Martin Raines

• The MotoGP podium at the Dutch TT had the youngest average age since the Dutch TT two years earlier when Jack Miller won from Marc Marquez and Scott Redding.

• The podium at the Dutch TT: Marquez (Honda), Rins (Suzuki) and Vinales (Yamaha) was the first all-Spanish podium in the premier-class with the three riders on bikes from three different manufacturers.

• With Andrea Dovizioso finishing fourth at the Dutch TT on a Ducati, it was the third time in MotoGP this year that four different manufacturers had filled the top four places.

• Dani Pedrosa, the 15th place finisher at the Dutch TT, crossed the line just 16.043 seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez. This is a new record for the closest top 15 finishers in a premier-class grand prix, taking the record from the opening race of this year in Qatar when 23.287 second covered the first 15 riders across the line.

• With four different manufacturers filling the top four places at the Dutch TT and Pol Espargaro taking the first KTM across the line in 13^th place just one place ahead of his brother Aleix on the first Aprilia home, there were six different manufacturers covered by less than sixteen seconds.  Never before in the previous 865 premier-class grand prix races in the 70 year history of the world championship series have six manufacturers finished within 16 seconds of the winner.

• The rider with most victories at the new Sachsenring circuit is Marc Marquez with eight wins (1 x 125cc, 2 x Moto2, 5 x MotoGP), followed by Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa with six wins (2x 250cc, 4 x MotoGP).

• In each of the last eight years at the Sachsenring Marc Marquez has qualified on pole and won the race; 2010 in the 125cc class, 2011 & 2012 in Moto2 and for the last four years in MotoGP.

• Sachsenring is the only circuit on the 2017 schedule where Honda have won in the MotoGP class for each of the last eight years – three wins by Dani Pedrosa followed by five wins for Marc Marquez.

• Valentino Rossi was the last non-Honda rider to win at the Sachsenring – in 2009 on a Yamaha.

• With Danilo Petrucci crashing out at Assen, the only rider who has scored points at MotoGP all races so far in 2018 is Maverick Vinales who has scored points at the last 18 races.

• Yamaha have gone 18 MotoGP races without a win, since the Dutch TT last year. This is equals their longest winless sequence in the MotoGP era that included the last two races of 2002 and the 16 races of 2003. The last time Yamaha went more than 18 races without a premier-class win was when Honda set a record 22 race winning streak which included all of the 15 races of 1997 plus the first 7 races of 1998. This streak was ended with a win by Simon Crafar on a Yamaha at Donington.

• The second place finish by Alex Rins at the Dutch TT is the best result for a Suzuki rider since Maverick Vinales won at Silverstone in 2016.

• All three races at the last two events have been won by the rider starting from pole position. This six race streak of winners from pole is the longest since 2010, when there was also a six race winning streak from pole. The last time that a more than six successive GP races have been won from pole was in 1991; the 500cc race in Japan, all three races in Australia the two races at Laguna Seca and first two races at Jerez.

• The 2018 German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring will be the 80^th Grand Prix event to be held on German soil

• The first motorcycle Grand Prix to be held in Germany was the West German Grand Prix held at the Solitude circuit in 1952, when it was reported that 400,000 spectators turned up to watch.  Ireland’s Reg Armstrong won the 350cc and 500cc races riding Nortons.  The home crowd had plenty to cheer, with Rudi Felgenheier winning the 250cc race on a DKW and Werner Haas winning the 125cc race on a NSU.

• The first East German Grand Prix was held at the Sachsenring road circuit in 1961. The original circuit used for this event was a closed road circuit 8.73km in length. The East German GP continued to be held at the Sachsenring each year until 1972, after which the original road circuit was considered too dangerous for Grand Prix racing.

• The West German Grand Prix was held every year from 1952 through to 1990, when East and West joined to become a unified Germany. Four different circuits were used during this period 1952 to 1990: Solitude, Schotten, Nurburgring and Hockenheim.

• There has been a German Grand Prix held every year since unification; from 1991 to 1994 at the Hockenheim circuit, followed by three years at the Nurburgring and since 1998 at the new Sachsenring circuit.

