Catalan Grand Prix: Preview – 70 Years of MotoGP

The Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona plays host to round 7 of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship. The 4.627 km (2.875 mi) Montmeló circuit is 20 km (12.4 miles) north-east of the thriving city of Barcelona.

The race lap record was set last year by Jorge Lorenzo, with a time of a 1:40.021. The Spaniard went on to win the race ahead of countryman and current championship leader Marc Marquez.

This weekend marks 70 years since the world championship began, making MotoGP the oldest motorsport World Championship (1 year older than Formula 1) and it all began back on the 13th, 14th and 17th of June at the Isle of Man TT, 1949.

70 Years of Magic

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The first race of the 500cc (now the MotoGP class) was won by Harold Daniell on a Norton ahead of John Locket (Norton) and Ernie Lyonns on the now defunct Velocette machine. Freddie Frith would win the first 350cc race and Manlieffe Barrington won the first 250cc race. The first 500cc world champion Les (Leslie) Graham would win next time out at the Swiss grand Prix in Berne. The world championship only consisted of 6 rounds with Les Graham becoming champion on 30 points, 2 points ahead of Italian – Nello Pagani, who was the first 125cc race winner.

10 years later in 1959 – John Surtees (the only MotoGP and Formula 1 world champion) took his 2nd 500cc & 350cc titles winning all races (seven 500cc & six 350cc) races that he started.

The 60’s saw Mike (The Bike) Hailwood sprint into dominance before the young Italian of Giacomo Agostini began the dominance in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Over the coming decades, the riders would begin to race closer and harder and legends were born. Freddie Spencer would become the last person to win two Grand Prix world championship in the same year, in 1985, taking the 250cc and 500cc honours. Wayne Gardner would become Australia’s first world champion in 1987 and Eddie Lawson – or Steady Eddie as he was known – would become the first rider in history to win back-to-back championships on two different bikes. Yamaha 1988 & Honda 1989. This would be repeated by Valentino Rossi in 2003 with Honda and 2004 with Yamaha.

Mick Doohan would rise to dominance in the mid-to late 90’s with Honda before Àlex Crivillé became Spain’s first premier class world champion in 1999. Valentino Rossi would begin his 5 years of MotoGP dominance in the final season of the 500cc before it became the MotoGP class, racing 4 stroke 990cc bikes in 2002. Nicky Hayden would be the only other rider to win a 990cc championship in 2006 before the dire 800cc class was introduced in 2007.

Between 2007-2011 Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo would win their first titles and Rossi his last two to date in 2008 & 2009. 2012 introduced the current 1000cc bikes into MotoGP with Marc Marquez becoming the second rider in history to become the premier class champion in his rookie season – 2013. This came 35 years after Kenny Roberts Sr done it the first time back in 1978.

Marc Marquez and Honda would go on to become the combination to beat, up to the present 2019 season apart from 2015, when the Movistar Yamaha’s of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi fought for the title.

History in numbers

122 – Giacomo Agostini has the most victories in all class, Valentino Rossi follows him on 115, the next best current rider is Marc Marquez on 73 wins.

89 – Valentino Rossi has the most premier class – MotoGP/500cc wins, followed by Giacomo Agostini on 68, Mick Doohan has 54 with Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo both on 47 wins.

15 – Giacomo Agostini has the most Grand Prix world championships – 8x in MotoGP/500cc, 7x 350cc class. Next best is Angel Nieto on 13 (or 12+1).

234 – The most podiums has been set by Valentino Rossi – 1st place – 115, 2nd place – 67, 3rd place 52.

84 – Marc Marquez has taken the most pole positions, 15 more than the next best – Jorge Lorenzo

117 – the number of fastest laps set by Giacomo Agostini, that is 22 more than the next best which is Valentino Rossi.

117 – The amount of Grand Prix world champions over the past 70 years in the 50cc, 80cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc, Moto3, Moto2 & MotoGP/500cc class.

77 – Italy has the most world championships, 20x MotoGP/500cc, 8x 350cc, 24x Moto2/250cc, 23x Moto3/125cc, 2x 80cc/50cc. Spain is the next best on 50.

20 – Honda has the most amount of premier class titles, followed by MV Agusta on 18 and Yamaha on 17.

This weekend

Marc Marquez comes into this weekend 12 points clear at the head of the championship after scoring a second place at Mugello, Italy. He has stood on either of top two steps of the podium at all but one of the six races of the 2019 season.

Although Marquez comes into the Catalan round as the championship leader and the man to beat he hasn’t won that often. He has stood on the podium every season since his rookie season but has only been victorious once in the premier class and that came back in 2014. His only other win at the circuit came in 2010 in the 125cc class when he picked up his 2nd win.

Danilo Petrucci – winner last time out – comes into this weekend looking to back up his first ever win at Mugello last round. Ducati have won the past two seasons (Lorenzo 2018, Dovizioso 2017) they both won after they won at Mugello in those seasons, can Petrucci do the same?

Yamaha are being put under pressure by Valentino Rossi to bring upgraded as soon as possible, Rossi is the rider win the most wins at the Barcelona track, having won there on 10 previous occasions. Most recently holding off Marc Marquez to win in 2016.

Jorge Lorenzo is fresh from a trip back from the HRC headquarters in Japan and is looking to pick up his first top 10 of the season at a track that he has won on 6 times previously.

Moto2

Alex Marquez comes into this weekend on the back of his first back-to-back wins in Moto2 and his first since his title winning season in Moto3 back in 2014 when he won at Catalunya and Assen. He on sits 2 points behind championship Leader Lorenzo Baldassari. Marquez won the Moto2 race at Catalunya in 2017.

Speed Up will be looking forward to the weekend, a track where Fabio Quartararo won his first race 12 months previously.

Moto3

11 different race winners from the previous 11 races and 6 in the 2019 season. The Moto3 racing this season has been close and very competitive. Aron Canet still leads the championship on 83 points, 3 points ahead of Lorenzo Dalla Porta.

None of the riders on the current grid have previously won at Catalunya. Can we have 12 different race winner from the past 12 races? Only time will tell.

The past 70 years have been a rollercoaster and a lot has changed but one thing has always remained the same, the taste of victory is as sweet as ever.