• Motorcycle Grand Prix racing returned to Austria in 2016 after a break of eighteen years.
  • In 2016 Austria staged a motorcycle grand prix event for the first time since 1997.
  • The first Austrian grand prix took place in 1971 at the Salzburgring circuit, which hosted grand prix racing on a total of 22 occasions.
  • At that first Austrian GP in 1971 Giacomo Agostini (MV Agusta) won the 500cc race, finishing more than a lap ahead of second place finisher Keith Turner. Agostini also won the 350cc race, with the other classes being won by the following riders: 250cc – Silvio Grassetti (MZ), 125cc – Angel Nieto (Derbi), 50cc – Jan de Vries (Kreidler).
  • The last occasion that a grand prix event took place at the Salzburgring circuit was in 1994, when Mick Doohan won the 500cc race with a race average speed in excess of 194 km/h (120 mph)
  • Due to the high speed nature of the Salzburgring circuit, and the limited amount of run-off provided, it was considered too dangerous for continued use for grand prix racing.
  • The current circuit has hosted two previous grand prix events prior to 2016 – in 1996 and 1997, when named the A1-Ring.
  • Prior to 2016 Valentino Rossi was the only current rider to have to have raced previously at this circuit in a grand prix.
  • Rossi’s third place finish in the 125cc race in Austria in 1996 was his first GP podium finish. He again finished on the podium in the 125cc race in Austria in 1997, this time in second place just 0.004 seconds behind Noboru Ueda.
  • Two years ago in Austria Andrea Iannone won for the first time since he moved up to the MotoGP class in 2013 and gave Ducati their first win since Casey Stoner won the Australian GP in 2010.
  • Ducati have won both MotoGP races held at this circuit, with Iannone in 2016 and Dovizioso last year.
  • The Red Bull Ring is the only circuit on the current schedule (that has been used previously) where Marc Marquez has not had a MotoGP victory.
  • The Red Bull Ring is one of only seven circuits where Ducati have won in successive seasons, along with Brno, Donington, Losail, Motegi, Phillip Island, Sepang.
  • The Austrian GP in 2016 gave Ducati their first one-two finish in a MotoGP race since the Australian GP in 2007, won by Casey Stoner from Loris Capirossi.
  • The Austrian race in 2016 was the first time that Italian riders have taken the top two places in a premier-class GP both riding Italian bikes since the Finnish 500cc GP at Imatra in 1972 won by Giacomo Agostini, on a MV Agusta, from team-mate Alberto Pagani.
  • The average speed of the MotoGP race in Austria last year was 182.6 km/h, the highest average speed for a grand prix race since Mick Doohan won the 500cc German Grand Prix in 1994 at the Hockenheim circuit at an average speed of 203.8 km/h.