• In Qatar Andrea Dovizioso became the first Ducati rider to win the opening MotoGP race of the year since Casey Stoner in 2009. If he should win in Argentina it will be Ducati’s first ever victory at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit and the first time that a Ducati rider has won both of the opening two MotoGP races of the year.
  • Dovizioso’s win in Qatar was the 9th time he has stood on the top step of the podium in the MotoGP class – the same number of premier-class victories as Loris Capirossi. Only three Italian riders have had more premier-class GP wins than Dovizioso – Valentino Rossi, Giacomo Agostini and Max Biaggi.
  • A win in Argentina for Dovizioso would make him just the third rider in the MotoGP era to win the opening two races of the year; the only other riders to have achieved this is Marc Marquez in 2014 and Maverick Viñales last year.
  • Marc Marquez has started on pole on each of the four occasions that MotoGP has visited Argentina. He has won the race in both 2014 and 2016, and crashed out in both 2015 and 2017.
  • The 2nd place finish by Marc Marquez in Qatar was the 64th time he has stood on the podium in the MotoGP class, the same number of premier-class podiums as Wayne Rainey. Only seven riders have stood on the podium more often than Marquez in the premier-class: Rossi, Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Doohan, Agostini, Lawson and Stoner.
  • With his third place finish in Qatar Rossi extended his record of finishing on the podium every season for twenty-three successive years. The second longest run of successive years with grand prix podium finishes is twenty by Angel Nieto.
  • Rossi has finished on the podium at least once in all nineteen seasons competing in the premier-class – also a record. His closest challenger in this record is Giacomo Agostini with thirteen successive years in the premier-class with at least one podium finish.
  • Cal Crutchlow was the first of the Independent Team riders across the line in Qatar in 4th place, equalling his best ever result at the opening race of the year from 2012. Crutchlow finished 3rd last year in Argentina – his only podium of 2017.
  • Johann Zarco won the Moto2 race in Argentina in both 2015 and 2016, and finished 5th last year in just his second race in the MotoGP class.
  • Hafizh Syahrin finished 14th on his MotoGP debut in Qatar to become the first Malaysian rider ever to score points in the premier-class of grand prix racing.
  • Just 0.027 seconds separated Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Marquez in Qatar – the 8th closest finish of all-time in the premier-class.
  • Fifteenth place finisher in Qatar, Karel Abraham, finished just 23.287 second behind race winner Dovizioso – the closest ever top 15 finish in the 70-year history of premier-class grand prix racing. The previous record was 26.082 second covering the first 15 riders across the line at Aragon last year.
  • Another indication of how competitive the MotoGP field is in 2018 – in Qatar another nineteen riders lapped within 1 second of the fastest lap of the race set by Dovizioso.
  • The cumulative wining time for the three races in Qatar added up to just 0.162 seconds, which is smallest cumulative time across the three classes in the 70-year history of motorcycle grand prix racing when all three races have run for full distance. The previous record was 0.213 seconds at the German GP in 2006. (The cumulative winning time across the three classes at the Italian GP in 2016 was just 0.087 seconds, but the length of the Moto2 race was reduced to just 10 laps).
  • Honda need just one more victory to become the first manufacturer to reach the milestone of 750 grand prix wins across all classes. The breakdown by class following the opening race in Qatar is as follows: MotoGP – 131, 500cc – 156, 350cc – 35, 250cc – 207, Moto3 – 43, 125cc – 164, 50cc – 13.