- Le Mans has hosted a grand prix event on thirty previous occasions, including the Grand Prix “Vitesse du Mans” in 1991, which is the only year that two grand prix events have been held in France in the same year.
- Le Mans was first used for a grand prix event in 1969, when the 500cc race was won by Giacomo Agostini, who lapped all the other riders in the race on his MV Agusta.
- This is the 19th successive year that the Le Mans circuit has hosted a motorcycle grand prix event, starting in 2000.
- In addition to Le Mans, there have been seven other circuits that have hosted the French GP (the figure in brackets is the number of times each circuit has hosted the French Grand Prix): Paul Ricard (13), Clermont-Ferrand (10), Nogaro (2), Reims (2), Rouen (2), Albi (1), Magny-Cours (1).
- Since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP formula in 2002 Honda have had seven wins at Le Mans, the last of which was four years ago with Marc Marquez.
- Yamaha have had eight MotoGP wins at Le Mans, including for the last three years, 2015 & 2016 with Jorge Lorenzo and last year with Maverick Vinales.
- Chris Vermeulen took his single MotoGP win at Le Mans in 2007 riding a Suzuki. Prior to Maverick Viñales winning at Silverstone in 2016, this was the only GP victory in the four-stroke MotoGP era for Suzuki. Viñales finished third at Le Mans in 2016 – the first MotoGP podium for Suzuki since Loris Capirossi was third at Brno in 2008.
- The best results for Ducati at the Le Mans circuit are second place finishes for Loris Capirossi in 2006 and Valentino Rossi in 2012.
- The only non-Spanish rider to win a MotoGP race at Le Mans in the past nine years is Casey Stoner in 2011.
- The podium at the French Grand Prix last year (Vinales, Zarco, Pedrosa)was only the fourth since the start of 2013 that did not include one of either Marc Marquez or Valentino Rossi. The other podium in this period that did not include either of these two riders were: 2013 – Italy (Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Crutchlow), 2014 – Aragon (Lorenzo, Aleix Espargaro, Crutchlow), 2016 – Austria (Iannone, Dovizioso, Lorenzo). Two other races in 2017 had neither Rossi or Marquez on the podium: Mugello (Dovizioso, Vinales, Petrucci) and Malaysia (Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Zarco).
- There have been five GP wins at the Le Mans circuit by French riders: Jean Aureal won the 125cc race in 1969, Guy Bertin the 125cc race in 1979, Patrick Fernandez the 350cc race in 1979, Mike di Meglio the 125cc race in 2008 and Louis Rossi the Moto3 race in 2012.
- Of the sixteen MotoGP races held at Le Mans, nine have either started in wet conditions or rain has started during the race. The only years that the MotoGP race at Le Mans has been run under full dry conditions are: 2004, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
- The eight Moto2 races that have taken place at Le Mans have been won by seven different riders: Toni Elias, Marc Marquez, Tom Luthi, Scott Redding, Mika Kallio, Alex Rins and Franco Morbidelli. The only rider to have more than a single Moto2 win at Le Mans is Tom Luthi. None of these Moto2 winners at Le Mans is still competing in the Moto2 class in 2018.
- None of the eight previous Moto2 races at Le Mans has been won by the rider starting on pole position.
- The six Moto3 races that have taken place at Le Mans have been won by six different riders: Louis Rossi, Maverick Viñales, Jack Miller, Romano Fenati, Brad Binder and Joan Mir. Only two of these victories were not on a KTM machine – Louis Rossi in 2012 riding a FTR Honda and Joan Mir last year on a Honda.
Thanks Nick
Thanks Nick