2024 promises to deliver another exhilarating year of MotoGP™ action, brimming with compelling storylines. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) is on the hunt for three consecutive Championships, a feat not seen since Marc Marquez's four-year dominance was capped off in 2019 and only twice ever in MotoGP™.
Marc Marquez, now with Gresini Racing, aims to reclaim his throne while Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) seeks to go one better than his second-place Championship finish in 2023. A win by either Marquez or Martin would mark the first-ever Championship victory by an Independent Team rider in MotoGP™.
Adding to the intrigue is the race among three riders to secure victories with three different manufacturers. Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), and Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) are all chasing this unique milestone, which would be a first in the MotoGP™ era.
Miller is a four-time premier class race winner after productive stints with Honda and Ducati, and enters his second year aboard the RC16 targeting a return to the top step. The Australian has already bagged a Sunday podium with the KTM, while he had a massive opportunity to take victory at the 2023 Valencia GP season finale, but unfortunately crashed out of the lead.
Viñales has also had his opportunities to complete the hat-trick. A nine-time race winner, once with Suzuki and eight with Yamaha, the #12 has six podiums aboard the RS-GP and towards the end of the 2023 season, Top Gun came close to victory in the 2023 Indonesia GP when he finished just three-tenths behind race winner Bagnaia.
It was only Miller and Viñales who competed for the honour in 2023, but now Alex Rins is in the mix after his switch from LCR Honda to Yamaha. The Spaniard has stood on the top step six times in the premier class, most recently at the Circuit of the Americas in 2023 in only his third Grand Prix with Honda’s RC213V. Having proven he can adapt quickly to new machinery, the #42 will certainly be a contender for the hat-trick in 2024.
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Only four riders have managed to complete the hat-trick, the most recent of which was Loris Capirossi, who took 500cc wins with Yamaha (1996) & Honda (2000), and a MotoGP™ win with Ducati (2003). Before that, Eddie Lawson was the last rider to manage the feat with wins for Yamaha, Honda and Cagiva in 1992, taking over from Randy Mamola who did it with Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha, the most recent of which came in 1987.
British racing Legend Mike Hailwood was the first rider to ever do it, taking 500cc wins with Norton, MV Agusta and Honda, the last of which came in 1967. In the current era, some of the biggest names in the sport have tried, and failed, to complete the hat trick, most notably Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. For Rossi, his exploits at Honda and Yamaha ensured that he became a household name across the sporting world, but his ill-fated spell at Ducati is much less revered.
During his two seasons with the Bologna bullets, ‘The Doctor’ claimed three podiums, but no race wins and his closest finish to the race winner was over four seconds. Lorenzo on the other hand enjoyed a relatively fruitful spell at Ducati, taking three race wins, but it is was at Honda that he failed to fire in his final season - failing to crack the top 10 in his final season as a Grand Prix racer.
The chase for three adds another layer of excitement to what is already shaping up to be one of the most thrilling seasons of MotoGP™ in history. Don't miss a single second of it with motogp.com!