Barcelona MotoGP Stats At The Catalunya Circuit: Valentino Rossi And The 'King' Yamaha

MotoGP Barcelona at the Catalunya Circuit. (Photo: Doc. MotoGP)

JAKARTA - The 2022 MotoGP event will hold the 9th series at the Catalunya Circuit, Barcelona, this weekend. This is the 31st successive Grand Prix at the circuit since it entered the MotoGP calendar in 1992.

This circuit is ranked third after Assen (71 consecutive races from 1949 to 2019, the Dutch TT 2020 was cancelled), and Jerez (37 consecutive races) as a circuit that never misses a race every year, according to MotoGP records as reported by Antara.

Valentino Rossi is the most successful racer in Catalunya with 10 victories. Six of them were achieved in the MotoGP class, one in the 500cc class, two in the 250cc class and one in the 125cc class.

Jorge Lorenzo is in second place with six wins, five of them in the MotoGP class. Yamaha's last victory in Catalunya was presented by Fabio Quartararo in 2020.

Yamaha became the most successful manufacturer with 13 wins. Ten of them are from the MotoGP class: Valentino Rossi (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2016), Jorge Lorenzo (2010, 2012, 2013, 2015) and Fabio Quartararo (2020); three in the 500cc class: Wayne Rainey (1992, 1993) and Luca Cadalora (1994).

Honda's last win in Catalunya was attributed to Marc Marquez in 2019. Honda has 11 premier class wins including five in a row by Alex Criville, Carlos Checa and Mick Doohan from 1995 to 1999.

In addition, Valentino Rossi (2001, 2002), Dani Pedrosa (2008), Casey Stoner (2011) and Marc Marquez (2014, 2019) also contributed trophies for Honda.

While Ducati last felt the top podium in Catalunya after Jorge Lorenzo won there from pole position in 2018. The Italian manufacturer has won the MotoGP class four times in Catalunya, including their first through Loris Capirossi in 2003.

Suzuki's only victory was achieved during the 500cc era in 2000 by Kenny Roberts. In 2020 Joan Mir finished second ahead of team-mate Alex Rins for the only podium finish for Suzuki in Catalunya during the MotoGP era.

In 2015, Aleix Espargaro started from pole in Catalunya, which was Suzuki's first pole in the premier class since Chris Vermeulen started pole at the 2007 Dutch TT.

Miguel Oliveira won the MotoGP race in Catalunya in 2021, giving KTM a fourth MotoGP win.

Meanwhile, Aprilia achieved her best result in Catalunya during the MotoGP era, when Alvaro Bautista finished P8 in 2016. Meanwhile, Tetsuya Harada finished P4 in the 500cc class in 1999, becoming the Noale manufacturer's best result in the premier class in Catalunya.

Only Valentino Rossi (2006/Yamaha) and Jorge Lorenzo (2010/Yamaha and 2018/Ducati), the two riders who won the MotoGP race in Catalunya from pole position.

Quartararo heads to Catalunya with a collection of 122 points after finishing runners-up at Mugello last week. The Yamaha rider is overshadowed by Aleix Espargaro by eight points in second for Aprilia after eight races.

Enea Bastianini failed to finish in Italy and stay in third place with 94 points and Bagnaia moved up to fourth with 81 points after winning at home last week.