#StatAttack: MotoGP™ gear up for the Red Bull Ring

Everything you need to know after Brno and ahead of the #AustrianGP

Previously in MotoGP...

- Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has won the last two MotoGP™ races – his first back to back wins since he won in Aragon and Japan last year. He has not won three or more successive MotoGP™ races since he won the opening ten races of the 2014 season.

- Marquez has been on the podium at the last four races, which is his longest run of successive top three finishes since he was on the podium at the final race of 2015 and the opening four races of 2016.

- Marquez’ pole position at Brno was the 41st time he has started from pole in what was his 82nd MotoGP™ start, giving him a 50% pole percentage. For comparison, the pole to start percentage of other selected current riders are: Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) – 23.5%, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) – 18.1%, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) – 15.7%.

- Following the Czech GP, Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) maintains his record of being either first or second in the Championship table after every one of the first ten races of 2017. Viñales trails Marc Marquez by 14 points, which is his largest deficit to the Championship leader so far this year.

- Viñales’ third place finish at Brno was his 49th podium finish across the three Grand Prix classes. If he finishes in the top three once more before the end of 2017 he will be the fifth youngest rider of all-time to reach the milestone of fifty grand prix podium finishes, after: Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

- Following his sixth place finish at Brno, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) has scored a total of 133 points from the opening ten races of 2017; this is the highest score by a Ducati rider after ten races since Casey Stoner had a total of 150 points in 2009.

- The Red Bull Ring in Austria is the only circuit on the current calendar where Valentino Rossi has not had a podium finish in the premier class. Rossi has finished on the podium in the premier class at 26 different circuits; all those on the current calendar with the exception of the Red Bull Ring, plus the following: Donington, Estoril, Indianapolis, Istanbul, Laguna Seca, Rio, Shanghai, Suzuka and Welkom. Rossi needs to finish in the top three at one more circuit to equal the record of Mick Doohan of finishing on the podium at most different circuits in the premier class.

- Like Rossi, Dani Pedrosa has stood on the podium in the premier class at all circuits on the current calendar, with the exception of the Red Bull Ring. If he finishes in the top three in Austria it will be the 23rd different circuit where he has had a podium in the premier class.

- Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Johann Zarco’s 12th place finish at the Czech GP was his ninth successive points scoring finish, following his crash at the opening race of the year in Qatar. With this result Zarco maintains his lead in the rookie classification, but by a reduced margin of just 11 points over teammate Jonas Folger who has been the first rookie across the line in each of the last two races.

- Pol Espargaro’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) 9th place finish at Brno is the best result yet for KTM in their first season competing in the MotoGP™ class. He finished with a gap of 30.754 seconds to race winner Marquez – the smallest margin so far that a KTM rider has had to the race winner.

- Even though Marc Marquez extended his lead at the head of the Championship, the MotoGP™ title chase is still the closest top five at this stage of the season since the current scoring system was introduced in 1993. Just 31 points cover the top five riders in the championship classification after ten races, compared to the previous closest which was 51 points in 2006.

The #AustrianGP:

- Last year Austria staged a motorcycle Grand Prix event for the first time since 1997.

- The first Austrian GP took place in 1971 at the Salzburgring circuit, which hosted Grand Prix racing on a total of 22 occasions.

- At that first Austrian GP in 1971 Giacomo Agostini (MV Agusta) won the 500cc race, finishing more than a lap ahead of second place finisher Keith Turner. Agostini also won the 350cc race, with the other classes being won by the following riders: 250cc – Silvio Grassetti (MZ), 125cc – Angel Nieto (Derbi), 50cc – Jan de Vries (Kreidler).

- The last occasion that a Grand Prix event took place at the Salzburgring circuit was in 1994, when Mick Doohan won the 500cc race with a race average speed in excess of 194 km/h (120 mph)

- Due to the high speed nature of the Salzburgring circuit, and the limited amount of run-off provided, it was considered too dangerous for continued use.

- The current circuit has hosted two previous Grand Prix events prior to last year – in 1996 and 1997, when named the A1-Ring. Before last year, Valentino Rossi was the only current rider to have to have raced previously at this circuit in a Grand Prix.

- Rossi’s third place finish in the 125cc race in Austria in 1996 was his first GP podium finish. He again finished on the podium in the 125cc race in Austria in 1997, this time in second place just 0.004 seconds behind Noboru Ueda.

- Last year in Austria, Andrea Iannone won for the first time since he moved up to the MotoGP™ class in 2013 and gave Ducati their first win since Casey Stoner won the Australian GP in 2010.

- The Austrian GP last year gave Ducati their first one-two finish in a MotoGP™ race since the Australian GP in 2007, won by Casey Stoner from Loris Capirossi.

- The Austrian race last year was the first time that Italian riders have taken the top two places in a premier-class GP both riding Italian bikes since the Finnish 500cc GP at Imatra in 1972 won by Giacomo Agostini, on a MV Agusta, from teammate Alberto Pagani.

- The average speed of the MotoGP™ race in Austria last year was 182.4 km/h. This was the highest average speed for a Grand Prix race since Mick Doohan won the 500cc German Grand Prix in 1994 at the Hockenheim circuit at an average speed of 203.8 km/h.