MotoGP stats pre-season smorgasbord heading to Qatar

MotoGP 2022 – Round 1 – Qatar – Statistics

The most successful riders at the Qatar GP

• Jorge Lorenzo – 6 (3xMotoGP, 2x250cc, 1x125cc)
• Casey Stoner – 5 (4xMotoGP, 1x250cc)
• Valentino Rossi – 4 (4xMotoGP)
• Maverick Viñales – 3 (2xMotoGP, 1xMoto3)
• Andrea Dovizioso – 2 (2xMotoGP)
• Marc Marquez – 2 (1xMotoGP, 1xMoto2)
• Sam Lowes – 2 (2xMoto2)
• Nico Terol – 2 (2x125cc)

Most successful manufacturers in Qatar GP

• Yamaha – 10
• Ducati – 5
• Honda – 3

Yamaha is the most successful manufacturer in Qatar with 10 MotoGP championships, with 4 riders: Valentino Rossi (2005, 2006, 2010, 2015), Jorge Lorenzo (2012, 2013, 2016), Maverick Viñales (2017, 2021). /1), Fabio Quartararo (2021/2).

Ducati has won 5 times MotoGP in Qatar with 2 riders: Casey Stoner (2007, 2008, 2009) and Andrea Dovizioso (2018, 2019). The Losail International Circuit is Ducati’s second most successful track in the first division, along with Sepang and Motegi, and behind the Red Bull Ring (six wins).

Honda has won the MotoGP three times in Qatar. Honda’s last win at the track: 2014 Marc Marquez from pole.

Since his rise to the top, Marquez has been the first Honda rider in all of the MotoGP races he competes in in Qatar. Last year, he missed both races and his teammate Pol Espargaro was the Honda lead.

Suzuki’s best MotoGP result in Qatar: fourth with John Hopkins (2007), Alex Rins (2019, 2021/2), Joan Mir (2021/1).

Aprilia’s best MotoGP result in Qatar: sixth with Aleix Espargaro in 2017.

KTM made his full-time MotoGP debut in Qatar in 2017. Brad Binder finished eighth in the 2021/2 season (Doha GP), which is the best result for the Austrian manufacturer at this track in its class. .

At the Qatar GP in 2021, Johann Zarco set a new top speed record in MotoGP in FP3 in Losail with 362.4 km/h, which is over 100 m/s. This record was later equaled by Brad Binder in FP3 in Mugello.

The top 15 in the MotoGP race at Doha GP 2021 is the closest ever in the top tier, with 8,928s between Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Oliveira. Three of the last ten MotoGP top 15 took place in Losail.

14 world champions in MotoGP

The MotoGP grid consists of 24 riders with five rookies (Remy Gardner, Raul Fernandez, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Darryn Binder).

There are 14 GP world champions; a new record for full-time MotoGP entry for the opening race. They have 24 world championships, six less than last year. Record: 32 (2018).

The 12 riders on the full-time MotoGP roster have won top class races (more than once in 2021) and have 111 wins between them (169 last year).

With 59 MotoGP wins, Marc Marquez has more wins in this class than all the other 23 riders combined (52).

23 drivers have won in at least one of the three categories of the Grand Prix race (four more in 2021), for a total of 330 Grand Prix wins (379 in 2021). The only driver without a win so far is Aleix Espargaro.

One rookie is GP champion and world champion: Remy Gardner (six-time Moto2 champion, 2021 Moto2 world champion). However, Raul Fernandez, the 2018 Moto3 Junior world champion, has 10 GP wins (eight in Moto2 and two in Moto3).

Marco Bezzecchi has six GP wins (three in both Moto2 and Moto3), Fabio Di Giannantonio has three GP wins (one in Moto2 and two in Moto3) and Darryn Binder has one GP win in Moto3. Darryn Binder is the second rider to enter MotoGP directly from Moto3, along with Jack Miller in 2015.

The oldest driver is Andrea Dovizioso, 35 years 348 days on race day at the Qatar GP. The youngest is Raul Fernandez, 21 years and 134 days. The average age of the grid is 26 years and seven months, the second-lowest average age on the list for the season opener since MotoGP was introduced in 2002, after Qatar 2008 (26 years and four months). .

MotoGP facts and stats

Francesco Bagnaia won the last MotoGP race last year in Valencia from Jorge Martin and Jack Miller, it was the first Ducati 1-2-3 since the introduction of MotoGP in 2002. It was the second. 21 1-2-3 for one manufacturer in the MotoGP Era: Honda (17), Yamaha (3) and Ducati (1).

10 drivers have won the Grand Prix at the Lusail circuit: Andrea Dovizioso, Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Jack Miller, Joan Mir, Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez, Maverick Viñales, Pol Espargaro.

19 riders have finished on the podium in Qatar in MotoGP since the first lap at the track. Seven of them are on the list for full time in 2022. Andrea Dovizioso leads the list, with six MotoGP podiums at the track.

Since the introduction of MotoGP in 2002, eight different riders have won the opening race of the year: Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Maverick Viñales, Andrea Dovizioso and Fabio Quartararo.

Since 2001, there have only been five times where a year-end title winner has not been on the podium in the inaugural race: 2008 (Rossi), 2015 (Lorenzo), 2017 (Marquez), 2020 (Mir) and Quartararo (2021). Among them, only Mir did not finish in the top 5 (he was eliminated at the Spanish GP in 2020).

In the past 10 years (since 2012), only one Honda driver has won the opening race of the season: Marc Marquez (2014).

None of this year’s 5 MotoGP rookies have won Qatar in any smaller division. However, all of them, with the exception of Marco Bezzecchi, have once stood on the podium at the track: Darryn Binder (P3 2021/1 and P2 2021/2 in Moto3), Fabio Di Giannantonio (P3 2021/1 in Moto2) , Raul Fernandez (P3 in 2021/2 in Moto2) and Remy Gardner (P2 in both last year’s Moto2 races).

With Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir and Marc Marquez all under the age of 30, it is the first time since 2011 that three MotoGP world champions under 30 have entered the opening race since 2011 with Jorge Lorenzo , Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.

March 6 was the second-earliest start date for the season after 1964, when it kicked off on February 2 in Daytona with the first GP held in the United States. On Sunday it will be 112 days since the last race in Valencia last year, equal to the shortest time between the final event of a season and the first event of the following season 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 .

Statistics compiled by Dr. Thomas Morsellino

2022 MotoGP Round One
Time Schedule (AEDT)

Friday Saturday)

Saturday (Sun)

Sunday Monday)

Interim MotoGP Schedule 2022

(*Subject to change*)