• In addition to those mentioned above, one other Grand Prix event has been held in Germany: The Baden-Wurtemberg GP held in 1986 at the Hockenheim circuit for just the 80cc and 125cc classes.

• The newly built Sachsenring circuit was initially just 3.508km long when first opened in 1998, with one short section of track from the old road circuit. Major modifications to the circuit in 2001 and then additional slight alterations in 2003 resulted in the current 3.671 km track layout.

• The Sachsenring is one of just five circuits on the current grand prix schedule that run in an anti-clockwise direction, along with Austin, Aragon, Phillip Island and Valencia.

• This will be the 21^st successive year that a grand prix event has been held at the new Sachsenring circuit.

• Since Grand Prix racing returned to the Sachsenring circuit in 1998 there have been seven podium finishes by home riders: Ralf Waldmann was third in the 250cc race in 1999, Steve Jenkner was third in the 125cc race in 2002, Stefan Bradl finished second in the 125cc category in 2008, Sandro Cortese finished third in the 125cc race in 2010, Stefan Bradl was second in 2011 in Moto2, in 2012 Sandro Cortese won the Moto3 race; Jonas Folger was 2^nd in the Moto2 race in 2016 and 2^nd in the MotoGP race last year.

• Since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP class in 2002, Honda have been the most successful manufacturer at the Sachsenring with twelve wins, including the last eight years.

• Yamaha have had three wins at this circuit, the last of which was with Valentino Rossi in 2009, which was also the last MotoGP win in Germany by a non-Honda rider.

• Ducati’s single MotoGP victory in Germany was with Casey Stoner in 2008. Andrea Doviziosos’s third place finish two years ago is the only podium for a Ducati rider at the Sachsenring circuit since Casey Stoner was third in 2010.

• Honda riders have also qualified on pole for the German GP for the last seven years; the last non-Honda rider to start from pole for a MotoGP race at the Sachsenring was Jorge Lorenzo in 2010 on a Yamaha.

• The only podium finish for Suzuki in Germany in the MotoGP era is when Chris Vermeulen finished third in 2008.

• The rider with most victories at the new Sachsenring circuit is Marc Marquez with eight wins (1 x 125cc, 2 x Moto2, 5 x MotoGP), followed by Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa with six wins (2x 250cc, 4 x MotoGP).

• The eight Moto2 races at the Sachsenring have been won by seven different riders: Toni Elias (2010), Marc Marquez (2011 & 2012), Jordi Torres (2013), Dominique Aegerter (2014), Xavier Simeon (2015), Johann Zarco (2016) and Franco Morbidelli (2017). All of these eight Moto2 wins have been from the front row of the grid.

• The six Moto3 races at the Sachsenring have been won by six different riders: Sandro Cortese, Alex Rins, Jack Miller, Danny Kent, Khairul Idham Pawi and Joan Mir. None of these rider still compete full-time in the Moto3 class.

Dani Pedrosa finished the Dutch TT in 15^th place, crossing the line just 16.043 seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez – the closest top fifteen of all-time in a full length premier-class grand prix. This breaks the record set at the opening race of 2018 in Qatar.

The following list shows the ten closest top fifteen finishes of all-time in the premier-class of grand prix racing, three of which are from the opening eight races of 2018 and four from 2017, showing just how competitive MotoGP is currently.  (Only races that have completed full race distance are considered for inclusion in the following table):

• The MotoGP podium at the Catalunya Grand Prix (Lorenzo, Marquez, Ross) set new records for the accumulated number of grand prix wins (246) and the accumulated number of premier-class wins – 173.

• At the Dutch TT Jorge Lorenzo could become just the second rider to win three successive races on a Ducati; the only rider to have achieved this previously is Casey Stoner.

• If Jorge Lorenzo wins the Dutch TT he will be the oldest rider to win three or more successive premier-class races since Mick Doohan in 1998.

