverick Viñales set the fastest lap of the race on his way to finishing 4th – his first in the MotoGP™ class.
- At the Italian Grand Prix, Ducati had three riders finish in the top five in a dry MotoGP™ race for the first time since the Australian GP in 2007.
- Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) is only the third rider to have more than a single MotoGP™ win on a Ducati, joining Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi.
- Dovizioso was the fourth different rider to win a MotoGP™ race this year. The last time that there were four different winners in the opening six MotoGP™ races of the year was in 2008 (Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi).
- Danilo Petrucci’s (Octo Pramac Racing) third place at Mugello is the first podium finish in a full dry race for a Ducati rider from an Independent Team since Toni Elias was third at Misano in 2008.
- Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) continued his great start to his rookie season in the MotoGP™ class with a seventh place finish at Mugello, taking him to a total of 64 points after the opening six races of the year. Only once before in the MotoGP™ era has a rookie rider for an Independent Team scored more points from the first six races of the year – Casey Stoner.
- The sixth place finish by Marc Marquez at the Italian Grand Prix was the first time he has finished a race outside of the top five in a race where he has not either been penalised or crashed and re-started since the 125cc race at Brno in 2010.
- Valentino Rossi’s win in Catalunya last year was the last time that he stood on the top step of the podium.