2021 MotoGP – Round 15 – COTA
MotoGP Facts and Stats

At the San Marino GP, Francesco Bagnaia won for the second time in MotoGP, becoming the first Italian rider to take back-to-back premier class wins since Andrea Dovizioso (Valencia/2018 and Qatar/2019). Bagnaia became the seventh rider to win his first two premier class races in seven days (or less) along with Umberto Masetti (SpaFrancorchamps/Assen 1950), Gary Hocking (Hockenheim/Clermont-Ferrand 1961), Johnny Cecotto (Imatra/Brno 1977), Kenny Roberts (Salzburgring/Nogaro 1978), Kenny Roberts Jr. (Sepang/Motegi 1999) and Fabio Quartararo (Spain/Andalucia 2020).

At the Americas GP, Ducati riders will be aiming to win three successive MotoGP races for the first time since 2018 and the fifth time overall along with 2007 (twice), 2008 and 2018. Casey Stoner is the only Ducati rider who has taken three wins in a row: from Laguna Seca to Misano 2007, and from Donington Park to Sachsenring 2008.

With Bagnaia in MotoGP, Fernandez in Moto2 and Foggia in Moto3 winning in Aragon and San Marino, this is the first time there are the same winners in two successive GPs since the opening two GPs of 2017 with Maverick Viñales, Franco Morbidelli and Joan Mir. At the Americas GP, if Bagnaia, Fernandez and Foggia win, it will be the first time that there are the same winners in all three GP classes in three successive GPs since 2001 from Australia to Rio with Valentino Rossi, MotoGP Legend Daijiro Kato, and Youichi Ui.

With Francesco Bagnaia on the podium, the MotoGP race at the Aragon GP was the 150th in the premier class with at least one Ducati rider on the podium.

At the San Marino GP, Fabio Quartararo crossed the line in third place for his 19th podium in MotoGP, moving above Christian Sarron as the French rider with the most premier class podiums.

In addition, Quartararo is the only rider who has scored points in all of the MotoGP races so far this season. He is also the only one who has not passed through Q1 this season so far.

Fabio Quartararo is still leading the MotoGP classification with 48-point advantage over Francesco Bagnaia, which is the highest margin after the opening 14 MotoGP races since 2019 when Marc Marquez had a 98-point advantage over Andrea Dovizioso after the Aragon GP.

With Enea Bastianini in third place, 14 different riders have now stood on the podium since the opening race of the year, which is one less than last year. 2020 was the highest number of podium finishers in a single premier class season since 1977 when there were also 15 podium finishers (the record is 21 in 1969).

Bastianini became the eighth maiden podium finisher in the premier class since the opening race of 2020 (along with Joan Mir, Franco Morbidelli, Alex Marquez, Miguel Olivieira, Brad Binder, Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin).

This is the highest number of maiden podium finishers in two premier class seasons since 1998/1999 with Max Biaggi, Simon Crafar, Noriyuki Haga, Sete Gibernau, Kenny Roberts Jr., Tetsuya Harada, Régis Laconi and Garry McCoy.

Valentino Rossi finished 17th at the San Marino GP, his worst result across the line in his 15 visits to the track in MotoGP.

One of the three rookies in MotoGP this year has previously won a Grand Prix race at the Americas GP in any of the smaller classes: Jorge Martin in Moto3 in 2018 after qualifying on pole. He also finished second in Moto3 in 2017.

Enea Bastianini is the only other rookie in MotoGP this year who has previously stood on the podium at the Americas GP: he finished second (behind Martin) in Moto3 in 2018.

---

Grand Prix Racing in Austin

MotoGP returns to the Circuit of the Americas (CotA) for an eighth year. Until 2019, the circuit held the Americas GP for seven successive years. The 2020 Americas GP was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, FP3s in Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP were cancelled due to weather conditions.

In total, there have been 32 previous Grand Prix events hosted in the USA: Laguna Seca (15), Indianapolis (8), Austin (7) and Daytona (2). A total of 75 Grand Prix races for solo motorcycles have been held in the USA since 1949: 500cc/MotoGP – 32, 250cc/Moto2 – 22, 125cc/Moto3 – 19, 50cc – 2.

Honda’s last MotoGP win at Austin: Marc Marquez in 2018 (after qualifying on pole but starting fourth). Honda is the most successful manufacturer with six wins, all of them with Marquez. Honda riders have won 15 of the last 16 MotoGP races held in the USA. The last non-Honda MotoGP winner in the country was Alex Rins in Austin in 2019. Prior to Rins, the last one was Jorge Lorenzo at Laguna Seca in 2010. Honda have also won 18 of the 24 premier class races that have taken place in the USA in the MotoGP era (since 2002).

Suzuki is the only other manufacturer to have won at Austin in MotoGP, with Alex Rins in 2019. This was Suzuki’s first win in the premier class in the US. They have had four wins in smaller classes in the US at Daytona with Hugh Anderson in 50cc (1964) and 125cc (1964/1965), and Ernst Degner in 50cc (1965).

Yamaha’s best MotoGP result at Austin is second with three different riders: Valentino Rossi (2017 and 2019), Maverick Viñales (2018) and Jorge Lorenzo (2016).

Ducati have had four MotoGP podiums at Austin with Andrea Dovizioso, third in 2014 and second in 2015 (the best Ducati’s result at Austin), Andrea Iannone, third in 2016, and Jack Miller, third in 2019 (his first podium with Ducati).

Pol Espargaro finished eighth in 2019 in Austin, which is the best result at the track for a KTM rider.

Aleix Espargaro’s 10th-place finish in 2018 equalled the best result for Aprilia at COTA, taken by Stefan Bradl in 2016.

Marc Marquez has qualified on pole for all of the seven MotoGP races that have taken place at COTA. He won six of them from 2013 to 2018 but crashed out in 2019 while leading. In addition, Marc Marquez has won on 10 of the 11 occasions he has raced in MotoGP in America: six times at Austin, three times at Indianapolis and at Laguna Seca in 2013.

Only once in 11 MotoGP appearances in America has Marquez not qualified on pole: Laguna Seca in 2013 when he qualified second behind Stefan Bradl. He qualified on pole in 2018 at Austin but started fourth after a grid penalty.

The only riders currently competing in MotoGP who have won in the class in American are Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and now Alex Rins.

Of the 21 podium finishers in the seven previous MotoGP races held at Austin, all have been riders from either Spain or Italy, except Jack Miller, who was third in 2019.

---

MotoGP World Championship Standings

---

Source: MCNews.com.au