• Following his wins at Mugello and Catalunya if Jorge Lorenzo wins the Dutch TT he will become only the third rider of the MotoGP era to win three or more successive MotoGP races for two different manufacturers, joining Valentino Rossi (Honda and Yamaha) and Casey Stoner (Ducati and Honda). In addition to Rossi and Stoner the only other rider to score three or more successive premier-class grand prix races on motorcycles from two different manufacturers is Geoff Duke in the 500cc class on both Norton and Gilera.

• The win in Catalunya was the 112^th time Jorge Lorenzo has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class, the exact same number as Dani Pedrosa. Only Valentino Rossi has stood on the podium more often in the premier-class of grand prix racing.

• Lorenzo’s win in Catalunya was the 150^th time he has stood on the podium in his grand prix career. He is fourth rider ever to reach the milestone of 150 grand prix podium finishes, joining Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Dani Pedrosa.

• Two years ago at the Dutch TT Jack Miller took his first win in the MotoGP class; this was the first win in MotoGP by an Independent Team rider since Toni Elias won in Portugal in 2006.

• The last eight MotoGP poles at the Dutch TT have been taken by eight different riders: Jorge Lorenzo was on pole in 2010 followed in successive years by – Marco Simoncelli, Casey Stoner, Cal Crutchlow, Aleix Espargaro, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Johann Zarco.

• In the last seven years only two riders have won the MotoGP race at the Dutch TT from pole position: Casey Stoner in 2012 and Valentino Rossi in 2015.

• In Catalunya Jorge Lorenzo became the first rider to win in the MotoGP class having started from pole positions since Marc Marquez at Phillip Island last year.

• Neither Dani Pedrosa nor fellow factory Honda rider Marc Marquez has started from pole in the MotoGP class at the Dutch TT. The last Honda rider to start from pole in the MotoGP class at the Dutch TT was Casey Stoner in 2012.

• The last rider to win the MotoGP race at the Dutch TT in successive years is Valentino Rossi, in 2004 and 2005.

• Last year Valentino Rossi become the oldest winner in the MotoGP era at the age of 38 years 129 days, which also made him the 7^th oldest winner of all-time in the premier-class of grand prix racing.

• If Marc Marquez finished in the top three at the Dutch TT it will be his 69^th podium in the MotoGP class, equalling the number of MotoGP podiums achieved by Casey Stoner.

• Last year at the Dutch TT, Scott Redding became just the second British rider (along with Cal Crutchlow) in the MotoGP era to set a fastest lap in a race.

• Yamaha have gone 17 MotoGP races without a win, since the Dutch TT last year. This is their longest winless sequence since the 18 race winless streak that included the last two races of 2002 and the 16 races of 2003.

• Only two riders have scored points at all five MotoGP races in 2018: Maverick Vinales and Danilo Petrucci.

• Maverick Vinales has scored points in the last 17 successive races. The last time that he did not finish in a point scoring position was the Dutch TT last year when he crashed at the chicane at the end of the 12th lap.

• This year the Dutch TT takes place in July for the first time since 1955.

• The Dutch TT became part of the world championship series when it was first created in 1949 and Assen is the only circuit to have been part of the series every year since, making this the 70^th Dutch TT that has counted towards the world championship classification.

• In 2016 the Dutch TT was held on Sunday for the first time; all previous Dutch TT events had taken place on Saturday

• The original Assen circuit, that was used up to 1954, measured 16.54 km. This was reduced to 7.7 km in 1955 and then in 1984 further modifications to the circuit reduced the length to 6.1 km.  The current layout has been used since 2006, with a few minor adjustments.

• The 500cc race at the 1975 Dutch TT is the only premier-class grand prix race where the first two riders across the line have been credited with the same race time. Barry Sheene and Giacomo Agostini finished so close that the timekeepers of the day, using manual timing accurate to 0.1 sec, were unable to split them.

• Yamaha are the most successful manufacturer at the Dutch TT since the start of the four-stroke MotoGP formula with nine victories, seven for Valentino Rossi and one each for Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies.

• Honda have had six MotoGP wins at the Dutch TT with six different riders: Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner, Marc Marquez and Jack Miller.

