MotoGP- Mugello Italy- Pre Race

Gran Premio d’Italia TIM racing numbers

Thursday, 03 June 2010

A selection of interesting statistics, numbers and facts to prepare you for the fourth round of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship at Mugello.

388 – None of the three Italian riders that lined up on the grid for the 125cc race at the French GP made it to the chequered flag. The last time that there was a 125cc GP with no Italian riders finishing was the 1982 French GP at Nogaro; that is a sequence of 388 races in the 125cc class with at least one Italian rider making it to the end of the race. However the race at Nogaro in 1982 was one boycotted by a number of top riders due to safety concerns. The last full strength 125cc race with no Italian finishers was at the Finnish Grand Prix in 1979.

150 – At the Italian Grand Prix, Joan Olivé is scheduled to make his 150th Grand Prix start. Olivé has not missed a race since making his Grand Prix debut in the 125cc class at the opening race of 2001 in Japan. He will become the fourth youngest rider to reach the milestone of 150 GP starts, after Dani Pedrosa, Marco Melandri and Alex de Angelis.

100 – At the Italian Grand Prix, Mattia Pasini is scheduled to make his 100th Grand Prix start. Pasini made his GP debut in the 125cc class at the opening race of 2004 in South Africa. Since making his GP debut he has missed starting just once, at the French GP in 2005 when he crashed and fractured his left wrist during qualifying.

70 – Jorge Lorenzo has 70 points from the opening three races of the year. This is the highest points total by a rider in the MotoGP class after the opening three races since Valentino Rossi also had 70 points after three races in 2005.

62 – Italy, together with The Netherlands and Great Britain are the only three countries that have hosted a motorcycle Grand Prix event in each of the 62 years since the motorcycling world championship series started in 1949.

49 – Valentino Rossi’s pole in France was the 49th time he has started from pole in the premier class. Full pole position records are only available back to 1974 and in the period since 1974 only Mick Doohan, with 58, has started from pole on more occasions in the premier class than Rossi.

20 years – Kenny Noyes’ pole at the French GP was the first outside the premier class for a rider from the USA since John Kocinski was fastest qualifier for the 250cc race at the Australian Grand Prix in 1990.

8 years – Prior to the French GP it had been eight years since the same three riders won each of the Grand Prix classes at successive races. In 2002, Arnaud Vincent (125cc), Marco Melandri (250cc) and Valentino Rossi (MotoGP) won their respective classes at the British GP and then repeated the victories at the German GP one week later. Subsequently all three riders went on to win their respective world championship titles.

7 – Jorge Lorenzo’s win in France was his 7th victory on a MotoGP machine. This is just one less than great rival Dani Pedrosa. Only two other Spanish riders have had more victories in the premier-class: Sete Gibernau with nine and Àlex Crivillé with 15.

7 – Pol Espargaró is the 7th youngest rider to win back-to-back GP races. The six riders who have won back-to-back GP races at a younger age are: Marco Melandri, Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, Dani Pedrosa, Manuel Poggiali and Jorge Lorenzo.

5 – Just five riders have scored points at all three of the Moto2 races held so far: Toni Elías, Simone Corsi, Sergio Gadea, Gabor Talmacsi and Roberto Rolfo.

3 – Jorge Lorenzo has finished in front of Valentino Rossi in the last two MotoGP races. If Lorenzo finishes in front of Rossi again at Mugello, it will be the first time since joining the MotoGP class at the start of 2000 that Rossi will have finished behind a team-mate in three successive races.