MotoGP™ returns to the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit for a fourth year, and below are a selection of facts and stats related to this event:
- This year’s event at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit is the 14th motorcycle grand prix to be held in Argentina.
- The first Argentinean GP took place in 1961 and was held in Buenos Aires; the first time that a grand prix had taken place outside of Europe. Not all of the top riders attended the event and the 52 lap, 203 km, 500cc race was won by home rider Jorge Kissling (Matchless) from fellow countryman Juan Carlos Salatino (Norton).
- This is the fourth year that the Argentinean GP has taken place at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit. All of the ten previous grand prix in Argentina had taken place in Buenos Aires, the last of which was in 1999.
- Three riders from Argentina have won grand prix races; Sebastian Porto (seven wins in the 250cc class), and Benedicto Caldarella and Jorge Kissling, who both had single victories in the 500cc class.
- The last GP win by an Argentinean rider was in the 250cc class at the Dutch TT in 2005, when Sebastian Porto won the race from Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
- The only current full-time grand prix rider who has raced in grand prix at the Buenos Aires circuit is Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), who won the 250cc race in 1998 & was third in 1999.
- Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has twice won the MotoGP™ race in Argentina from pole position – in 2014 and 2016. He was also on pole in Argentina in 2015, but crashed when battling for the lead.
- The only rider other than Marquez to win a MotoGP™ race at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit is Rossi, who won the 2015 race after starting down in 8th place on the grid.
- Andrea Dovizioso’s (Ducati Team) second place finish in 2015 is the only podium finish for a Ducati rider in Argentina.
- The last five MotoGP™ races have been won by five different riders: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), Andrea Dovizioso, Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) and Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).
- The Termas de Rio Hondo circuit is one of just five venues on this year’s schedule where Jorge Lorenzo has not had a win in the MotoGP™ class, along with Austin, Sachsenring, Sepang and the new Red Bull Ring in Austria.
- Aleix Espargaro’s (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) sixth place finish in Qatar equals the best ever result for Aprilia in the MotoGP™ class, achieved by Colin Edwards at the opening race of the 2003 season at Suzuka in Japan.
- If Maverick Viñales wins the race in Argentina, he will be the first Yamaha rider since Wayne Rainey in 1990 to win the opening two premier-class grand prix races of the year.
- The slowest “fastest lap” in the MotoGP™ race in Qatar was a lap just 1.891 seconds slower than the fastest lap of the race set by Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3). Never before in the MotoGP™ class have there been 23 riders that have posted a lap time within two seconds of the fastest lap set during a race.
- The four MotoGP™ rookies in 2017 were the first four riders across the line last year in the Moto2™ race in Argentina: Johann Zarco, Sam Lowes, Jonas Folger (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Alex Rins.
- Marc Marquez won the MotoGP™ race last year in Argentina, with Dani Pedrosa finishing third. It was one of only two occasions in 2016 that both Repsol Honda riders finished together on the podium - the other was in the Catalan GP.
- Having finished fourth in the opening race of the year, if Marc Marquez does not win in Argentina it will be the first time in his five seasons in the MotoGP™ class that he will have failed to win one of the opening two races of the year.