• Ducati’s single MotoGP win at the Dutch TT came in 2008 with Casey Stoner. Ducati has had just three podium finishers at Assen in the past seven years: Andrea Dovizioso was second in 2014, Scott Redding third in 2016 and Danilo Petrucci second last year.

• The last win by Suzuki at the Dutch TT was in the 500cc race in 1993 with Kevin Schwantz. The best results by Suzuki in the MotoGP era at the Dutch TT are 5^th place finishes by John Hopkins in 2007 and Chris Vermeulen in 2009.

• Just 0.063 second separated Valentino Rossi and Danilo Petrucci at the end of the Dutch TT last year; the sixth closest finish of the MotoGP era, after: 2006/Portugal (0.002 seconds), 2011/Valencia (0.015 sec), 2016/Italy (0.019 sec), 2003/Czech (0.042 sec), 2003/Germany (0.060 sec).

• The rider with most GP victories at Assen is Angel Nieto with 15 wins in the 125cc and 50cc classes, followed by Giacomo Agostini who had 14 wins riding 500cc and 350cc machines.

• Among the current riders, Valentino Rossi has been most successful at Assen with a total of ten victories, eight in MotoGP and one each in the 250cc and 125cc classes.

• The eight Moto2 races at the Dutch TT have been won by seven different riders: Andrea Iannone (2010), Marc Marquez (2011 & 2012), Pol Espargaro (2013), Anthony West (2014), Johann Zarco (2015), Takaaki Nakagami (2016) and Franco Morbidelli (2017). Of these riders, all with the exception of West are now competing in the MotoGP class.

• The six Moto3 races at the Dutch TT have been won by six different riders: Maverick Vinales (2012), Luis Salom (2013), Alex Marquez (2014), Miguel Oliveira (2015), Francesco Bagnaia (2016), Aron Canet (2017). Of these riders only Canet still competes in the Moto3 class.

• Only once has the Moto3 race at Assen been won by a rider qualifying on the front row – in 2014 when Alex Marquez qualified in second place on the grid.

• Moto3 rookie Bo Bendsneyder finished 9^th at his home grand prix in 2016, which is the best result for a Dutch rider in any class of grand prix racing at the Dutch TT since Jurgen van den Goorbergh finished ninth in the 500cc race in 2001.

• Jorge Lorenzo’s won the Italian Grand Prix by 6.37 seconds which is the largest winning margin at Mugello in the MotoGP era and also the largest winning margin for a Ducati rider since Casey Stoner won the Australian GP in 2010 by 8.598 seconds, which was also the last start-to-finish win for a Ducati rider.

• Although Lorenzo had a clear lead at the front of the race, the battle behind him for points was as close as ever. The 9^th place finisher Alvaro Bautista ended the race just 11.154 seconds behind Lorenzo, making this the closest top nine of the MotoGP era in a race that has gone the full distance.

• The total accumulated age of the three riders on the MotoGP podium in Mugello was 102 years 209 days – the oldest podium in the premier-class since the Grand Prix of Finland in 1975 which was won by Giacomo Agostini from Tepi Lansivouri and Jack Findlay

• Jorge Lorenzo is first rider to win in MotoGP on both Yamaha and Ducati (Loris Capirossi won on Yamaha and Ducati, but his Yamaha win was in the 500cc class). With his win at Mugello Lorenzo is the seventh rider to have a winning career spanning more than 10 years in the premier-class, joining: Rossi, Barros, Pedrosa, Read, Agostini and Capirossi.

• Lorenzo’s win at Mugello came more than 14 years after his first GP win I the 125cc class at Rio in 2003. Only four riders have longer winning careers in Grand Prix racing than Lorenzo: Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, Angel Nieto and Dani Pedrosa.

• Lorenzo’s win in Italy was the 149^th time he has stood on the podium in his grand prix career. His next top three finish will make him just the fourth rider ever to reach the milestone of 150 grand prix podium finishes, joining Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Dani Pedrosa.

• Valentino 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 wins is Jorge Lorenzo (1 x 250cc, 4 x MotoGP).

