MotoGP: British Grand Prix pub ammo

Ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, official MotoGP statistician Doctor Martin Raines has compiled some great stats and figures that are perfect for wowing your mates with!

• The first motorcycle Grand Prix event to be held at Silverstone in 1977 was also the first to be held on the British mainland; prior to 1977 the British round of the World Championship had been held since 1949 on the 37.73mile long Isle of Man TT circuit.
• The winners at that first grand prix at Silverstone in 1977 were: 500cc – Pat Hennen (Suzuki), 350cc & 250cc – Kork Ballington (Yamaha), 125cc – Pierluigi Conforti (Morbidelli).
• The original circuit layout used for the grand prix from 1977 to 1986 was 2.93 miles long (4.71 km) and the fastest lap in a race at the circuit during this time was set by Kenny Roberts riding a Yamaha in 1983 at an average speed of 119.5 mph (192.2 km/h).
• The British Grand Prix was held for ten successive years at the Silverstone circuit, before the event moved to Donington Park in 1987. The British GP returned to Silverstone in 2010 with a revised circuit layout measuring 5.9 km.
• Kork Ballington and Angel Nieto are the two riders with most GP victories at Silverstone, each having won there on six occasions.
• The only three riders who have had more than a single victory at Silverstone since GP racing returned to the circuit in 2010 are Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Maverick Viñales. Lorenzo has won the MotoGP race there three times: 2010, 2012 & 2013; Marquez won the 125cc race in 2010 and the MotoGP race in 2014; Viñales won the Moto3 race in 2012 and the MotoGP race last year.
• Before Crutchlow’s second place finish last year, the last British rider to be on the podium in the premier class at the British Grand Prix was Jeremy McWilliams when he finished third in the 500cc race at Donington in 2000.
• Yamaha have won four of the seven MotoGP races that have taken place at Silverstone, the last of which was two years ago with Valentino Rossi
• Honda have had two MotoGP victories at Silverstone, with Casey Stoner in 2011 and Marc Marquez in 2014.
• Last year at Silverstone Maverick Viñales gave Suzuki their first MotoGP win since Le Mans in 2007 when Chris Vermeulen won in the wet. This was also the first podium finish at Silverstone in the MotoGP era for Suzuki and the first win for Suzuki at Silverstone since Franco Uncini won the 500cc race at the British GP in 1982.
• The only podium finishes for Ducati at Silverstone came in 2015 – a second place finish for Danilo Petrucci and third for Andrea Dovizioso.
• Three British riders have won a solo grand prix race at Silverstone; Danny Kent won the Moto3 race in 2015, Scott Redding won the Moto2 race in 2013 and Ian McConnachie won in the 80cc class back in 1986.
• Only three British riders have started from pole at Silverstone, across all solo GP classes; Barry Sheene in the 500cc class in 1977, Sam Lowes in Moto2 in 2015 & 2016, and Cal Crutchlow in MotoGP last year.
• The seven Moto2 races that have taken place at Silverstone have been won by seven different riders: 2010 – Jules Cluzel, 2011 – Stefan Bradl, 2012 – Pol Espargaro, 2013 – Scott Redding, 2014 – Tito Rabat, 2015 – Johann Zarco, 2016 – Tom Lüthi. Of these riders only Lüthi is still competing in the Moto2 class.
• At the British Grand Prix, Valentino Rossi is scheduled to become the first rider in the history of motorcycle Grand Prix racing to reach the milestone of 300 starts in the premier class.
• Rossi has started 299 of the 851 premier-class races that have taken place since the World Championship started in 1949 – representing 35.1% of all races.
• He has competed in the premier class at 27 different venues in 19 different countries.
• He has won premier class races at 23 different venues, the only circuits he has competed at in the premier class and not had a victory are: Austin, the Red Bull Ring, Aragon and Istanbul.
• Rossi has finished on the podium at 26 different circuits in the premier-class, the only circuit he has competed at in the premier-class and not had a podium is the Red Bull Ring.