• The last rider to win a MotoGP race starting from pole position was Marc Marquez at Phillip Island last year. This eight race sequence without a rider winning from pole is the longest in the MotoGP class since there was 12 races without a winner from pole starting with the 2006 Portuguese GP.

• Ten different riders have finished on the podium in the first six races of 2018 – the same number of different podium finishers throughout the whole of 2017.

• In Catalunya two years ago Maverick Viñales set the fastest lap of the race on his way to finishing 4^th riding a Suzuki – his first fastest lap in the MotoGP class.

• Yamaha have gone 16 MotoGP races without a win, their longest winless sequence since the 18 race winless streak that included the last two races of 2002 and the 16 races of 2003.

• Only two riders have scored points at all five MotoGP races in 2018: Maverick Vinales and Danilo Petrucci.

• Arriving at Catalunya Hafizh Syahrin and Franco Morbidelli are level on points in the battle for the Rookie of the Year title, each with 17 points.

• This is the 27^th successive year that the Circuit de Catalunya has hosted a grand prix; it was first included in the motorcycle grand prix series in 1992.

• Only three current venues have a longer ongoing sequence of hosting grand prix events: Jerez, Mugello and Assen.

• The last time that Spain did not have at least one GP winner across the three classes at the Catalan Grand Prix was 2002.

• During the four-stroke MotoGP era, Yamaha have taken nine victories at the Catalunya circuit, the last of which was two years ago with Valentino Rossi.

• Honda have had just four wins at the Catalunya circuit during the MotoGP era, the last of which was in 2014 with Marc Marquez.

• Ducati with Andrea Dovizioso took the win last year to add to the manufacturers two previous MotoGP wins at the Catalunya circuit, including their very first ever in the class with Loris Capirossi in 2003.

• The last win by Suzuki at the Catalunya Grand Prix was in the 500cc class in 2000, with Kenny Roberts JNR. Two years ago Maverick Viñales’ finished fourth, which equalled the best result for a Suzuki rider at the Catalunya circuit since the introduction of the MotoGP formula in 2002, which had previously been achieved by John Hopkins in both 2006 and 2007.

• Aleix Espargaro started from pole three 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 Yamaha rider to start from pole in Catalunya was Jorge Lorenzo in 2010, which was also the last time that the rider starting from pole won the MotoGP race at this circuit. In addition to Jorge Lorenzo, the only other rider to have won the MotoGP race at Catalunya from pole position is Valentino Rossi in 2006.

• There have been nine premier-class victories by Spanish riders at the Catalunya circuit; Alex Criville in 1995 & 1999, Carlos Checa in 1996, Dani Pedrosa in 2008, Jorge Lorenzo in 2010, 2012, 2013 & 2015, and Marc Marquez in 2014.

• There has been at least one Spanish rider on the podium in the MotoGP race at the Catalan GP for the last eleven years.

• The eight Moto2 races that have taken place at the Catalunya circuit have been won by seven different riders: 2010 – Yuki Takahashi, 2011 – Stefan Bradl, 2012 – Andrea Iannone, 2013 – Pol Espargaro, 2014 – Tito Rabat, 2015 & 2016 – Johann Zarco and 2017 – Alex Marquez. Of these riders, only Marquez is still competing in the Moto2 class.

• The six Moto3 GP races that have taken place at the Catalunya circuit have been won by six different riders: Maverick Vinales, Luis Salom, Alex Marquez, Danny Kent, Jorge Navarro and Joan Mir. None of these riders are still competing in the Moto3 class.

• Honda riders have won the Moto3 race at the Catalan GP for the last four years.

Jorge Lorenzo’s victory at the Italian Grand Prix was more than ten years after his first victory in the MotoGP class which came in just his third race of his debut season, at Estoril in Portugal in 2008. As shown in the following list he is just the seventh rider to have a winning career in the premier-class of grand prix racing lasting longer than ten years:

Longest winning careers in the premier-class of Grand Prix

• At Mugello last year it was the first time since the Italian Grand Prix in 2008 that the winners of all three races were Italian riders. On that occasion it was: MotoGP – Valentino Rossi, 250cc – Marco Simoncelli and 125cc – Simone Corsi.

• Andrea Dovizioso win at Mugello last year was the third time that he had stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class, but for the first time in fully dry conditions.

• Dovizioso’s win last year at the Italian GP was the first ever GP win in the premier-class for an Italian rider on an Italian bike at the Mugello circuit. The previous premier-class Grand Prix win by an Italian rider on an Italian manufactured motorcycle in Italy was by Gianfranco Bonera in the 500cc race at the 1974 Nations Grand Prix at Imola in 1974.

• At the Italian Grand Prix last year Ducati had three riders finish in the top five in a dry MotoGP race for the first time since the Australian GP in 2007 won by Casey Stoner from factory Ducati team-mate Loris Capirossi with Alex Barros in fifth on the Pramac Ducati.

• Tenth place finisher at Mugello, Andrea Iannone, crossed the line just 15.502 seconds after race winner Andrea Dovizioso – which was the closest ever top ten finish in the MotoGP class in a race that has run for full distance. Later in the year this record was re-written when just 1414.075 seconds covered the top ten finishers in Aragon.

• The sixth place finish by Marc Marquez at the Italian Grand Prix last year 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. Marquez has won in all three classes at Mugello: 125cc race in 2010, Moto2 in 2011 and MotoGP in 2014.

• Valentino Rossi is the most successful rider across all the classes at Mugello, with a total of nine victories; one each in 125cc and 250cc classes to add to his seven successive MotoGP wins (2 x Honda + 5 x Yamaha), the last of which came in 2008. Following his third place finish at Le Mans Rossi has scored a premier-class career total of 4989 points. A 5^th place finish or better at Mugello will see him become the first rider to reach the milestone of 5000 career points in the premier-class of grand prix racing.

• Prior to last year Lorenzo had finished either first or second for eight successive years at Mugello, including five wins in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016.

• This weekend at Mugello Pol Espargaro is scheduled to make his 200^th Grand Prix start. He will be the second youngest rider to reach this milestone, after Sandro Cortese. His brother Aleix made his 200^th GP start last year and this gives them the honour of becoming the first siblings to both reach the milestone of 200 grand prix starts.

• Andrea Iannone qualified on pole in 2015 at Mugello riding a Ducati – his first pole in the MotoGP class.  This was the first time that an Italian rider on an Italian bike had qualified on pole for a premier-class grand prix in Italy since Giacomo Agostini was on pole for the 500cc GP at Imola in 1972.

• Yamaha have gone 15 MotoGP races without a win, their longest winless sequence since the 18 race winless streak that included the last two races of 2002 and the 16 races of 2003.

• Only three riders have scored points at all five MotoGP races in 2018: Maverick Vinales, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller.

• Mattia Pasini first Moto2™ win at Mugello last year was the first time he had stood on the top step of the podium since winning the 250cc race at Mugello in 2009.

• In the Moto3 class last year at Mugello, Andrea Migno took his first Grand Prix victory in what was his 51st grand prix start.

• Last year the 15^th place finisher in the Moto3 race, Jorge Martin, crossed the line just 1.553 seconds behind race winner Andrea Migno; this is the closest top 15 in any class in the 69-year history of motorcycle grand prix racing.

Joan Mir has already impressed in his short time in the Moto2 class in 2018 and it has already been announced that he is moving to the MotoGP class next year with Suzuki. Mir finished on the podium for the first time in the Moto2 class at the French GP in just his fifth start in the class. How does this compare with other top riders in their first year in Moto2? The following table shows this comparison against a selection other riders who have made an immediate impact when moving up to Moto2.

So the question now is – How long before Mir wins for the first time in the Moto2 class, and can he become the first to win the Moto2 title in the first season up from the lightweight-class? Unlikely as he already has a 47 point deficit to the championship leader, but who knows with another 13 races still remaining of 2018. If Mir wins in Catalunya, then it is game-on!